Very Worried - 6 Month Old Puppy

[persephone]

Oh..bugga

Poor little thing.

[pie]

Hi HFB sorry to hear the news

I don't know where the Caning Vale pool is but Ocean Reef Vet have a Hydrotherapy Pool:

http://www.oceanreefvet.com.au/Home/

All the best with it :hugs:

[ILFC]

Oh Hortie, so sad for you and little Ebony. I have a pool- maybe a DOL meet at my place See you at obedience on Monday?

[hortfurball]

Piximatosis kindly gave me permission to quote her PM in case anyone else finds themselves in my position and stumbles across this thread.

I was very sorry to read about your girl Ebony. I know how upsetting it is, and the hardest thing is that every dog's situation is different, so nobody can tell you for sure how the rest of her life will pan out. Kaeleigh's HD (and OCD - elbow dysplasia - at the same time) was diagnosed when she was 12mths old, but she made it to 2 years old just fine... although she was euthanised nearly a month ago now, that wasn't to do with her HD... it was a factor, but she also had cancer and behavioural issues... if she'd only had the HD, believe me she would have lived into ripe old age!!

Ok. There is lots you can do. I know I felt SO much better when I felt like I was DOING something for her.

Although you do want to limit exercise, what you specifically want to limit is really heavy exercise, impact on those joints, or uncontrolled bursts of activity where she might injure herself - you still want her to build up muscle and maintain it, as that will help to keep her joints in place. The better the muscle in the right places, the less likely those joints are to move around. Kaeleigh had walks every day, very slow and steady ones (I have bad knees too so neither of us was going very fast!!) and swimming made a very noticeable difference too. Are you in Sydney or Melbourne? I believe Melbourne has some great dog physio/hydrotherapy places that would be WELL worth a visit!! Acupuncture has also been known to help... if you can get in touch with a good dog chiro or physio I would highly recommend it.

Absolutely keep weight off - Kaeleigh was bordering on underweight for the last 12 months of her life and you could really tell when she had put some on, as she started to tire more easily and wasn't able to leap on and off the bed ( ) - she'd get her front end up then get stuck!!

Supplements - I gave Kaeleigh Nutralife Joint Food, which had Glucosamine, Chondroitin, MSM, Vitamin C, zinc, and various other things in it, all of which are needed to work together for proper joint support. It is a human supplement and I take it too Now from memory it is Glucosamine Sulfate rather than Glucosamine Hydrochloride, and the GS can sometimes cause upset tummies. Kaeleigh was very very prone to upset tummies, but this didn't set her off - still it's something to watch out for, okay? Just start her off on very small amounts initially and build up to the full dose. Kaeleigh had this twice a day. She also had fish oil capsules, which work as a natural anti-inflammatory, and make their coats look pretty too

What do you feed? Can I recommend asking Steve for her input on diet, as quite a few factors can come into play with joint degeneration etc. One thing she recommended to me, was squeezing a fresh orange on her meal every day, as this contains Vitamin C and everything else that is needed by the body to utilise the Vit C properly. I only did this every couple of days, though, as the joint supp contained Vit C too and I didn't want to overdo it - as I said she was quite prone to tummy upsets

And for you personally - please, try not to worry too much. Of course you will be upset at this stage, but with proper management your girly could well be fine for many years yet. As I said, those last 8 months or so of Kaeleigh's life, to look at her you wouldn't have known she had joint problems. Enjoy every single day you have with her and deal with any complications as they come - they might never eventuate.

I hope this helps. Absolute best of luck to you and your girl.

[hortfurball]

Oh Hortie, so sad for you and little Ebony. I have a pool- maybe a DOL meet at my place See you at obedience on Monday?

Ooh, pool, the magic word That would be lovely if your OH doesn't object to dogs in pools.

I'm going to have to figure out how to teach her to swim.

[tramissa]

Daw, I loves our Pixie Great advice!!

With my girl, I held her and walked into the pool. Sat down and let her put her feet on the bottom. Then (because she's small it's easier), I usually put one hand under her belly and let her paddle away and she can't go anywhere.

[Jean26]

I've only just read this Hort.

Hoping for the best. I've seen Ebony do zoomies in your yard!

Can you get a doggie life jacket??

Edited November 9, 2007 by RiverStar

[hortfurball]

Daw, I loves our Pixie Great advice!!

With my girl, I held her and walked into the pool. Sat down and let her put her feet on the bottom. Then (because she's small it's easier), I usually put one hand under her belly and let her paddle away and she can't go anywhere.

hehe, 'small' is so relative! I consider Ebony small enough to carry everywhere! :thumbsup:

After lugging 25 kilo bags of potting mix, a 14.4 kilo puppy isn't much at all!

Will try that technique, thanks.

Riverstar, yes, she has a doggie life jacket, it is tall and strong and would never let her sink!

[ILFC]

Oh Hortie, so sad for you and little Ebony. I have a pool- maybe a DOL meet at my place See you at obedience on Monday?

Ooh, pool, the magic word That would be lovely if your OH doesn't object to dogs in pools.

I'm going to have to figure out how to teach her to swim.

Nah- we're trying to figure out how to get Grover in- he's quite scared as the steps are a bit steep. It's quite a deep pool. We didn't put it in, it was there when we bought the house, so I'll let you know how it goes.

[Guest Piximatosis]

BTW I taught Kaeleigh to swim by throwing a stick into the middle of the dam and watching her go leaping after it

She also spent a lot of time swimming with Cordelia's dogs, Cordelia and Cyclone, and she improved a fair bit by watching them.

[Guest Piximatosis]

BTW I taught Kaeleigh to swim by throwing a stick into the middle of the dam and watching her go leaping after it

She also spent a lot of time swimming with Cordelia's dogs, Cordelia and Cyclone, and she improved a fair bit by watching them.

[Yancelby]

Hi Horty, Very sorry to hear about Ebony's HD.

Here is a link for a pool in Perth.

http://www.users.bigpond.com/ozschnauzers/DogPool2.html

But I am sure that by now Bikle has given you the other info

Good luck.

ETA: I think this pool is advertised in the Sunday Times...maybe Saturday West, but I'm sure I have seen it advertised in one of the weekend papers...racking brain..not working...eeeekkkk

Edited November 10, 2007 by Yancelby

[hortfurball]

Thanks Yancelby, I've emailed them to find out more.

[~JoLu~]

Hi HFB....

Sorry to read about Ebonys HD. DOLers have once again been able to provide some excellent advice and I know you'll do your best for her - she is such a sweet little thing who wouldn't

We have a pool too, however are probably a bit too far north for you. We haven't taken Lulu in yet, but Jonty will only get in by standing on one of the kids boogy boards that I'd hold onto and push him around on. Eventually he'd fall off and then dog paddle to the steps and run zoomies around the pool. Of course that was fine last summer when he was only 3 - 5 months old!!! Don't know how he'll go yet now that he's 40kgs or so - don't think he'll fit on the boards anymore

Also Kong make a floating Kong that has a rope attached to one end that he would sometimes dive in for.

Best of luck....

[~Archie~]

Joint Guard would be perfect!

It has Glucosamine & Chondroitin as well as MSM

We have a Labrador with HD and it has really helped him.

The Glucosamine helps to build up the joints and the Chondroitin stops further deterioration and break down, the MSM is a natural anti inflammatory.

You can start it at a young age and it isnt harmful at all, it means you can keep feeding a puppy diet

[percyk]

im sorry to hear ur news Hortfurball

i had a german shepherd

from good lines

went to a lot of trouble getting him cos i lived in NT and he was in brissy

he was diagnosed with hip dys when he was about 12 months although i suspected it...bunny hopping from a young pup

but couldnt get to sydney til xmas

every case is a bit different

and i know urs sounds severe

my dog was put on these little red pills..he didnt have to take them all the time...only on and off

im sorry i dont know what they were ...this was over 20 years ago

he lived on acreage with my dad in the end...he was no athlete but he lived til 13 and he still had quality of life rounding up geese and just hanging out with my dad who was an avid gardener and at 75 plus wouldnt have been into flyball anyway

so

im not giving u false hope

maybe this is just for others who read ur thread and think the worst

we did keep his weight down ...he was a fine looking shepherd...

thanks for posting...from this we learn

all the best...please keep updating

[bilby]

You know where my pool is. Might be a bit far, but you're welcome to come up & use it anytime. I have got a ramp somewhere too.

If I'm not there & it's full of young men, select the one with dreadlocks & tell him to put the dogs away, get the lads out & to nick off round to the orange tree & get you a bagful.

His mates are country boy dog-owners/lovers .. so if you need any help, just give them directions.

(((((((((((((( Ebony)))))))))))))))))))))

[hortfurball]

You know where my pool is. Might be a bit far, but you're welcome to come up & use it anytime. I have got a ramp somewhere too.

If I'm not there & it's full of young men, select the one with dreadlocks & tell him to put the dogs away, get the lads out & to nick off round to the orange tree & get you a bagful.

His mates are country boy dog-owners/lovers .. so if you need any help, just give them directions.

(((((((((((((( Ebony)))))))))))))))))))))

:D ;) ;) :D

Think I'll wait 'til you're home thanks!! :D

Dammit, this may mean you see me in bathers after all! :D Better wear shades, you might go snow blind!

I would love to visit you and ILFC to borrow your pools to get her into the water and used to it, but then I can go to the one in Canning Vale. I don't want to just throw her in, would prefer a more gentle introduction, walking in with her but don't actually want to go into the water at CV as there could be 20 or 30 dogs going in it every day and that doesn't sound quite clean enough for me!

We'll just have to be careful of the frogs at your place!

[hortfurball]

Have done some research on food brands - a couple of threads started in this forum recently re food and supplements were very helpful.

Thanks Gomez The Norfolk for this link

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/

Really helpful for me in making my decision to keep going with Advance and buy Joint Guard powder.

Silly me didn't get it online though and probably just paid too much.

I'll actually switch Kuges over to Joint Guard too, as at the moment he gets his Chondroitin from Eukanuba and his Glucosamine as human supplements, but misses out on the MSM, Vit C and other stuff, whatever the other stuff does.

2.5g of Joint Guard Powder contains

• Glucosamine HCI 500 mg
  
• Chondroitin Sulfate 400 mg
  
• MSM 51 mg
  
• Manganese Gluconate 45.5 mg
  
• Calcium Ascorbate (Vit C) 80 mg
  
• Zinc 2.1 mg
  
• Copper 0.17 mg
  
• Vitamin E 1.5 mg
  

[Kaz]

I have two HD dogs here at the moment. They get all the above mentioned supplements but I have put them all on Royal Canin Giant Breed as this food is geared towards joint support.

The new rottweiler seems to have improved since she arrived here a couple of weeks ago. I think part of this might be due to a portion of oily fish she has included in her food every day.

I hear an RC Dane formula has just been released in France and I will be trying it out when it is released in Australia.