Posted on 03/02/2011 10:45:00 PM PST by Frantzie
Any suggestions on helping a friend's 10 year old 70 pound dog?
They are using sparingly the Cox-2 types drugs like Carpofen but they can cause liver problems plus they use glucosimine and chondroitin.
I have also helped them check out stem cell therapy by companies like A Cel in MD or Vet-Stem in CA.
Other options looked at include IRAP which Interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonist Protein where the blood is enriched and injected into the hips.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/health/21668588/detail.html
A university vet also suggested accupuncture and Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy.
Shockwave Therapy has been used on humans and horses with positive results.
http://petsurgeonla.com/shockwave.html
Yeah I know but when people love their dogs. I am wondering if anyone here has tried any of these therapies. Thanks for any suggestions.
Frantzie....I do NOT know...but thank them DEARLY for not dumping him at the shelter as a LOT of people are doing with their old/ill dogs.
I’d say, top of my head, keep on with what they’re doing and make sure he’s getting SOME exercise.
What is the vet recommending?
To help with weight....have they tried a totally grain free diet?....our vet says animals will NOT gain weight on grain free food...it’s not cheap.... Good Luck.
I’d say the glucosamine and chondroitin. I’d also add MSM (sulfur compound).
The only real thing that can fix it is surgery. The above items won’t help the hip from dislocating or going out of place, it is meant to prevent and repair joint damage.
A good dog surgeon/vet is critical, especially with an older dog.
Geez Loweez!!
As a lifelong dog lover I used to think the best part about being a dog was that nobody was going to go to insane lengths to keep you alive when you were suffering an incurable condition and suffering terribly.
Take ‘im out back, shoot him in the haid.
It’s tough thing to deal with - really, the only cure for hip dysplasia is surgery, and it sounds like his is severe if they were popping out when he was a pup.
Even now at age 10 it might be too late for surgery as the arthritis caused by the malalignment of the ball and socket has probably already occurred.
My old dog had mild dysplasia in one hip and moderate in the other. We started her on Glycoflex (glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM mix - the MSM is really important to keep the inflammation down) when she started getting gimpy at age 7.
As it progressed we added in Adequan shots (injectable glucosamine) and then when that stopped working we put her on Metacam.
Metacam is an NSAID like Rimadyl or Deramaxx but with a better benefit/side effect ratio - gives you a bit more bang for the buck. It’s expensive but works great.
We finally lost her at age 14.
I’ve not heard of a lot of the treatments in your original post except for acupuncture. We opted out of acupuncture for our old girl because of the time (we both work and couldn’t take off 2 hours 3x a week to take her in - the place was pretty far away from us).
One thing I have heard of which seems very weird but apparently can have good results in severe cases is a surgery called a femoral head ostectomy. The hip “ball” is actually removed and the muscles form a capsule around the socket. The dog has to be young enough and with good enough muscle tone for this to work though.
Good luck to them, the road they are on is a tough and frustrating one....
LQ
It is heartbreaking in Obama’s Depression that pets are among the hardest hit. So sad.
They are people and they really love their dog. He is a good boy.
I have been doing a lot of research because I can find the info for them faster. The cutting edge stuff in veterinary is usually equine (horses) because of big money in horses. Poor horses with racing and show jumping - they get beat up doing that.
The shockwave therapy is pretty common for horses and humans plus dogs now too. It came out of Germany out of the research on gallstone and kidney stones. The Germans found if you put people in a tub of water and used low frequency you can break up the stones. It is done here too. Not the same thing but similar idea with healing joints, muscle damages etc.
They are going to see a specialist. I talked to the state university vet school and they said stem cell was 50/50. IRAP not enough data. They said accupuncture and shockwave can be promising.
The video of that Lab on the Denver news station show the 12 year old Lab was helped with IRAP.
Thanks.
I went to look around at the local pound on Tuesday. I noticed that quite a few of the pets were owner surrendered—some were older. Some were special needs. Lots of homeless sad looking animals out there. We may get a cat tomorrow at another shelter that was supposedly given up because she was rubbing her butt on the carpet. If that was truly the reason, we would have had to given up a lot of pets over the years for doing that and/or soiling on the carpet.
I’m not familiar with any new therapies, but my parent’s now deceased lab mix had to have an operation for that when he was a pup. Good luck to your friends.
Thanks. Yes I am aware of femoral head ostectomy. I am not sure he is young enough for it. I was not aware of Metacam.
Yeah it is very hard. As much as I lover dogs, I will not do it again because the end is too painful.
I remember reading something by Caspar Weinberger. He always had Golden Retrievers. He was working for Reagan, lost his dog to old age and was down. Reagan told him he needed to get a new one because there was a dog out their that needed his love and I forget the rest. It was I think in Weinberger’s book. It was very touching and sounded like something Reagan would say.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Thank you.
Hip dysplasia is hardly a condition nowadays to euthanize a dog. It is easily treatable and operable. It’s not extreme.
Forty years ago a heart transplant was extreme. Just even working on the heart in surgery was extreme. Vet surgery skills and knowledge to treat conditions with high quality of life has greatly increased.
“They are using sparingly the Cox-2 types drugs like Carpofen”
They should be using it as needed to the max dose. Not all dogs have problems with it. And if there are problems there are other ones to try. Also sometimes there is a flare up and the non-steroidals help the crisis abate and can then be reduced. They are both pain killers and anti-inflamatory.
A Dog for Jesus
(Where dogs go when they die)
I wish someone had given Jesus a dog.
As loyal and loving as mine.
To sleep by His manger and gaze in His eyes
And adore Him for being divine.
As our Lord grew to manhood His faithful dog,
Would have followed Him all through the day.
While He preached to the crowds and made the sick well
And knelt in the garden to pray.
It is sad to remember that Christ went away.
To face death alone and apart.
With no tender dog following close behind,
To comfort its Master’s Heart.
And when Jesus rose on that Easter morn,
How happy He would have been,
As His dog kissed His hand and barked it’s delight,
For The One who died for all men.
Well, the Lord has a dog now, I just sent Him mine,
The old pal so dear to me.
And I smile through my tears on this first day alone,
Knowing they’re in eternity.
Day after day, the whole day through,
Wherever my road inclined,
Four feet said, “Wait, I’m coming with you!”
And trotted along behind.
by: Rudyard Kipling
Have you tried a dog chiropractor?
Nice! I’d never read that one before. Thanks for posting.
Darn dog is old and may be able to use a skateboard or other wheeled device.
My Cocker is 14 and working it still but may need a prosthetic device eventually.
Back in the 90’s I had a 6 year old lab female that developed a bad hip. Took her to the vet...she diagnosed her and said treatment will cost around $700. I asked for some time to come up with the money.
A week later Katie the black lab and I are fishing together. I’m slinging a plastic worm while throwing the ball for her. One throw errantly went into a briar thicket...Katie came out covered from head to toe with hornets.
She never limped again till she died.
there’s an old saying, “three years a young dog, three years a good dog, three years an old dog - anything more is a gift”.
It’s hard to start the process of acknowledging it’s time to start letting go. Took me 6 months to make the decision to send my 11yo gal to the Rainbow to wait for me. For the last three weeks, we did the old sheet-wrap around the body and one person on each side of her to get her outside to do her business, but there were still accidents, and she just didn’t understand why her legs wouldn’t work or why it hurt when we moved her or why she couldn’t sleep in her favorite place anymore and had to sleep in the kitchen instead.
At some point, we all come to the sad realization that quality of life for the dog has to supercede our need to love them and keep them by our side. We realize that hope isn’t enough. I don’t regret the decision to send her on ahead, except that I probably should have made it a little sooner, but love can make one selfish even when we know the object of our love is suffering. I know she loved me enough to forgive me wanting to keep her with me just a little longer.
Life has hard decisions. But we all have to face them sooner or later.
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