MerseyGrey

All true! The escaping ball is an unexpected advantage of having a few teeth out; it means he really doesn’t need anyone to play with him although occasionally he will allow me to join in and pretend to take his toy so he can pounce on it again and again

Yes, just selectively deaf!

A little update from Friday… despite a little slip he looked like he enjoyed this immensely. this was a week after his last Librela injection. We have found somewhere that offers acupuncture and have made contact with them - just awaiting a reply. I asked our vet, but it’s not a service they offer, nor could they recommend anyone and simply suggested that I do a Google search . Anyway, hope you enjoyed his run around

Thanks for the update. I can let go of that breath I’ve been holding. Hopefully she’ll be right as rain in a few days

Sending good vibes and doing some worrying from here too

My heart is bursting! It looks like we were all keen to know what Annie’s choice of reading material would be. Now we know that she is a romantic (Buddy headed straight for the pottery and ceramics section when we took him to a book store last year. He was eager to learn the art but I had to remind him that he didn’t have any thumbs and that he was the clumsiest dog alive, so pottery was probably not a good match for him!). Did she end up having a calming influence on the hyperactive child?

This is all such good news! She looks like she’s doing fantastically well

Thank you again

Thanks Victor. This does sound like the symptoms that Buddy is showing so I can ask about the availability of this drug in the UK. Most of the information I can find about it is related to human use so I will add it to the list. Thank you

Oh no! I don’t have any experience of orange poop but I hope that they start to feel better soon.

Those lovely ladies

Correction of original post: Buddy has spondylosis, not scoliosis.

Thank you for this. He gets a massage from his groomer and is soooooooo chilled when I pick him up so i will speak to her about that - maybe bath less, massage more! This might be enough for him at this time. There’s no extra licking beyond the places where he already licks, and certainly no extra attention on his back legs. I think that we will probably explore the other non-Meloxicam NSAIDs first - he was on a liquid form squirted onto his food when he had an upset tummy but none of the vets we have seen have talked about other NSAIDs when we’ve talked about side effects. I will ask about the gabapentin and amitriptyline too. Thank you!

I wondered if this might be the case…having read a few of the forums about gabapentin, I didn’t want to mess Buddy around getting it right if he wasn’t actually in any pain, but I also don’t want to leave it until it was too late when he could be benefitting from a bit extra in his medicatory regimen (medicatory is not a word, but I’m sure you know what I mean ). I wish I could see inside that tiny head of his. At the minute it’s proving a bit hard to find a clinic that does acupuncture on site, let alone coming to the house . I think there is a shortage of vets and it seems like most only provide one service at home, and we’re not ready for that one yet, thankfully. Thank you for your advice!

Aww, Buds says thanks . We love Doolilla’s adventures too. I assumed that all NSAIDs would have the same effect, so that’s useful to know. I can ask about those too! I’m looking for a local acupuncturist too. I’m fairly certain Buddy wouldn’t mind the regular visit and attention, but something I hadn’t considered is getting him there. We have to take him in Dan’s car, and both of us have to lift him (‘up on three, and forwards!’) if they do offer it at the vet, maybe we could get it done at the same time as his injection. I will ask. Thank you!

Poor Howie I’m glad that he has a comfy bed to get up from and lots of love to mince his way over to, which is so much more than many podencos. Buddy is currently only on Librela (and a joint supplement, over the counter) and as far as I’m aware, it can be used in conjunction with most other medicines. We can use Meloxicam for acute symptoms but not long term; we gave him a low dose over five continuous days last year but had to stop as it gave him bloody diarrhoea. I’ve just been investigating CBD but we can’t buy it for pets here - it’s just not available. We can however discuss it with the vet and they can recommend human versions (as long as it’s hemp-derived and not marijuana based). I’ve not heard of amitriptyline so that’s another one to add to the list to ask about. Thank you.

And yet both Dan and I are taking more photos of him than ever! This video is from almost two weeks ago, which will make people wonder what I am worrying about… https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvsdTEiKYIM/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== He does have a habit of making a liar out of me. I trim his nails each week as he isn’t walking enough to keep them short himself; they look in pretty good condition but he might benefit from a balm on his pads more often. I will have a read of that link, thank you

Thank you we’ve often thought that his longevity is probably down to good genes since we are both hapless as dog owners! We have learnt a lot from our time with Buddy and he’s done a good job of preparing us well for his successors, whenever that may be. You haven’t muddied the water at all, thank you. I guess he is like most other hounds - not a peep from him when he’s in agony, but snag him/his harness on a bramble and he will scream the place down. His behaviour is mellow and it’s really only the stiffness and foot dragging that’s a giveaway - that we might be able to alleviate, although there is not much we can do about his muscle weakness I don’t think. I hadn’t considered CBD although there were a few suggestions for cold laser therapy back in September last year - is that similar to the Assisi loop?

I will ask when I pick up his worming treatment next week, thank you

Just looking for a bit of advice from people with more experience. Buddy has been on Librela for arthritis and associated scoliosis in the base of his spine for almost a year following an episode of sciatica last September. Initially it worked really well - he got a new lease of life, but we have started to see a reduction in the beneficial effects over the last few months, so the dosage has been increased to the maximum. It’s difficult to tell if this is having an effect yet - Buddy is not a hot weather dog, despite loving being able to bask in the sunshine, he doesn’t do too well in the heat so we are looking forward to cooler weather. One of the changes we have seen is that he is dragging his back feet quite a lot - probably a result of the trapping of a nerve with some loss of sensation. The vet said this would become permanently trapped and that he would be more comfortable when that happened. The main other change is that he is clearly really, really stiff at his back end. It is obvious when he walks, lays down and gets up. When he manoeuvres around, he is using his tail an awful lot more than he used to to steady himself. This is coupled with a significant loss of strength in his rear end. There have been a couple of occasions when his back legs have either wobbled or given way when he has been squatting for a poop. We have got a God’s Greyts assistance harness on him permanently, which I’m doing my best not to use unless I have to. I don’t want to accelerate that hind leg weakness by helping him too much, but it’s on as a ‘just in case’. We discussed this with the vet at his latest Librela injection last night. We talked about introducing either gabapentin or amantadine (not licensed as a pain killer, although apparently very effective as such as it dulls sensation). But I don’t know if either of these things will be useful since I can’t tell if he’s in pain. I think I am judging things by my own standards - I wouldn’t take painkillers for general stiffness, but I don’t know if I should give them to Buddy. He is still having the occasional zoomie, although he moves differently (and knows about it afterwards!), he’s eating properly, he doesn’t seem to be any more restless than usual, he’s not panting or drooling more than I would expect just from the heat, and he’s not sensitive about being touched anywhere. He’s even much more accepting of other dogs and is showing an interest in initiating sniffs with them. We are not walking him as much at the moment - some days it’s just too warm and some days he will choose to turn back so we go with that rather than making him do a full walk. Are there any other signs I should be looking for? He will be 13 in November. He’s still curious and interested, but I fear that it’s his body that’s going to let him down. We also discussed hydrotherapy with the vet but neither Dan or I are sure that this is something Buddy would enjoy. I think he would love the towelling down afterwards though! We know that we are in the final phase of his life and want him to be as comfortable as possible, so any advice will be gratefully received. Thank you!

I was thinking that if this happened to us now, Buddy probably wouldn’t notice and would still walk by my side. Two years ago, it would have taken one rogue carrier bag or leaf adrift on the wind and he would have been off!

She’s still keen! Squiggles are the eternal nemesis.

Gorgeous girl! She wants to share her joy with you!

I agree, she’s perfect whichever way you look at her

Gelsey is a spider monkey in a dog’s body! I love it when the noodlewhip seems to have a mind of it’s own