Hello, we're hoping that someone can shed some light on the problems that we are having with our nine year old Mal, Codie or recognise the symptoms he is showing. The big lad, as he is affectionately known, has been grumbling when laying down for over a year now. We mentioned it to our vet last January when he was having his jabs but it was mild then and our vet didn't seem too concerned. Fast forward to November eleventh and he had something of an episode. He was distressed, wouldn't settle and was in obvious discomfort. We considered taking him to the emergency vet but we finally got him settled. Next day we took him to the vet and he palpated him and identified pain in his back and prescribed Rimadyll. We also had bloods done that were unremarkable. Next step was to have x-rays which showed nothing abnormal in his back but did show severely arthritic hips. We also had an ultrasound of his abdomen area as the vet noted his spleen was slightly enlarged. Again nothing abnormal. The hip thing was a shock to us as he has always had such an active life. He was walking ten miles around Yorkshire in June and again in Pembrokeshire in September without any discomfort. Such was the severity of the arthritis that we were referred to Abington with a view to hip replacements. We have been to see the head surgeon there and again he identified the pain in his back and he was booked in for an MRI. We are awaiting the results but the nurse said that she saw nothing abnormal with his disks. That leaves us with just his hips and his grumbling is now very bad. Whenever he lies down he makes such a noise that is so distressing to hear and continues to grumble as he lies and it is horrible to see him in such pain. It seems to be getting worse on a daily basis now and certainly worse since Christmas. Abington prescribed Previcox - NSAID - but this seems to have had zero affect. The problem is that the symptoms he is displaying seem to bear no relation to hip problems. We think this may be coincidental. He continues to trot along with no apparent discomfort, no stiffness, he is playful and as long as he is standing up he is quite happy. As soon as he lies down he appears to be in chronic pain. Especially the act of lying down itself. Watching him, he puts his hips down first with no grumbling, then his chest goes down like a ton of bricks and at this point he shows pain. We are waiting to speak to the vet from Abington regarding his MRI but I just don't think that we have discovered the source of his pain and it is horrible to see. We are just hoping that someone on here might recognise what is happening to Code or maybe have experienced something similar.
Sounds like old age arthritic - big dogs trend to get this earlier then smaller dogs & only seem to effect them when they lie down & getting up.
My old lad suffered badly with HD and arthritis. He was a Border Collie and just loved to lie on hard floors, but we bought him a thick mattress type bed which we were sure he would reject. However, after luring him to it, he never lay down anywhere else after that. He really did seem to find comfort in it. We ran through the range of pain killers. With Sam, it was Metacam that seemed to work best, but, as the vet explained, some pain killers work better than others for some dogs and it did take a bit of trial and error to find that this was the one that worked best for him I hope you find some relief for your boy. Everything you describe sounds in line with progressive arthritis.
I have little to add to what has been stated above. Amongst the approx. thirty dogs I have owned, I have had two which had Hip Dysplasia, (a Golden Retriever, and a Cavalier). Both of these moved soundly enough at exercise, but did show pain when rising - the Cavalier's symptoms did seem to mimic spinal pain, even though the problem was actually in her hips. Both of these cases were before the days of scans or hip replacement for dogs, they only had pain relief. The Cavalier was pts when her pain became too acute, the Golden coped much better and made it into her early teens, She was eventually pts with an aggressive skin cancer. I don't know whether any of this is relevant to you, but I do hope that more modern vet. procedures are able to help your boy.
What do you feed him Sophie? Diet can have a huge impact on health. I'd look at a species appropriate diet such as the BARF diet.
Sorry to hear about your boy, have you tried ‘turmeric’ with Glucosamine & Chondroitin if hes on other medication id clear it with your vet first. It might also be worth asking your vet if he could refer you to a Veterinary Chiropractic .
Hi Hank, we have hard wooden floors and a tiled kitchen floor. He has a multitude of beds dotted around everywhere and fleece throws and we've purchased rugs also but he always weaves between all the beds and rugs to lie on the hard cold floor :/ I think we might have the floor carpeted with a thick underlay and then he won't have a choice - I'm sure it would help as it would stop the cold rising up through his poorly joints. We are waiting to hear from the vet as to what his MRI results are and will have to tell him the Previcox doesn't seem to be doing anything. hank
Hi Carole, many thanks for your reply, we are still waiting to speak to the vet about the results of the MRI. Codie does have spinal pain but the nurse that we saw when we picked him up after the MRI said that it looked ok but obviously the vet would be able to interpret it better. When he lies down his hips go down first and he shows no pain - it's only when his chest touches the ground that he shows discomfort. When he gets up from lying down he has no stiffness or pain and is moving freely straight away. We are looking into accupuncture and laser therapy now - we will try anything! C
Hi Azz, yes we have him on BARF diet and he has wolf of wilderness dry as bedtime treat. Supplements - turmeric, yumove, vit c, keepers mix, coconut oil, salmon oil.
Hi Hi Vee, we give him various supplements - turmeric, yumove (glucosamine/chondroitin) vit c, keepers mix, coconut oil, salmon oil. He loves his bedtime treat of coconut oil mixed with the turmeric and salmon oil - goes nuts for it We've read lots of good things about laser therapy and accupuncture and have found a place in leicestershire that does both (S.T.A.R rehabilitation & physical therapy for dogs) we are going to see our vet and ask her to refer us there as they specialise in pain management mainly through laser and accupuncture.
Personally I would stick to the Barf diet - Wolf of Wilderness seems to contain alfalfa and yeast as well as other ingredients I wouldn't want to feed my dog. What is yumove and keepers mix?
http://www.lintbells.com/products/yumove http://www.vetuk.co.uk/dog-suppleme...nd-mineral-c-5_222/dorwest-keepers-mix-p-2024
Bless to Codie! Any update? How is MRI? My dog Ares is 5 yrs old, I give him Dasuquin joint supplement daily, because he was diagnosed for HD. You may try Dasuquin MSM formula if the result of MRI relates to hips problem. That is the stronger version of Dasuquin, works well on pain release. Hope Codie gets recovered soon!
