estweyn

Just a question, you mention Hills foods on this thread, our vet pushes the Hills science diet stuff, are Hills made by the same folk??

I had a dog years ago with a mild form of this, he twonked on for a good few years but I know it can cause problems pretty quickly in some cases. Its said to be like MS in humans. Basils back legs became increasingly twonky but he built up muscle in his front quarters to carry the back half better. He didnt seem to get pain from it, the vet said it was as if the nervous system was dying. I made the decision that if he became incontinent and could not get about then I would ease him from this life, but he died at 12 in his sleep. It seems quite individual with each dog. Good luck with your dog, I know you can get little shoes for the foot if they start dragging it and it gets sore.

More tests have been sent off for Josh today, but from the results already recieved the vet seems to be leaning towards saying he has inflammatory bowel disease. Has anyone experienced this with their dog. He has lost approx 15 kl in weight since March this year, the last set of blood tests showed Hepatitis (despite being vaccinated) he went on antibiotics and things settled a little but first day off the antibiotics and we are back to stage one. He has runny pooh but no blood or mucus in it. He gets a bit tired but otherwise is pretty normal. His coat is still in good condition. Its the weight loss really thats of concern. He is an adult male gsd with a big frame so is underweight at this. Any helpful advice would be much appreciated Thanks Avril

Well I have the sciatica and problems with my shoulder but today the old man came home having hurt his back at work digging hole. Two old crocks in the same family. He finds 2 co codomol and 2 ibruprufen helps, heat is good for him too, those microwavable heat cushions are good. He always wears a magnetic bracelet, in his job a bad back is part of life unfortunately. If it goes on more than a couple of days he goes to chiropracter who gives ultra sound to his back and he swears by that. Hope you soon feel better

I just wondered what food you feed at the moment?

GREAT NEWS, HE HAS TURNED UP AND IS IN THE COUNCIL POUND, SHE IS COLLECTING HIM ON MONDAY. just shows how important it is to microchip. The pound actually contacted her to say he had been found and was registered to her.

Picked up some good tips for myself here Really agree with the resting and then pottering bit,not overdoing one activity, my house is now cleaned in bits and pieces rather than right through like it used to be.

Yes Mrs Mopp, she has been checking all local pounds etc first. Fingers crossed he will turn up, he looks a lovely dog

I vary my doggy walks according the the leg- if its not too bad then we go further but if its a bad day we go to a field where I can throw the ball for him. It is important to keep moving though or you sieze up

OMG tell me about it. Had problems for years but since Oct last year its gone out of control. Finally had to more of less force my gp to let me have an mri, the results show L4 L5 and S1 herneated discs, pressing on two roots(nerves) and compressing the thoric sac - think thats the right word aint got my report in front of me. So now after nearly eight months we are at the stage of awaiting surgery. So my advise is this - your doc will want to wait approx 3 months to see if the problem resolves itself. If after this time he wont refer you (mine was a pain- no pun intended) then you can ask for a referal. Or if you are in Westfield you can start the ball rolling earlier by seeing a consultant privately, you can get the consultation fee back. This jumps you up the q a bit. If you get problems with waterworks or bowel function go to a + e , not kidding here, it can be very serious. Also if problems where the ankle becomes floppy then go to a+e. Daily, I can walk for about half an hour max, sometimes it kicks in severely before that. So its a case of arranging your day around your pain... sorry but thats all you can do really. I try to keep off the drugs as much as possible because I felt like a zombie but take them when its a bugger. Unfortunatly its a case of waiting it out to see if it sorts itself out, heat or ice packs my help but didnt do me an aipeth of good, you could try the tens machines, they are only about a tenner from Lloyds pharmacy, but again they didnt help me. I went to chiropractor because I could claim back 75% of cost on my Westfield, but he gave up on me and said I needed surgery (that was January) but did the doctor listen -no! My doc insisted I go back to work in Feb this year to see if I could manage it, I told him there was no way I could be active for eight hours a day, he thought I was kidding, I just despaired at times and it got me very down that people and docs sometimes prefer to believe that people are pulling the wool over their eyes. Fortunately for me I have a good boss who took one look at me and sent me home. Good luck and let us know your progress, but I would say push it all the way, the pain is terrible and affects your daily living.

Thank you for the tips on arrowroot and milk thistle. I intend to get him on milk thistle once the vet had finally come to the conclusion of what is causing this. So far the bloods have come back confirming Hepatitis and ruling out EPI, some stool samples are back which rule out samonella and parasites, I have to phone Monday for other results. Once he is through this the boy is on a new regime and hopefully steering clear of antibiotics etc. I am a bit wary of giving him anything different at the moment though because there may be further tests and I dont want to influence the results.

Cross posting in the hope this dog can be found Owner left dog with a friend when she went on holiday and he has gone missing. He is about 7 months old, tall for his age, microchipped wearing a blue collar. Owner lives in Gleadless area of Sheffield, friend lives in Intake area of Sheffield Picture link here http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z101/00brad88/dog3-1.jpg This dog may have gone to a rescue as the dog has been missing a week and the friend did not tell the owner until she returned from holiday Omitted to say his name is Major.

Well I am really old walk with a limp and suffer from occassional dementia--------------- But I remember my dogs and my mums living till they were 13 -14. Lady the labrador 14+, Berry the Labrador 13+, Gina the GSD 13+ More recently I lost Rudi male gsd at 7 due to a brain tumour about 15 years ago, George died aged 9 with stomach torsion approx 6 years ago, Megan died 3 years ago aged 7 (dont even go there so many things) Shadow aged 10 this year after years of EPI and at the moment I only have Josh and he is 4, just praying his liver is not damaged from the recent Hepatitis, but feel very down this morning because his antibiotics stopped yesterday and yes the diahorrea is back this morning.

Just caught this thread, only been a member a few weeks. It seems a wonderful ending for her, can I ask if the authorities are taking any action on this, I just sadly feel that the answer is probably not. Sarah, I dont know you but you are one brave and wonderful lady. Guardian angel of dogs. God keep you safe.

Hoping things are still going well Fenella, keep us updated

Jackysain --- going to try that when Josh is fully better. Totally agree with the other posts about care being needed when giving different herbs and it makes sense to do as much research as possible. I think what it comes down to is the owner making an informed choice. For too long we have been brainwashed by petfood manufacterers into believing they know best and its very apparent that dogs are getting cancer etc at a much earlier age and the life span of dogs is decreasing, what used to be 14-15 now seems to be 9-11 and those years are so precious to us arnt they.

Some one mentioned natural immune boosting tabs on here ! Cant find post now, but if anyone could tell me what they are and where from I would be very interested

In September we have a holiday booked in Weymouth Dorset in a caravan and Josh is coming too (of course) However I am a supporter of Monkey World and have adopted old Charlie (love him ) and have a pass to go to MW (In fact thats why we are going on hol down there) I contacted MW to see if they have any facilities for putting up dogs for the day and they havent and suggested I contact the Tourist information, but its a bit of a lottery. Just wondered if anyone can recommend a good kennel in that area, it will only be for the day when we visit MW, he need kennelling as its a hired van and I would hate for anything to go wrong and caravans get very hot inside if the doors are shut so I dont want to leave him in van. He is dog aggressive so needs a boarding kennel Any help much appreciated.

Not going down that rude road I once had to bath amber cat who had walked through wet concrete, I she was covered up to the top of her legs, I was lacerated rather badly even though I had gloves and a jumper on. They can be rather awful cant they

Oh and just to say I downloaded an e book called 'See Spot live longer' gives lots of good info to help make an informed choice

I found your post interesting BillyMalc and must say I am going down pretty much the same path myself. When Josh became ill in Feb of this year again with runs and vet gave him yet another dose of antibiotics and anti inflammatories I began to wonder what was happening with a young 'healthy' dog of 4. Once off the meds and introduced back to his dried food he was off again, extremely runny motions. At the time he was on Burns which is reported to be produced by a vet and suitable for dodgy tums etc. I did a lot of research on the net and took advice from friends with gsds who have had similar problems and changed him to Barf. I was horrified when I found so much evidence about the commercially prepared dried foods, the contents of them and the effects on dogs. And it did make sense, years ago we fed raw tripe and wholemeal mixer biscuit and our dogs seemed to ail very little. But with my last dog Shadow and Josh its been nothing but vet visits and problems. And speaking to others this does seem common. Josh however again got the runs and upon insisting upon blood and pooh tests rather than yet more antibiotics and anti inflammatories it was found he has hepititis. He is much better now and awaiting final blood tests. He is on antibiotics now to help with the complaint, however, I am really concerned as to how he got this when he is fully vaccinated, I contacted the maker of the vaccine and they will not comment and told me to take the matter up with my vet, which I fully intend to do. Speaking with friends on another site it is apparent that is is quite common for dogs to react to vaccines and develop low grade parvo or a form of hepatitis. So I dont feel I have confidence to vaccinate again. Josh does not go to dog shows or training clubs, he does walk the local park and other open areas but I try to keep him from the normal local dog exercise areas. Once over this I intend building his immune system up homeopathically. I hope we never have to have antibiotics again, but who knows. Regarding food, he is stick thin, from 45kl to 33 kl in a matter of weeks so I had to get weight on him. I found a food recommended on the pages of this site suitable for sensitive tums (Superdog sensitive) and he is having that now along with fresh veg and fresh meat. The weight is coming back and he has settled down rear end wise! So if that suits him he will stay on it. I know its a complete dried food, but I feel we have to balance what is best for our dogs, some sites that discuss the dangers of complete food suggest that as long as we add natural raw foods (liquidised veg for example) the dogs are going to benefit from them in the long term. It is a minefield when we start to look into what is best for our animals and I feel at the end of the day its up to the owner to make an informed choice that is best for their individual animal. I am glad this topic was raised as it has been very much on my mind of late

I think this is american Mrs Mop, due to asking up to $65000 for the dogs, having said that they are selling all over the world and apparently have been on tv over here but I missed that, that was about the cats they sell and non allergic dogs. The article was also in british press, Daily Express but I havent had a reply from them yet.

My vet no longer allows credit either, we used to pay so much every visit but because people have run up such huge bills and not paid then they insist on pay as you go, even on a course of treatment. I just paid out £95 for Joshs blood tests, another £35 for his antibiotics and he has to have more blood tests next week, he is insured so I can get it back. However I do think if I was in dire straits because they know me well, they may allow me to pay in installments. I suppose it depends on how well the lady knows her vet, if she is an established client or a new client. I would certianly go back and have a word and explain that she may have to give up the dog. Perhaps she would be advised to get it insured, but problem is they dont cover dental work (well my insurance doesnt anyway) and it would be too late to claim for this as its already happening. But an idea in case of future illness isnt it Oops that will teach me to read the entire posting Glad its sorted out

You may have to resort to the towel wrap leaving only head and ears showing, still got to cope with the teeth but the claws are under control. I try to clean ears while Tinker is noshing, he is so intent on food I can have a quick wipe round without any claws being shown I havent tried the olive oil myself, just used cotton wool dampened in warm water for a wipe round..