1125 replies to this topic

[Poison Arrow Frog]

frogtwang, on 30 January 2012 - 11:30 PM, said:

I'm going to look into the Glyco-Flex III. Thanks for the suggestion. Do you give the treats or the tablets?

She's starting to favor her left side(and right side some, but not as much) when she gets up from a nap or from sleeping. Once she gets moving and works out the soreness she seems to be fine. Makes me second guess and almost regret putting her through the pains of surgery since she's still having the arthritic symptoms. Hind sight is always 20/20, I suppose.

I now know to do better research when selecting a pure breed. I knew she was going to be big, but wasn't expecting 120 lbs big. She's so sweet though. Labs are amazing dogs. So people friendly, she only wants to please. When I take her to the dog park she has to go say hello to all the humans before playing with the other dogs.

my doggie prefers dogs to people, although he really loves people, too!  Plus he is a great farter, too--one of the gifts God gave him.... along with his considerable burping talents.

[Poison Arrow Frog]

frogtwang, on 30 January 2012 - 11:39 PM, said:

Newfies and Labs are very similar, both originate from the St John's Water dog.

From wikipedia


History

Nell – A St. John's Water Dog circa 1856

The modern Labrador's ancestors originated on the island of Newfoundland, now part of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.^[8] The founding breed of the Labrador was the St. John's Water Dog, a breed that emerged through ad-hoc breedings by early settlers of the island in the 16th century.^[8] The forebears of the St. John's Dog are not known, but were likely a random-bred mix of English, Irish, and Portuguese working breeds. The Newfoundland (known then as the Greater Newfoundland) is likely a result of the St. John's Dog breeding with mastiffs brought to the island by the generations of Portuguese fishermen who had been fishing offshore since the 16th century. The smaller short-coated St. John's Dog (also known then as the Lesser Newfoundland) was used for retrieval and pulling in nets from the water. These smaller dogs were the forebears of the Labrador Retriever. The white chest, feet, chin, and muzzle - known as tuxedo markings - characteristic of the St. John's Dog often appear in modern Lab mixes, and will occasionally manifest in Labradors as a small white spot on the chest (known as a medallion) or stray white hairs on the feet or muzzle.

The St. John's area of Newfoundland was settled mainly by the English and Irish. Local fishermen originally used the St. John's dog to assist in carrying ropes between boats, towing dories, and helping to retrieve fishnets in the water. The Labrador's loyalty and hard working behaviour were valuable assets for fishermen.^[9]

A number of St. John's Dogs were brought back to the Poole area of England in the early 19th century,^[8] then the hub of the Newfoundland fishing trade, by the gentry, and became prized as sporting and waterfowl hunting dogs.^[8] A few kennels breeding these grew up in England; at the same time a combination of sheep protection policy (Newfoundland) and rabies quarantine (England) led to their gradual demise in their country of origin.^[10]

A surviving picture of Buccleuch Avon (b.1885), a foundational dog of many modern Labrador lineages.

The first and second Earls of Malmesbury, who bred for duck shooting on his estate,^[11] and the 5th and 6th Dukes of Buccleuch, and youngest son Lord George William Montagu-Douglas-Scott,^[11] were instrumental in developing and establishing the modern Labrador breed in 19th century England. The dogs Avon ("Buccleuch Avon") and Ned given by Malmesbury to assist the Duke of Buccleuch's breeding program in the 1880s are considered the ancestors of modern Labradors.^[12]

The first St. John's dog was said to be brought to England around 1820; however, the breed's reputation had spread to England long before. There is a story that the Earl of Malmesbury saw a St. John's Dog on a fishing boat and immediately made arrangements with traders to have some of these dogs exported to England. These ancestors of the first labradors so impressed the Earl with their skill and ability for retrieving anything within the water and on shore that he devoted his entire kennel to developing and stabilizing the breed.^[9]

I am so sorry your doggie is hurting.  I hope he feels better soon!

[purpledawg]

frogtwang, on 30 January 2012 - 11:30 PM, said:

I'm going to look into the Glyco-Flex III. Thanks for the suggestion. Do you give the treats or the tablets?

She's starting to favor her left side(and right side some, but not as much) when she gets up from a nap or from sleeping. Once she gets moving and works out the soreness she seems to be fine. Makes me second guess and almost regret putting her through the pains of surgery since she's still having the arthritic symptoms. Hind sight is always 20/20, I suppose.

I now know to do better research when selecting a pure breed. I knew she was going to be big, but wasn't expecting 120 lbs big. She's so sweet though. Labs are amazing dogs. So people friendly, she only wants to please. When I take her to the dog park she has to go say hello to all the humans before playing with the other dogs.

How old is Molly? I went back to look at the other thread, but I don't think you told us her age.

Here's the HealthyPets.com page for Glyco-Flex III.  It's made from New Zealand mussles. Keep in mind that for the first 6 weeks she's on it, you'll be giving Molly 5 of them per day. After that, the maintenance dose is 3 per day. I use the tablets for my dog because she eats everything I put in front of her. I just pop the big tablet in her food and she doesn't even realize it's there. My dachshunds prefer the chewies. I'll caution you that once you put her on it, try to always keep her on it or something just as effective. You'll see a huge difference in her mobility and she'll feel so much better that it would be inhumane to take that away from her.

Another couple of suggestions, if you don't mind. Does she like to sleep on a dog bed? Try to always encourage her to do this instead of sleeping on the hard floor. That will help with her soreness when she gets up and will also be much more comfortable on her tired joints. Low heat would be a good idea, too, if she'll tolerate it under the cover of her bed. I use a heating pad on low and put it under the outer cover of my dog's bed and then I throw a light, small blanket over the top of the bed for an extra layer between the pad and the dog. Also, make sure the bed is thick and substantial so that the innerds don't mush down and flatten out like cheap cedar beds. Even if you just get a piece of memory foam cut at the fabric store and cover it with an old sheet, that's much better than an inexpensive Wal-Mart bed.

Lastly, and then I'll stop my unsolicited advice, slow, steady, consistent exercise is much better than anything else. A regular couple of mid-length walks everyday would be perfect. You want to avoid stressing the joints, but they do need regular use to maintain strength.

My Velvet sounds like Molly when it comes to people. We use Vel as our "tester dog" when new dogs come for a visit before we agree to board them. Well, instead of doing her job telling me if the new dog will fit in, she'd rather chat up the people and get lovin' from them! Velvet starts "Reading with Velvet" tomorrow with the local second grade kids. She'll be in heaven!

Good luck with Molly. Let us know how it goes.

[frogtwang]

She just turned 4, I've had her since she was 6 weeks old.

I bought her a nice "therapeutic" bed for her kennel, but she ends up flipping it up or kicking it out of her kennel and sleeps on the plastic tray. It had some ties to fasten it to the kennel but she chewed them off so she could get to the cooler plastic. She usually sleeps in bed with me and has stolen my pillow on more than one occasion.

Thank you very much for your suggestions, I really appreciate your insight. I will definitely keep you posted.

[frogtwang]

http://i1111.photobu...go/ea122d7c.mp4

[purpledawg]

frogtwang, on 31 January 2012 - 11:03 AM, said:

http://i1111.photobu...go/ea122d7c.mp4

You gotta watch out for those feathers. They can be bad news.

Was her left hip as bad as her right hip is? Her right femur doesn't sit correctly at all and you can see the cartilage forming where it shouldn't. And, that xray was four years ago. Poor girl. She must be really uncomfortable. I don't think you should beat yourself up at all for having the surgery done when she was younger. You've probably saved her a lot of pain. You might consider doing the other one now and give her more relief. Canine hip dysplasia is the most researched orthopedic malady and new treatments are being adapted all the time. Do you live in FW/D? There are a couple of great vets in the area who are specialists in orthopedics who I'd recommend.

Since Molly doesn't like warm beds, how about one of the cooler water beds? Have a look at this. It's also good for doggies with joint pain. We got one of these several years ago in Texas and after a hot day outside in the summer, we'd wrestle with our dogs to use it. It never leaked, either. Very durable construction.

One more suggestion. These pet cots are the bomb. We have about 8 of them for our boarding dogs and everyone loves them. We recommend them to our clients all the time and they all tell us how much their dogs like them, too. They work well for dogs with joint trouble because they support like a hammock.

Poor Molly is so young! She's got lots of years left, so you've got to make them pain free!

[frogtwang]

That's the post op X-ray. She had TPO surgery, they went in and cut her pelvis in three places, rotated it so that the head of the femur sat in the hip socket more securely and then fastened it back together with a plate and some screws. http://www.vetsurger...ral.com/tpo.htm
You can see the hardware and the screws on the right side.

She has bilateral dysplasia, her right hip was the only candidate for surgery. Her left side had matured too much according to her surgeon. The procedure is generally done before the dog turns a year old. Molly was 11 mos when I took her in for consultation.

The procedure was done at the Dallas Vet Surgical Center in South Lake, don't recall the surgeon's name right off. Was referred by my vet, Paul Hendon from Westcreek Animal Clinic. They studied together at A&M. He was a super nice guy.

That water bed is interesting, wonder if I could add it on top of a more traditional foam type bed. I'm going to have to look into that along with the cot.

You've given me lots of good stuff to read up on tonight at work. Thank you so much!!

[purpledawg]

frogtwang, on 31 January 2012 - 12:19 PM, said:

That's the post op X-ray. She had TPO surgery, they went in and cut her pelvis in three places, rotated it so that the head of the femur sat in the hip socket more securely and then fastened it back together with a plate and some screws. http://www.vetsurger...ral.com/tpo.htm
You can see the hardware and the screws on the right side.

She has bilateral dysplasia, her right hip was the only candidate for surgery. Her left side had matured too much according to her surgeon. The procedure is generally done before the dog turns a year old. Molly was 11 mos when I took her in for consultation.

The procedure was done at the Dallas Vet Surgical Center in South Lake, don't recall the surgeon's name right off. Was referred by my vet, Paul Hendon from Westcreek Animal Clinic. They studied together at A&M. He was a super nice guy.

That water bed is interesting, wonder if I could add it on top of a more traditional foam type bed. I'm going to have to look into that along with the cot.

You've given me lots of good stuff to read up on tonight at work. Thank you so much!!

Dallas Vet Surgical center is the best. You did well there. In looking at the xray pics, I got my left and right mixed up. Too bad she can't have the left done. You'll just have to be consistent with follow up care now. Another thing to try is hydro therapy. Don't know for sure, but there must be a canine PT place in the area by now that does underwater therapy, like treadmill work. Very helpful, just like in humans.

The water bed needs to be placed on a solid surface. We had ours on a hard floor and then moved it to a carpeted floor. I guess if the foam was sturdy enough it would work on a bed. If the instructions for set up are the same as they used to be, you'll have a good laugh. I remember it specifically said not to let the dog watch you put it all together or else he/she wouldn't want to use it.

For sure do the research at work! Don't waste your off time!!

[frogtwang]

Now that I'm looking at it, it was her left side. Sorry about that, it's past my bed time. (I mean d'uh, her bald left posterior is clearly displayed in the bottom photo)

Going to see how the supplements work and then go from there.

[purpledawg]

This is Trixie, our newest Frog Dog, and she's four years old today! We got her in October from Oregon Dachshund Rescue. Wekl and his entourage at the Boise game, along with Finance and his very polite friend, got to meet her. She'll be having a very busy day of celebration, including chowing down on her favorite sweet potato sticks. Everyone tell her HBD.

[FinanceFrog]

how do you know trixie's bday if she was a rescue?

that's besides the point, happy birthday trixie!  enjoy that raw chicken breast i got you.

[purpledawg]

FinanceFrog, on 01 February 2012 - 01:19 PM, said:

how do you know trixie's bday if she was a rescue?

that's besides the point, happy birthday trixie!  enjoy that raw chicken breast i got you.

She was surrendered by her original owners to the rescue people. Thank you, Finance!

[frogtwang]

Happy Bday Trixie from Molly and I!

[Poison Arrow Frog]

Happy Birthday, Trixie! from Dakota, Dave, Cody and I.

[QuilterFrawg]

This is my sweet Sandy.  I had him for 16 years and I miss him every day.  This is how he gave me kisses - looking up at me and squinting his eyes.


And this is Tigger - he is almost 19.  He's deaf and on thyroid meds twice a day.  He's my sweetie pie.

[purpledawg]

Very cute kitties, QF. Orange and white cats are my favorites. My sweet Henry was sort of orange and cream and my doll baby. Miss him dreadfully. RSF will especially want to see more kitty pictures.

[Poison Arrow Frog]

I like kitties.....

I even love big, big kitties (mountain lions).  Anyone know why some people call mountain lions catamounts?

[RSF]

purpledawg, on 04 February 2012 - 09:17 PM, said:

Very cute kitties, QF. Orange and white cats are my favorites. My sweet Henry was sort of orange and cream and my doll baby. Miss him dreadfully. RSF will especially want to see more kitty pictures.

My favorite cat

[NewfoundlandFrog]

RSF, on 06 February 2012 - 09:28 AM, said:

My favorite cat

You're sick. Here, let me help you...

[RSF]

NewfoundlandFrog, on 06 February 2012 - 09:37 AM, said:

You're sick. Here, let me help you...

red X.  


Calling me sick, when I hang out here, is a 98 on the Duh-O-Meter.....