ramonaghan

I'm so sorry for your loss. She was a beauty. Rest well, Penny.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Rest well, Django.

I can recommend Osteo-Pet Total Joint Care. It's bacon cheese flavor, and Sweep seems to find it more palatable than the Springtime products. It's not cheap either, but I like the ingredient list. It contains Glucosamine HCI, Chondroitin, MSM, Hyaluronic Acid, Green Lipped Mussels, Collagen, Vitamins C & E, and Boswellia. Sweep's only 6 and we use it for preventative maintenance, so I can't really comment on specific improvements.

Sweet handsome boy. He looks a lot like Sweep. I'm so sorry again for your loss. Hugs.

Sending good thoughts!

She's been on restricted exercise for most of the past few months; only in the past couple of weeks have we started letting her into the yard off-leash. So the PT actually wants to see how she does if we try gradually increasing her activity level. We're to start by lengthening her walks by 2-3 minutes over the next week. (She's allowed to run, but she probably won't, as she becomes a lazy slug in the summertime due to the heat and humidity.) I think tenosynovitis can be *caused by* infection, but from what I gather the condition is like "tendonitis plus"--the tendon sheath is inflamed as well as the tendon itself. In Sweep's case it was most likely caused by an injury that has been re-aggravated over time, or it's possible arthritis is contributing although nothing has showed on multiple x-rays over several months. It is definitely interesting about your friend's lurcher, though, and it sounds like infection is a question worth revisiting with Fey's vet.

Just wanted to follow up after Sweep's physical therapy appointment today: she had a cold laser session and massage on her toe tendons, shoulder, and neck (the latter two areas because the toes are affecting her gait slightly and making them sore). We were also given instructions on how to do the massage at home. The PT suspects tenosynovitis in one or both middle toes and thinks this will help increase blood flow and thus promote healing. I know you've tried laser treatments, but how about therapeutic massage? He also mentioned the Assisi loop as a possible treatment (we had one session a few months ago in conjunction with acupuncture/chiro but didn't really pursue it since we weren't sure where the problem was at that point), so perhaps that is another option for Fey. We did not see our actual vet today so I didn't ask about the injections/surgical options.

Such a handsome boy. Keeping you in my thoughts and wishing you peace.

I'm so sorry for your loss and heartache. Rest well, Vinnie.

Welcome from Nashville! I appreciate your use of "y'all."

Sounds like you were able to get a diagnosis fairly quickly, which helps! For the longest time, we didn't know what we were dealing with (neck, shoulder, foot?), so we've had several x-rays done. She'd recover after a couple of days of an NSAID, so we'd just let her resume her normal activity. She'd be good for a few weeks, and then start limping again, until we reached the point in January where she never fully recovered after a couple of days of snow zoomies. She can also be quite dramatic at the vet and whines when they touch her anywhere (she even screamed when they put her on the scale once ), so it's been challenging to pinpoint what hurts. I'm hopeful now that we have a good working hypothesis that the more targeted therapies will help. I didn't know this about steroids--good to know, thank you! Is that specific to "sprung toe" (my vets have never used that term specifically) vs. any other soft tissue injury in a toe? I'll ask about this when I see them again.

I am in the same boat with my 6-year-old Sweep. We've been dealing with an intermittent limp since last August as well, but only in April were the vets able to isolate it to a middle toe on her left front foot (we suspect it's an old track injury since those two middle toes have always been noticeably twisted, though they never seemed to bother her before this past year). She's currently on Previcox every other day and Gabapentin twice daily. Is Fey on an NSAID and/or any joint supplements? I am really hoping to eventually be able to wean Sweep off the meds, but don't know if that's a reasonable expectation at this point. I share your quality of life concerns, especially given their young ages; it's such a shame when they can't take long walks or run all out anymore. We've tried acupuncture and chiropractic, unfortunately to no avail. Anyway, we've seen two specialists at the same practice--a board-certified surgeon and an orthopedic specialist--and both say it's a challenging case. Treatment-wise, it sounds like they are on the same page as your vet. They have also mentioned the steroid injection as a possibility but have similar concerns as your vet, and they really don't want to amputate except as an absolute last resort, especially because it's hard to be 100% certain it's that toe and only that toe. God forbid they amputate and it doesn't solve the problem. (They mentioned trying a nerve block as a diagnostic, but said it's quite tricky to be sure you're blocking only a single toe.) They want us to try physical therapy first to see if that helps. Sweep's been on restricted activity for a while now, and we suspect she's re-injured the toe more than once over the course of this ordeal because we've let her do too much too soon. So, we are off to our first canine rehab appointment this Thursday. I'm not really sure what to expect; he does underwater treadmill, electrical stimulation, laser therapy, manual therapy, and more...it should be interesting! We're a couple of thousand dollars into this already, so I really hope this will be our solution. I'll report back to let you know what we learn.

I'm so sorry. Too many lately around here.

Tennessee: Nashville Vet Specialists (referral only) 2971 Sidco Dr Nashville, TN 37204 (615) 386-0107 We have seen and can personally recommend: Trey Calfee, DVM, MS, DACVS (board-certified surgeon) Heather Streppa, DVM, MS, DACVS For acupuncture/chiropractic: Richland Animal Clinic Dr. Terry Brockman 6109 Charlotte Pike Nashville, TN 37209 (615) 356-6534 Dr. Brockman is an IVAS certified veterinary acupuncturist and offers a number of holistic and alternative therapies in addition to traditional medicine. Dr. Alex Vear is an AVCA certified veterinary chiropractor who works out of the clinic on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Rest well, Murphy.

In our case I think this was just an especially dry/worn patch, with perhaps some caked-on dirt for good measure . It never developed into anything and there's no evidence of it anymore. I realize now that the first photo's probably not the best example since the lightest patch *does* look rather corn-like, but I had these pics handy and you can see the pale pink areas the OP mentioned too. (I took these photos because we were trying to diagnose an intermittent limp, which now, 10 months and multiple vets later, we have isolated to a soft tissue problem in a toe on the opposite foot. Every centimeter of Sweep's paws has been thoroughly inspected at this point, and no corns!)

Excellent autocorrect. Though the limping on hard surfaces could suggest a developing corn and might be worth a vet check in itself, Sweep gets those pale circles too, and they're just wear and tear. Does it look like this? (It's pinker in natural light; the flash makes it look yellower than it is. Second pic is a bit more accurate.) These photos were taken in August last year, so it definitely wasn't a corn in our case since nothing further has developed. We do periodically apply Musher's Secret or Bag Balm, so I think it's a good thing you're already doing that.

Poor baby. Seems he's had a rough go of it the past couple of weeks. Sending good thoughts to both of you.

A better update for sure. You were certainly due for some good news. Continuing to hold you both in my thoughts.

I'm so sorry.

What a shock to see Desi's name. I'm so very sorry and heartbroken for you. Rest well, sweet boy.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Rest well, Sneakers.

I'm so sorry the news is not better. Hopefully they'll find him a med cocktail that will keep him comfortable. And maybe an adult beverage or three are in order for his mentally exhausted mama.

Wonderful update! Good boy, Summit! He even looks rather pleased with himself.

What a shock. So glad he can be home with you getting the care and love he needs. (Though I can't imagine your exhaustion between this and a new puppy!) Best wishes for continued improvement and a full recovery for your sweet boy.