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When To Be Concerned With Hind End


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X-rays showed minor arthritis in both hips and lumbarsacral syndrome (mild). So our stoic girl has probably been in more discomfort than we thought and now I know it's not my imagination. Starting with some anti-inflammatory meds and going from there.

Dave (GLS DeviousDavid) - 6/27/18
Gracie (AMF Saying Grace) - 10/21/12
Bella (KT Britta) - 4/29/05 to 2/13/20

 

 

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Hopefully with both being mild/in the early stages she hasn't been that uncomfortable. I'm in the process of upping/changing Z's meds as he's struggling a lot more lately with our stairs and on walks. :( Gabapentin has really helped him though - you might think about a low dose of that as well (100 mg 2-3x/day) for the lumbosacral stenosis. It's more nerve pain so more likely to respond to that.

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Jen, CPDT-KA with Zuri, lab in a greyhound suit, Violet, formerly known as Faith, Skye, the permanent puppy, Cisco, resident cat, and my baby girl Neyla, forever in my heart

"The great thing about science is that you're free to disagree with it, but you'll be wrong."

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Glad you found some explanations for the symptoms ... perhaps worth giving feedback to the first vet (along with a candid discussion of why you won't be coming back unless there's an emergency or a really big sale on Frontline in his office).

 

Now you can focus on actions to improve quality of life - yeah!

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Guest KsFrets

Very sad and very timely topic for us. Magnus has had the rear end weakness. Slower to get up and lay down. Shaky when standing too long. Nothing drastic, but very noticeable, and uncomfortable and frustrating for him. He tired easily, and took a long time to recover after play. But we were still doing our daily mile walks, no problem. We also had several people including the mailman notice he had lost weight, even though we were feeding him more. He was 11. WARNING! Be careful when they get playful. Magnus was still full of life and spirit, and still did play bows, zoomies and spinnies. Three days ago, he was doing spinnies, and his right rear leg bone exploded above the knee. The horror, and the screams and the trauma of getting him into the car and to the vets will haunt me for a long long time. Option one was reconstruction with plates/screws/pins and very low expectation of any meaningful recovery. Option two was amputation. The vet felt that the unbroken side was already too weak and fragile to support either option, and the rest of his life would be pain and suffering. We chose option three and let our boy go to the bridge. One moment he's playing in the back yard, an hour later he's gone. Had I discouraged his daily play sessions, he would still be with us.

Edited by KsFrets
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Three days ago, he was doing spinnies, and his right rear leg bone exploded above the knee. The horror, and the screams and the trauma of getting him into the car and to the vets will haunt me for a long long time. Option one was reconstruction with plates/screws/pins and very low expectation of any meaningful recovery. Option two was amputation. The vet felt that the unbroken side was already too weak and fragile to support either option, and the rest of his life would be pain and suffering. We chose option three and let our boy go to the bridge. One moment he's playing in the back yard, an hour later he's gone. Had I discouraged his daily play sessions, he would still be with us.

 

So sorry to hear about Magnus. Did your vet mention the possibility that bone cancer was what caused his leg to break? IMO, based on your description, osteosarcoma is the most likely explanation for what happened. Dogs don't get weak or brittle bones just from age the way people sometimes do, and playing shouldn't cause a normal bone to 'explode'. Even if you had discouraged his play sessions, I suspect something similar would have happened with normal activity. So this probably wasn't anything you could have prevented.

Jennifer &

Willow (Wilma Waggle), Wiki (Wiki Hard Ten), Carter (Let's Get It On),

Ollie (whippet), Gracie (whippet x), & Terra (whippet) + Just Saying + Just Alice

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I'm glad you found out what is going on. Doodles had an FCE last December and still has some hind end (seems like her legs) weakness as a result, though I would always hear a rear foot drag from her long before the FCE. She turned 12 on Feb 25. Before the FCE, I'd started her on Iceland Pure fish oils (check the prices with this link or try Amazon), Carl was on it, too. It made their fur bunny soft and gleaming, she's still on it. A few months before her FCE I'd changed her joint supplement to Next Level by Farnam. It had been recommended to me by people in the racing business. I have to say, the change in her was incredible. Within a month or a little less, she was brighter, moved easier, jumped and ran and played harder and longer. I almost felt like the FCE may have occured because she was feeling so good that she overdid it, whether there's truth in that I have no idea. Anyway, she's still on the Iceland Pure and Next Level, she gets monthly cold laser treatments and if she so much as has a slight back tweak I have her at the vet for cold laser, chiro and acupucture. She's had almost a 100% recovery, which the vet is impressed with given her age.

 

I agree with Sobesmom, your girl is still young, your vet's statement is a bit concerning and seems peculiar to me. Good luck with your girl!Good luck with your girl!

 


Very sad and very timely topic for us. Magnus has had the rear end weakness. Slower to get up and lay down. Shaky when standing too long. Nothing drastic, but very noticeable, and uncomfortable and frustrating for him. He tired easily, and took a long time to recover after play. But we were still doing our daily mile walks, no problem. We also had several people including the mailman notice he had lost weight, even though we were feeding him more. He was 11. WARNING! Be careful when they get playful. Magnus was still full of life and spirit, and still did play bows, zoomies and spinnies. Three days ago, he was doing spinnies, and his right rear leg bone exploded above the knee. The horror, and the screams and the trauma of getting him into the car and to the vets will haunt me for a long long time. Option one was reconstruction with plates/screws/pins and very low expectation of any meaningful recovery. Option two was amputation. The vet felt that the unbroken side was already too weak and fragile to support either option, and the rest of his life would be pain and suffering. We chose option three and let our boy go to the bridge. One moment he's playing in the back yard, an hour later he's gone. Had I discouraged his daily play sessions, he would still be with us.

 

Good lord, how awful, everyone's nightmare. I'm so sorry.

Edited by seeh2o

Sunsands Doodles: Doodles aka Claire, Bella Run Softly: Softy aka Bowie (the Diamond Dog)

Missing my beautiful boy Sunsands Carl 2.25.2003 - 4.1.2014

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Guest KsFrets

Thank you :( It's been pretty hard. The vet said she didn't see any cancer, but didn't rule it out either. Before the x-ray, that's what she suspected. Magnus's littermate brother died from osteosarcoma when he was only 8. I saw the x-ray and it was awful. The bone looked like a shredded celery stalk, with shards all over. In the last several months he was also starting to show weakness and shaking in his front legs and shoulders also. But his mind was still that of a young dog, and when he saw a reason to play, or bark at the mailman, he would push his old body like a puppy. Then he would pretty much collapse in his bed, and pant for hours recovering. He drank a lot, and we would run a fan on him to cool him down and he loved it. Gosh we miss him.

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Sara, that is encouraging about Bella, minor and you caught it early. Thanks for updating!

 

Dean, I am so sorry for your loss of Magnus.

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Very sad and very timely topic for us. Magnus has had the rear end weakness. Slower to get up and lay down. Shaky when standing too long. Nothing drastic, but very noticeable, and uncomfortable and frustrating for him. He tired easily, and took a long time to recover after play. But we were still doing our daily mile walks, no problem. We also had several people including the mailman notice he had lost weight, even though we were feeding him more. He was 11. WARNING! Be careful when they get playful. Magnus was still full of life and spirit, and still did play bows, zoomies and spinnies. Three days ago, he was doing spinnies, and his right rear leg bone exploded above the knee. The horror, and the screams and the trauma of getting him into the car and to the vets will haunt me for a long long time. Option one was reconstruction with plates/screws/pins and very low expectation of any meaningful recovery. Option two was amputation. The vet felt that the unbroken side was already too weak and fragile to support either option, and the rest of his life would be pain and suffering. We chose option three and let our boy go to the bridge. One moment he's playing in the back yard, an hour later he's gone. Had I discouraged his daily play sessions, he would still be with us.

I'm so sorry about Magnus. :sad1 I know and understand the guilt your feeling. :grouphug

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Guest KsFrets

Thank you so much. I've been doing a lot of "if only I would have…" or "why didn't I…" And then the struggle of weather or not we made the right decisions. I've had dogs my whole life, greyhounds since the 90's, and we've also done a lot of fostering, and I've never experienced anything like this. I didn't even know it was possible. Here is a photo of Magnus, taken the day before he went to the bridge. He does't look bad, but to know him, he does look frail.

7512-1202662562015.jpg

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X-rays showed minor arthritis in both hips and lumbarsacral syndrome (mild). So our stoic girl has probably been in more discomfort than we thought and now I know it's not my imagination. Starting with some anti-inflammatory meds and going from there.

That was pretty much exactly Po'boy's diagnosis, as well (except arthritis in only the left hip), and a combination of Quellin (rimadyl) and Gabapentin has brought him almost fully back to normal, and just as happy as he's always been. Hopefully Bella will respond just as well!

 

I'm so sorry to hear about Magnus. :( Like others have said, that's the nightmare we all fear. My thoughts are with you.

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Hopefully with both being mild/in the early stages she hasn't been that uncomfortable. I'm in the process of upping/changing Z's meds as he's struggling a lot more lately with our stairs and on walks. :( Gabapentin has really helped him though - you might think about a low dose of that as well (100 mg 2-3x/day) for the lumbosacral stenosis. It's more nerve pain so more likely to respond to that.

Thanks! And yes - stenosis, thanks spellchecker! (The tablet changed it) :lol

Dave (GLS DeviousDavid) - 6/27/18
Gracie (AMF Saying Grace) - 10/21/12
Bella (KT Britta) - 4/29/05 to 2/13/20

 

 

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sarah, do check w/ the chiropractor that i wrote to you about. she has put her arthritic brood bitch who is really up there in years on a substance which has given her a new lease on life. it's more than gluco/croint/combo, her female went from not going up the stairs to bounding up in a short amount of time. i'm not home and can[t look for the info she gave me on it. i just purchased a ton of msm and glucosimine so when i run out i might try it on felix whose showing signs of disk problems.

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I've been able to readily control Kasey's LS with 150mg Gabapentin twice a day, and 10mg Prednisone to reduce inflammation every 36 hours or so. Visits to chiro also helped. These three in combination made a light year of difference. Kisses to Bella.

Proudly owned by:
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12.5 year old Angel "Kasey" Goodbye Kasey Gotcha July 2005-Aug 1, 2015

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Thanks! Do you buy the powder or the capsules?

 

I think it's the same ingredient (different company) as what Doodles dentist recommended for her gums, with the added benefit of the joint help. I've only been using it on her gums (poke open a capsule, squeeze it out and rub it on her gums), I don't think it has been enough to help her joints though.

 

Here is the stuff I've been using (also available on Amazon): 1-TDC

Edited by seeh2o

Sunsands Doodles: Doodles aka Claire, Bella Run Softly: Softy aka Bowie (the Diamond Dog)

Missing my beautiful boy Sunsands Carl 2.25.2003 - 4.1.2014

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