Four long weeks

[WyoBC]

He has been getting his meds for a day and a half now and I think he's starting to feel better. I got him to rest most of the day yesterday down stairs with me. We played some "find" and played with a few rope toys but that was it. The night before last he couldn't hardly walk outside to go the bathroom. I had to carry him down stairs and back up because he couldn't make it. I was starting to feel SO bad about him hurting so much, but the worst thing is I can't really do anyhting other than give him is meds.

 

I took him out with me to the hay field yesterday after noon to get him outside and to work on some stuff. Well I tried working on "sit" "shake" "down" and "up" but he wouldn't do anyhting for me. He was watching birds and everything else except ME! But I figured it was because he had so much energy built up. So I went back to the house and got some extra special treats. He did all his tricks great with no problem, even without the treats. I was so proud of him! Then he got all excited and ran around all nutty. He has started doing the BC spin. Where he just spins and spins around like he's chasing his tail but he doesn't bite at it. It's so funny, but he kind of freaked me out the first time he did it. I thought "great is he crazy now?"

[juliepoudrier]

I may be missing something here, but is he on meds because of the leg injury? If so, I think I would discourage the spinning and any other running type stuff at least till he's finished with the meds. If the meds are for something else, then you can just ignore this advice.

 

J.

[Carson Crazies]

I read on your other thread where he was in so much pain he could barely walk - and dr. says arthritis, right?

 

I'm sorry to be a wet blanket, but I'm concerned about getting Black Jack all better. You know, I'm sorta surprised that they didn't recommend total crate rest for a few weeks. I certainly wouldn't be *encouraging* him to run around like a nut, spin, or to run through all of his tricks. What he really, *really* needs right now is to rest to allow the inflammation in his joints to go down. I went through this a little over a year ago with one of my dogs, so I've had a crash course.

 

Matter of fact, you may want to just go ahead and err on the side of caution. Arthritis is very painful, and I would take it very seriously. It's possible that he can avoid any invasive things (such as surgery) by treating it right, right now. If I were in your place I wouldn't allow any nutty spinning, and I would encourage total rest (crated or beside you if he'll be still) with *only* leash walks for two to three weeks. As he starts to feel better he's going to want to be more active, and that will aggravate his progress. After several weeks of rest I'd start increasing activity very, VERY slowly. If he's not wanting to do his tricks (outside or otherwise) my bet is on him still being in pain - and probably just dealing with it stoically.

 

What are you feeding him?

[WyoBC]

Well the meds are for his shoulder. The vet said he didn't have enough cartilage in it. I'm trying to keep him as calm as possible. He did the spinning thing after I walked him up the hay field. I've pretty much kept him on leash today except letting him walk around down stairs with me. He likes to lay on the couch and sleep while I watch movies Thanks for the advice though. I'll take all I can get since I'm still learning about this. I'm not letting him play as much as it sounds though. That was a one time thing that I'm trying to keep him from doing until he's better. Because if he has to have surgery it will be a LOT longer. I can tell he's still hurting some by the way he's walking. So I still lift him up and help him down when he needs it. I just hope after the four weeks he's better and doesn't have to have surgery.

 

There's a horse clinic in town at the feed store tomorrow so I think I'll take him in there to be around some people. Plus I can sit in the stands to watch it so I can make sure he's not running around. Can I do anything with him that won't hurt his shoulder? Like "find" or something? I'm mainly letting him chew on his bone once in a while to keep him busy during the day.

 

I feed him Exclusive brand dog food, chicken and rice formula. It looks really good, and he seems to be doing great on it. The feed store in town sells it. Here's the web site. PMI Nutrition

[SoloRiver]

Did the vet recommend Adequan for the arthritis? Solo is on Adequan for severe arthritis in his right hip. It's miraculous. He was limping quite badly and now you have to look for the hitch in his gait. The hitch is still there so it obviously isn't a cure, but the thing I like about it is that it's a therapy (it's basically an injectable joint supplement), not just a painkiller. I give Solo the injections at home and right now he seems to be doing best on an injection every week and a half. They're subcutaneous injections so they're very easy to administer and he barely notices.

 

You can do a lot of things to keep Black Jack occupied while he's supposed to be resting. Solo is easily bored and likes complicated projects, so I make him dissection puzzles (suggested in Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson). I'll take some treats and tie them into an old sock with several knots, and then put that inside of a paper or plastic bag with some treats in it, and then put that inside a cardboard box with a couple more treats in it, and give it to him to tear apart. (Obviously be careful if Black Jack is the kind of dog who might eat the box, bag, or sock. Solo isn't.)

 

We also work on thinking exercises like learning the names of toys, or practicing "leave it," or the old clicker standby, "101 Things to Do With a Box."

[SoloRiver]

Did the vet recommend Adequan for the arthritis? Solo is on Adequan for severe arthritis in his right hip. It's miraculous. He was limping quite badly and now you have to look for the hitch in his gait. The hitch is still there so it obviously isn't a cure, but the thing I like about it is that it's a therapy (it's basically an injectable joint supplement), not just a painkiller. I give Solo the injections at home and right now he seems to be doing best on an injection every week and a half. They're subcutaneous injections so they're very easy to administer and he barely notices.

 

You can do a lot of things to keep Black Jack occupied while he's supposed to be resting. Solo is easily bored and likes complicated projects, so I make him dissection puzzles (suggested in Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson). I'll take some treats and tie them into an old sock with several knots, and then put that inside of a paper or plastic bag with some treats in it, and then put that inside a cardboard box with a couple more treats in it, and give it to him to tear apart. (Obviously be careful if Black Jack is the kind of dog who might eat the box, bag, or sock. Solo isn't.)

 

We also work on thinking exercises like learning the names of toys, or practicing "leave it," or the old clicker standby, "101 Things to Do With a Box."

[sandra s.]

Poor Jack! (and poor you...I can just picture myself and Kessie going nuts together, sitting around like that ).

 

Last week she limped a little after romping with Kyla, so I put in a "slow day", too, and to avoid being indoors, I played a little tracking game with her. Asked her to lie down and wait, and walked around the field for a while, dropping a treat every two meters or so. Then I let her search for them, and she did use my tracks as a clue. I think you could play that on a leash, too, unless it's criminally short.

 

As for the pain... this may sound weird, but do you have any music he enjoys? Relaxing to music does reduce pain (works for me, and I'm NOT esoteric), and Kessie sure knows how to do it! Once I had to physically shake her awake after listening to David Gilmour's "On An Island" album.

Apart from that, maybe cooling/warming would help, but I've no experience at all with that sort of thing, maybe someone else has better advice for you.

 

Hope he feels better soon!

[WyoBC]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I'll try those.

 

Well I must be the dumbest bulb in the house because he doesn't have arthritis like I thought. I talked to the vet again today and he said that it was something like not enough cartilage in his shoulder or something like that. I get lost in the big words they use He said that I have to keep him from playing much since he's still favoring his leg a little. So no very long walks, and NO running at all for at least four weeks. (well 26 days now) I can take him to the stock clinic next week but no herding It will still be fun though because I'll be there with him. I just hope that after the four weeks he's better so there will be no need for surgery.

 

I'm lucky that he doesn't eat stuff like paper, socks, etc. He'll rip it a part the spit it out beside him.

[ShoresDog]

I hope he feels better soon. It's really too bad about the stock clinic. I'd been looking forward to hearing about it from you. But there'll be another opportunity at a time that works for you both.

 

Maybe could the vet write down the name of Black Jack's problem for you? Sounds like something you may need to be careful about for the long haul. Solo River's got some great suggestions, and maybe the medication would help Black Jack too?

[books]

Is it possible that the vet said he has Osteochondrosis? Here is a short description of the disease: "Shoulder osteochondrosis, or shoulder OCD, causes a lesion to develop on the head of the humerus, which is the bone in the upper front leg. Although this condition occurs while the dog is growing, some animals will not show signs of disease until they have matured fully and more advanced disease is present. However, the majority of animals show lameness early on, between the ages of five and 10 months. In 25 to 75 percent of the cases, both shoulders are affected. The lameness is usually one-sided and tends to improve with rest. With exercise, though, the lameness recurs. Pain is seen on extension of the shoulder. The amount of arthritis present depends on the size and duration of the lesion. Because osteochondrosis is often bilateral, it is necessary to take x-rays of both shoulders to evaluate the extent of the disease."

[WyoBC]

Is it possible that the vet said he has Osteochondrosis? Here is a short description of the disease: "Shoulder osteochondrosis, or shoulder OCD, causes a lesion to develop on the head of the humerus, which is the bone in the upper front leg. Although this condition occurs while the dog is growing, some animals will not show signs of disease until they have matured fully and more advanced disease is present. However, the majority of animals show lameness early on, between the ages of five and 10 months. In 25 to 75 percent of the cases, both shoulders are affected. The lameness is usually one-sided and tends to improve with rest. With exercise, though, the lameness recurs. Pain is seen on extension of the shoulder. The amount of arthritis present depends on the size and duration of the lesion. Because osteochondrosis is often bilateral, it is necessary to take x-rays of both shoulders to evaluate the extent of the disease."

 

Yeah I think that's probably it. I was just looking up online for what it was and I found OCD. I think he did say OCD too. He moved around his shoulder, and extendend it out. Since he's hoping it will get better without surgery that's probably it. He did also say that he would x-ray it after the four weeks if he wasn't better.