Old age and arthritis is just the pits sometimes. Buddy has been slowing down as of late. He is having a lot of difficulty in his back left leg, which is the leg he tends to rest on the most. (His amputated leg was his front right leg)He was having good days and bad days with it. He need’s a lot of help getting up. We were assuming it is arthritis so we texted the vet. (Did I mention how awesome she is?) He’s on Vet Best (which has Glucosamine)and Tramadol. We asked if we could increase his Tramadol to ease his discomfort. She thought that would be fine but also suggested adding Gabapentin but at a low dose until he gets used to it. We tried it for 2 days and his condition just got worse. Yesterday, he couldn’t get up at all and needed full assistance. It was like he just couldn’t figure out where his legs were. So we texted the vet last night and she suggested we immediatly take him off of the Gabepentin as it can have a sedating affect but to add in more Tramdol the next day instead as we had first suggested. The hope was that perhaps today he would regain his strength.
Unfortunatly he needed full assistance this morning. We took him out front this afternoon and he still needs full assistance. BUT…he was smiling in the sunshine which was REALLY good to see. There were no smiles in the past few days. He did try really hard to get up on his own but that back leg will just not allow it. So now we are fearful of an ACL problem or perhaps something else. The good news is that he does not appear to be in any major pain. And yep, we know..dogs are pretty stoic about pain. But he smiled a lot in the sunshine today! I’ll take that for now. He is horrified of seeing the vet because remember…he woke up one day there missing his leg! We are frustrated and worried and have decided to wait a few more days to see if the previous drug just needs another day to wear off. I fear we may be off to see the vet wether we like it or not in the next week. Old age is really rough. 
Tag: arthritis
Be careful of salmon oil and helloooo summer!!
Is this not the best face ever?! Summertime is the best time!
Just a quick check in to say hello and to give a warning about salmon oil! We started noticing that Buddy’s walk’s were becoming shorter. Old age and arthritis is starting to take it’s toll. He’s already on a supplement that helps it but I also read that salmon oil can also aide with the discomfort of arthritis. I found a great product sold on Amazon and tried it out. He loved it but unfortunately, it did not love him. We’re talking diareah for 4 day’s straight in the house and out of the house. ( I am very thankful for a carpet cleaner we had bought a few months ago. Oh Lord, I don’t know what I would have done with out it!)We called the vet and they recommended a teaspoon of canned pumpkin. Who would have thought that canned pumpkin helps diareah! Go figure?! Unfortunatly the canned pumpkin was not enough to help him. I came home from work one afternoon to find him shaking and the floor covered in slimey blood. It was a horrifying sight. Off to the vet we went where he recieved fluids, a prescription for probiotics and anitbiotics. They recommended keeping up with the canned pumpkin as well. He had emptyied eveything out of his small intestines and was now dumping everything out of his large intestine which included slimey blood. Tyankfully he was on the mend in 24 hours. Poor guy. I left a polite note on Amazon warning people to be very careful of salmon oil and the adevertiser that sold it to us refunded all our money back and gave us a coupon for $5 towards any of their products. I though that was pretty nice. Salmon oil might be good for some dog’s but it certainly was not ok for our’s. User beware! The funny thing is that ever since this bad episode, his walks have gotten better again! We are chalking it up to the warmer weather and the kids being back from college.
Here’s to warmer weather and sun filled days!
Cheer’s Tripaw family!
