Melo

Thanks Kelly, We don't exactly know what has caused it, but our Shepherd boy has been pretty rough with her over the years so we were kind of expecting there to be problems from that. The vet could not say whether it would get worse and obviously if she shows signs of more pain or discomfort then she will have more injections and/or drugs, but for now we have to try and keep her fit and lean to help the other leg. Yeah I have just been reading about Joint Guard so might give that one a try, I think but I will have to check but I think she has had the catrophen injections. Anyway, thanks for your replies and encouragement it has very much been appreciated.

O.K, feeling a little more relaxed now. Hubby had a very long and in depth appointment with the vet, was showed lots of xrays and basically she has a slight seperation in her elbow joint on her front left leg. Its not arthritis or a break, but just the seperation which is causing her very minor discomfort and obviously a bit stiff of a morning and after a rest. Not alot that can be done, he is not keen to operate as there is no guarantee of a fix and could even make it worse, and can give her some drugs to ease the pain but he did not think she was in enough pain to warrant it. So from now on I am to give her 2 short walks (20 minutes each) a day and take her swimming when I can, this is to get her to use the leg more (which she does when walked) and stop any muscle de-generation in that leg and prevent more problems with her opposite leg taking all the strain. Phew, I hope that makes sense, does to me anyway. I was thinking I will also put her on another joint supplement of some type, we have had her on Sasha's blend with no results so may look into something else.

Well to anyone that may have been wondering :p , Tara had the xrays done yesterday but we are still none the wiser as nothing was found , hubby has another appointment with the vet tomorrow to discuss options.

Hi Aki , I have been lurking now and again just not posting. The vets were reasonably sure Tara had arthritis to start with and she has had the injections and different medications, nothing really seemed to give her much relief, although I must admit right now she has been off the tablets 3 days (none left) and it is really showing her limp ;) but I also have not walked her the last 3 either and I have one very frustrated and peeved little girl Well only 5 more days to wait! (Thanks for the web address Aki )

ooooo, thanks peigirl I will give the blueberries a try. It has been a nightmare few months with this girl and I won't go into the diagnosis of her pooing problem as that was a very long saga, but basically we have to make sure she has excess firbre in her diet ie she gets bran and extra veggie mix (barf diet) and also a little dry dog food to help the process, it has been very difficult to get that part of diet right as she got terrible stomache pains if we had it wrong. But I love her to bits and will do anything to get her better, as I am sure everyone else feels about their dogs (who are on the forum anyway). :D

Thanks for your replies, I just want to cry when I look at her now as I just knew something more was wrong but kept trying to put it too the back of my mind trying to have faith in the vets (tried before and the vets have failed me countless times although not this vet in particular). Kelly_Louise, it was your post regarding your dog that made me think again, and made the call yesterday to the vet requesting the xrays to be done and I mentioned the cruciate ligament of which he said 'oh she may not have', hmmmm she may have as well! Oh well all I can do is sit and wait now, roll on Tuesday I say. I am not wanting to take her on her usual morning walk until I get a diagnosis, but damn thats hard when she insists and will not eat (and starts chewing on shoes etc) if she does not get her walk, plus due to the fact she has problems with passing her 'poos' a walk helps her with that.

Hi all, I have not been posting on dogzonline for sometime, just got attacked a few times and felt deflated. But after reading a few posts under the health section I am panicking and just feel bad. As some may know I have a 6yo female samoyed that has had a limp for the last couple of months, she had been on Sasha's Blend as she was showing slight stiffness beforehand, but she got to the point where she did not like putting weight on one of her front legs. We had to go to the vet for another problem she was having and mentioned the slight limp (was only slight at that stage) and they thought it sounded like arthritis, so she had the course of injections (name escapes me right now) and overtime we have tried 3 different medications (metacalm & rimadryl (sp?) and none of them seem to have helped her with much relief. She is happy in herself and insists on her daily walks (try telling a samoyed no walk today) and during the walks you can barely see the limp, I know its there cause I am aware which leg, but to get up after resting, before the walk and after the walk she has varying degrees of limp. After reading some of the posts here, I rang the vet again today and said 'right time for the x-rays as the drugs are not working', so next Tuesday she is booked in. Arggghhh I am so scared that I: 1. Left her for too long (although my vet was never worried about the limp each time she went in) 2. That I might lose my girl (devastation is too mild a word for how I would feel) and I could go on with my list. Sorry about this long post, but my hubby is away at the moment and I am freaking out.

:cool: So sorry for your loss.

RIP, part of my heart has left with both of you.

Thankyou to you both. Just so you know Gemma was a 13-14yo Samoyed, who started life with me then when I joined the RAAF and had to do 6 months of training mum looked after her. Mum got so attached to her I did not have the heart to take her back when I finished training, so she has lived with them for the past 10 years. Unfortunately a couple of years ago she broke one of her back legs, just running around the backyard with a toy in her mouth which she loved to do, and the other leg had to take the weight for so long that it seemed that arthritis that could have possibly already been there has just gradually got worse. To the point in the last couple of days the drugs were no longer helping and she could not get up or walk, plus she had lost all control of her 'movements'. Mum and Dad made the heartwrenching decision yesterday and today she was off to the vets, they had only made the heartwrenching decision to let Bella (a 14yo malteseX) go a couple of months back, so this has just been a devasting time for them and me.

Goodbye Gemma, Today is the day you get to join your life friend Bella, you have been so much joy to our whole family most of all Mum and Dad who will miss you terribly. We realise your pain could no longer be handled, but know that you are now at rest from this world but playing happily and without pain with Bella biting at your heels. Love always Melissa.