kayla1

My older girl Kayla (about 13 yrs) was diagnosed with a disc-related spinal problem last year. She's been on dexamethasone since then which has helped relieve the pain, and she's been pretty good. However during this time she has become weaker in the hind legs, and has had some slight loss of balance (where she catches herself so doesn't actually fall, always to the right). Earlier this week she had an episode where her legs became weaker and she was very unsteady, leaning to her right. After speaking to the vet chiro, I increased the methasone dosage to daily. Last night I ended up at the vet because she had another episode - became unsteady, fell over, couldn't get up, not sure if her legs were struggling or if it was involuntary movement, some loss of bladder control, eyes wide and pupils dilated - lasted less than a minute I guess and then she got up but was unsteady and weak on her hind legs. The vet I saw last night thought muscle spasm rather than seizure, and prescribed tramadol. Though she didn't show pain when the vet checked her spine. Reflexes good in her left hind leg but slower in her right leg. Last night after that, she had an episode where she got up off the floor kicking out her right hind leg. My poor girl, she seems to have really aged lately, and her behaviour is changing too. The chiro vet that has been treating her is not back until Monday, and I'll speak to him then, but in the meantime I thought someone may have experience with this. Thanks.

The poor little boy. Sorry I don't have any experience with this, but I was just wondering how old he is?

Interesting! We don't very often see this distinction on here when people are discussing dogs with separation anxiety. Does that mean dogs that have trouble coping alone (as opposed to 'separation anxiety') are more likely to respond well to rehabilitation?

Wow, 20 years! How lovely that you had Tammy for her last three years. She looks a beautiful lady.

Some great ideas here, thanks! Really helpful. :) I'll look into these harnesses and also the other suggestions.

I'm looking for recommendations for a support harness for older dogs that are becoming weaker and unsteady on their feet, to help them when walking up steps and on certain surfaces etc. I've seen a few online but am looking for something that will be comfortable (maybe padded?) for them to wear when walking, and with a handle on the back that I can grab easily. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

We need some more senior pics! I'm not sure exactly how old Kayla is but I know she's at least 13 yrs, and Coco is nearly 14 yrs...

What a lovely story! Sounds like Buddy has really landed on his feet. :)

I had a family travel five hours each way to visit one of my foster dogs, then I travelled the same distance to take him there and do the property check. But I had screened them thoroughly before they drove down here so I had a pretty good idea it was going to work out and there was no unnecessary travelling.

That's a lovely photo of Grumpy. I'm very sorry for your loss.

The one that I use is an organic calendula from the local health food shop (packaged by them, no brand name) and it doesn't stain my dog's white patches either.

Has she had x-rays of her spine?

Just wondering, because the grade of the murmur is not always related to how severe the underlying condition is, whether it's possible that despite there being a serious heart condition, the murmur at the time it was checked was actually low grade and hence why it wasn't picked up?

I guess the results are what the laboratories who run the tests gather - they're merely passing them on. I think there is some interest in them, as it does seem to indicate whether there has been 'recent' exposure or not. More importantly, I think, if the titre is done in 2 weeks after a (eg first and/or second) vaccination, it would reveal the success of sero-conversion. I'm with Steve - if I know the immunity is there, I wouldn't re-vaccinate over. Thanks Erny. She did get the C3 earlier today, I decided to give it to her when I was chatting to the vet about the results. Perhaps it was unnecessary then. If it had been one of my older dogs then I wouldn't have considered revaccinating. It's just hard to know sometimes whether you are doing the right thing!

If that's the case, either dogs are immune or they're not, then I wonder what the reason is for giving titre test results in levels?

Bumping this old thread rather than starting a new one. Just adding the parvo titre test results for a couple of my dogs. Maxie's result was greater than 80, and Annie's was less than 5. It's probably been about three years since they had their last vaccination. The vet did explain that Annie may still have immunity, but I guess because it was the parvo result I decided to give her the C3 anyway. It's hard to know what to do though with low results.

It can be risky if the dogs are older and lack balance, coordination, and strength. My two older dogs are medium sized and there is not only the risk of the clam shell tipping up, but also the risk of them not being able to stand up when in there (because they struggle on smooth surfaces). So mine only have access to it when I am home.

Oh yes agree info should have been checked first. Though personally I think the response at the time could have been better.

I think that was a genuine misunderstanding though, if it's the post I'm thinking of.

That confused me too actually...the last one I saw, I first thought it was a RBB. Then I did some googling and it looked more like the copperhead images. So I'm still not sure what it was.

It didn't work for me the first time I tried yesterday, but it worked after that.

Yep. I understand there are benefits through exposure etc but selling pets through pet shops doesn't sit well with me, regardless of where they're from.

I don't know re liver issues, but I don't have a problem with feeding dry food. Although after the recalls in recent years I've become a bit more fussy about which dry foods I feed, and as far as I know the brands I feed now have never been involved with any recall (last time I checked anyway). I see in that link there hasn't been a recall of Purina (yet). There are some very sad stories on the link through to the consumer affairs site though.

What a great story. They've obviously put thought into which colour would be the safest with the residents, so good on them. Lucky Jacob.

That's great to hear.