Originally Posted By officerminnie Our wonderful Dalmatian, Pepper, is not doing too well tonight. She slipped on the floor in the kitchen the other night and did something to her right rear leg. She was not putting any weight on it after that and, in fact, if she laid down, could not even get back up on her own. I had to lift her hindquarters to help her walk. So I took her to the vet today. They did several x-rays thinking it might be her knee or hip. But after viewing the film, my vet thinks she has arthritis in her spine and is sending her films to a doggy radiologist. She showed me the x-rays and even to me it doesn't look very good. I will hear on Monday what the radiologist says. They gave her prednisone and pain pills and sent us home for the weekend. Pepper is almost 13 years old and of course, a huge part of our family. It is so very sad to watch her look so defeated when she tries to get around on her own and can't do it. You can just look at her face and see that she is so sad. I know we are going to have to make that awful decision sooner rather than later and I hope I will be able to put her well being first. I hate this part of having pets, when they hit their "twilight years" - it is so hard! Thanks for listening...I will keep you posted.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss Sorry to hear about your doggy. I found this through Google: <a href="http://www.vetionx.com/arthro-ionx_dog.php" target="_blank">http://www.vetionx.com/arthro-..._dog.php</a> I don't have any experience with the supplement; you might ask you vet about it.
Originally Posted By Tinkeroon I am so sorry to hear about your sweet Pepper officerminnie...we put that decision off when our dog Strudel got older and because it was so hard we really waited too long. I hated to think of her suffering but I couldn't bear to lose her either. If we could do it again I would have taken her in long before. But for now, it may be that Pepper just needs to rest her legs and take her meds and have everyone make a fuss over her. A bit of TLC can go a long way. She may be fine. Especially with the warmer weather on the way. It will probably ease her joints. We wish her well and a speedy recovery. Hugs to you all too!
Originally Posted By smedley I'm sending hugs, I too hope the vet comes up with something to help, could you heat a blanket for her to lay on to help ease the pain a little too perhaps??
Originally Posted By Lady Starlight Twilight years are the very hardest to have to endure when we love our furry family members so very very much. Pepper is very lucky to have such a wonderful loving family .I hope the suppluments help. My sincerest thoughts are with you and your beloved Pepper.
Originally Posted By Lil Mermaid Sorry to hear about Pepper. Don't stress out too much about making any decisions yet until you hear back from the vet. My mom's dog lived about 4 years till her death at age 16 with arthritis. Things could be fine with some daily medication. Tess and Tucker send good puppy vibes and treats your way.
Originally Posted By Lil Mermaid When I was talking about my mom's dog, I should say she lived 4 happy years. She was doing great. She wasn't 6 anymore but she was still obsessed with chasing the cat.
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 >>You can just look at her face and see that she is so sad.<< I know that look all too well. It's probably also tinged with embarassment I send hugs and hope that the meds work and if not, that you have time to make the best decision for all. If you aren't experienced with arthritis, it's like a burning, singe feeling sometimes ending in mind numbing pain and other times it works itself out in seconds. I have it in my thumbs and a couple of spots in my feet and I can deal with it as I understand what is happening. I'd imagine that in a dog, the first feeling of pain would stop them cold. I'm really hopeful that some good meds will do the trick for Pepper
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 an addition......I am on a few supplements, people versions of what trekkeruss posted the link for. If it does turn out to be arthritis, I have found great improvements in motion using the supplements. As always, just imoho, I just wanted to give you some positive thoughts
Originally Posted By LuLu My dalmatian CoCo sends hugs to Pepper! Dals are prone to hip dysplasia and tho CoCo is only 5, she looks like she may have/get it. I'm sure your vet would know if Pepper has this. We wish you all the best with your beloved puppy dog!
Originally Posted By debtee Ohh No so sorry to hear about your darling Pepper. My boys Woody & Toby send comfort hugs. Please keep us posted on how she is doing.
Originally Posted By JazzCat Your poor dog and family! My thoughts and prayers are with you my friend.
Originally Posted By officerminnie Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts, comments, and suggestions. Pepper is actually putting some weight on her leg today and her tail is wagging . She is able to get up from laying down all by herself and can go down the stairs but needs help going up them. LuLu, the vet did do x-ray views of the hips (which she said was verrrry uncomfortable for Pepper) but they looked to her to be okay. The stuff with the spine though, even I could see was not good. Tomorrow I will find out what the specialist has to say and I will let all of you fellow animal lovers know.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Oh, I am sorry to chime in soooo late. I hope Pepper is still on the road to recovery. Hope there is good news to come from the specialist.
Originally Posted By beamerdog I am so very sorry to hear about your doggie. Now, hoping that no one will laugh at me here, I'm going to make several suggestions. 1. No one can make an accurate assessment of hip damage without putting the dog under general anesthesia. A PENN hip exam is the only reliable test and only certain vets are certified to to it. So, I wouldn't have it done at her age and please don't worry about it. I think that the supplements are a good idea. 2. When Jackson was in a car accident with me, he was exhibiting a duplication of my injuries! At Canine Partners, we have a vet who does chiropractic medicine and also Acupuncture!! She worked on him and he received acupuncture on his back. She said he would probably be knocked out (which he was for almost a day) but it should help (yes, it did tremendously). So, if Pepper starts to exhibit limping and expressions of pain, give acupuncture a try. Also, at her age, seeing a chiropractor wouldn't be a bad idea. 3. I had a dog with progrssive spinal nerve damage. Does Pepper drag her feet (foot curled under dragging along the toenails)? Don't give up right away. Do you have dogs in your police department (I think I remember that your name had a meaning)? Maybe they can find you a good vet who practices these methods. Give Pepper a snout kiss and tummy rub from me and an ear nuzzle from Jackson
Originally Posted By beamerdog Oooo, oooo, oooo. I forgot to mention that prednisone will make her pee much more than usual, so be sure to take her out tons.
Originally Posted By officerminnie ^^^^^ Yes, I remember the predisone pee issues! Pepper was on it a few years ago for her shoulder. Although the vet said she gives a lower dose these days after new studies have shown that more is not always better with prednisone, and that seems to really curtail the peeing. Here's the update: Pepper is getting around much better, can even get out the doggie door! Still favoring the leg, but bearing some weight on it. Seems happy, lots of tail wagging and appetite is good. The radiologist said there are multiple issues with her spine, calcium deposits and discs that are sort of "crumbling" (I forget what term he used for that). He also thinks she may have torn her ACL, but I'm not sure how he gets that from an x-ray, so it might be a ploy to try to get me to pay the big bucks for an MRI (which I won't be doing on a 13 year old dog, because I wouldn't put her through surgery at this point in her life, which would be the only reason to do an MRI in the first place). So the general plan is not to try to "fix" her, but to make her as comfortable as we can. Continue prednisone and pain pills as needed (we will gradually cut back the prednisone unitl she is down to 1 pill every-other-day). As she gets settled into this routine, I will look at some of the alternatives you have all suggested. Thank you again for all your support and suggestions, and please thank all your furry friends for their good wishes as well .
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 I'll continue to send good thoughts for Pepper. Sounds like she is adapting well, the tail wagging must be extra cute to see
