Labrador People

[Ruthi (borrowadog)]

Murphy is staying with me for his holidays. He is a black lab and 10 years old. He's an absolutely sweetie, very well behaved, loving, with that typical subtle black lab sense of humour. He's quite shy and retiring, but not really anxious, as long as I don't put him in the van!

 

My concern is his lack of stamina. He can barely manage a half hour walk, and is completely shattered by the time we get back.

 

Murphs is a bit overweight, but I've seen much fatter labs. He's a bit arthritic, but not all that bad, and the glucosamine and CLO seem to have it reasonably under control. He had an op to remove two tumours near his bum at the beginning of the year, and has never really been right since, according to his mum.

 

How normal is it for a lab of his age to be such an old man?

[Karen]

Rosie lab is 9 an still hyper active when out on walks. She is a small lightweight lab though, so wonder if that makes a big difference?

 

April lab/pointer slowed down a lot in her last few months, when she had cancer but we didn't know about it. In hindsight the slowing down was a big indicator that something was wrong.

 

On the not-so-gloomy side, do you think that Murphy might be not used to walking? Or too hot? Or having more joint pain than you realise? Lily lab very, very rarely limped because she had awful problems in both elbows (no good leg to limp on!) and only managed to walk on soft ground for the last few years of her life.

[safneo]

I know that Saffy is really struggling in this heat. She isnt going far before I have to give her a rest and she seems to want to sleep more (if thats possible) She is 7. But then she also never shows pain as such. Only reason I knew she was struggling with her hips was because she couldnt get up one day. Is it possible he is just feeling the heat or a bit under the weather?

[Ruthi (borrowadog)]

Murphy used to do much more walking than he can manage now - and no, he was struggling long before it got hot.

 

I've given him a homoeopathic remedy (phosphorus) and we'll see if that makes a difference.

[blackmagic]

I think a vet check would be advisable.

 

He may have more pain than you realise.

 

When my 10 year old retriever started to struggle getting up she was given Metacam.

 

After three days it was like having a new dog. I felt guilty that I had waited so long thinking she was just getting old.

[Clare]

How is his gum and pinks of his eye colouring? Might be worth his owner getting a basic blood profile done

[Ruthi (borrowadog)]

Colouring is normal, and metacam doesn't seem to make that much difference. He's obviously a bit unusual because metacam knocks him out, and he can't take a full dose. So maybe not surprising that it doesn't do much.

 

Having now taken the other one to their vets, I am of the opinion that a change of vet is in order. It wasn't that he was incompetent, just...

 

When Seamus had been limping - AGAIN - for over a week I took him to my vet. Phil spent a good 15 minutes feeling, feeling the poorly bit, feeling the 'normal' side, testing various unlikely possibilities just in case before finally saying yes, he'd torn yet another ligament. That is the level of care I expect, to be honest.

 

I won't say what happened when I took Will to his own 'vet', but lets say the examination was cursory in comparison. And the consult charge was the same as my place.

 

Mumble, mumble. I hate it when I can't go against the owner's instructions!