Dogs hind leg not working

[goldengatestinx]

Not sure how similar a cat is to a dog with regards to the circulatory system. We had two birmans, brother/sister twins. One a little over a year ago started having weakness in his hand legs. Started falling, etc. One cause of this is a clot in the artery that goes to the hind legs. The artery splits when it gets to the hips and of course becomes smaller, causing the clot to lodge in that area, leading to weakness of the rear legs and eventually worse.

He ended up dying May of last year.

His sister started exhibiting the same symptoms a couple months later and soon after died. Sucked. What're the odds of the same cause being the cause of death of two cats within a couple months?

[Caucasian Asian]

This was our buddy Jakey. He was a 100lb Lab/Mastiff and he was almost 12. A vet told my wife he would have hip issues his whole life and not make it past 8 with his health issues. On his 8th birthday we had a party for him, and had a birthday for him every year after. Seriously. We got cake and party hats.
But then he started losing weight and his back end went out on him. He could still walk a little, but he had no control over his legs. I had to “wheelbarrow” him around with a towel under his waist. I had to carry him up and down stairs, and normally he wouldn’t let me hug him, but he was ok with this. We knew it was the end, and he did too. He was ok with it.

My wife took that picture of him when she told him he was getting a bacon wrapped filet for dinner. He loved bacon.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[Flyoverland Captive]

Good looking pup, CA; looks like my Loki. Love the sugar-face lab mixes.

[MakersTeleMark]

This is Bailey. I birthed her and she lived a very very active life. She even has a doggie first decent. But now, her hips are understandably shot, but her brain is in fuck you mode.

The best. I've had a ton of dogs over the years starting with my parents as breeders. This is the pinnacle. I fully look forward to putting that cartridge in her head. She deserves it. Her mom deserves a ton of credit too. They kept each other alive. Through some very tough times.

[MTT]

Interested to hear how the OP's pooch is doing now that he has VET/Drug intervention

You never know

Hoping for some good news

[skideeppow]

He’s doing well. Still struggles but not nearly as bad.

[GeezerSteve]

seedeeppow, best to you and your bud

NSAIDs can be magic

Very true. My bud Ted's dog Phoebe, a veteran ski touring dog -- some mags have run into Pheobe on tours -- has really perked up since she started a course of doggie NSAIDs.

Just a word of warning on meloxicam, dose very carefully. It is nasty stuff, good at the proper dose, but can cook kidneys very easily.

Yup. Applies to humans too. I am currently on a post-TKR surgery meloxicam course. My dosing stops early next week, 2 weeks after surgery. I will likely then switch to naproxen sodium.

[skideeppow]

he is back to struggling again. Can barley get up and his back legs are just super weak.
He has taken a couple dumps in the house because he can not get up.
Going to vet in couple hours, maybe do some pt to get him comfortable.

[Cono Este]

he is back to struggling again. Can barley get up and his back legs are just super weak.
He has taken a couple dumps in the house because he can not get up.
Going to vet in couple hours, maybe do some pt to get him comfortable.

I’m not far behind you. My Aussie is wobly. I make sure to walk him and even rub his lower back. In a yr, I doubt I’ll be able to watch it anymore. He’ll be 14, so it is what it is.

[SumJongGuy]

Sorry man, doesn't sound good at all.

[wicked_sick]

Who's cutting onions?

[PB]

RLY
Between this thread and "It's just a dog" it's like a constant onion cutting fest.

[iceman]

This thread makes me very sad. Lily is 13 and still in good shape but time is marching on. Hook is 11 and he seemed pretty done at about 7 but the Rimadyl and glycoflex saved him, he acts like a puppy pretty much but he's a Bernese mix and we know the clock is ticking. I've put down a lot of dogs over the years and it has gotten harder, not easier. I really dread these next steps. I admire the people who can shoot them but I'm just not a gun guy, I just hug them while they get the shots until I know they're gone and then a little bit longer.

Fuckin dusty in here, shit.

[skideeppow]

So my guy is still kicking, literally. Check out this video. It is like he has Restless Leg Syndrome. He is sleeping here. He does not all night long, in my bed. Wonder if it is a neurological thing since he is losing sensation in his legs.

[Flyoverland Captive]

^^^ My old girl does the same thing; she's chasing bunnies in her dreams.

[splittin]

Hope your beautiful pup is doing well and you get it figured out.

[johnnyg82]

My wife's Golden was diagnosed with cancer this past summer. Vet said it'd $50 G's to treat her, but my wife pushed for testing from Colorado State University, but it still came back as indolent Lymphoma. The vet gave her take home chemo pills and prednisone to keep her going. She's almost back to her old self, apart from being overly hungry all the time. It's been 4 months now, and things are still OK for the most part, but I don't know how long this will last.

Initial symptoms included weakness in her hind-quarters, and being unable to stand, let alone walk around much.

[skideeppow]

So chex is still hanging in there. Shitting in the house almost daily, but he still has tons of pep in his step.
Sometimes i look at him and he looks so sad.

[Mr. Multiglisse]

What a tough time. Our little guy is 15, stone deaf and often forgets why he went outside. Today he pissed on the carpet when I took him to work, even after a good walk beforehand. Then again he sometimes has a little sprint down the road, climbs up a snowbank and back in the house he sniffs the the cat's butt. Life is great, why should I intervene.

[Glen1978]

Linky to the glycoflex and meloxicam? As in which ones to get. My pit is 15 years old last month and getting pretty weird in her back passenger side. Like her toes dont work. Some days its worse than others.

[Grange]

Reading this thread is bringing back some tough memories of my lab, which I put down last September. She was 14 years old. There was not a clean or clear reason for me to make my decision, but rather a lot of smaller reasons that added up. At 13 she had lost much of her hearing and had very weak hips. For example on smooth surfaces she could not get up by herself and she would sometimes have difficulty getting up my deck steps., But after trips to the vet we figured it was just her getting older. She was healthy and happy otherwise. What started my difficult decision to put her down was when I first noticed that she had a difficult time figuring out how to get out of my living room to go outside. She would walk a straight line toward me right into the living room furniture and then stand there waiting for me to show her the way out.

Around that same time she started having occasional accidents in the house at night. It got to the point that I would get up in the middle of the night every night to let her outside for a bathroom break. After a while the accidents got so frequent that I had to keep her in my kitchen while I was gone so I cleaning up after her was easier.

Also at this time her dementia was getting worse I could tell when she was there and when she wasn't. We'd go for runs for birds and I had to keep a bell and locator collar on her so I could find her if her dementia "was acting up". On these outings she would still run and hunt and she did like to play with other dogs, but these active moments were becoming less frequent.

The tipping point for me was when I was house and dog sitting for my parents while they were on vacation. My lab was a homebody. She almost never left my yard unless provoked by people calling her. One afternoon my lab left the yard and I couldn't find her. I walked the land to the pond which she would sometimes go for a swim, but she wasn't around. I ended up getting in my vehicle and drove around the and found her wandering in the neighbors yard soaking wet. It was clear she "wasn't there". The next day she wandered off and I then found her at the pond playing in the water. When I called her over she had no clue who I was and she shied away from me. I had to go to her and lead her back to the house. On that walk back I decided it was time.

After I put her down I talked with family members who would watch her when I was out of town. They said that I could have put her down months earlier as they thought her quality of life was greatly diminished. They didn't push the issue with me because they knew I was having a difficult time with the thought. It was such a difficult decision for me and I think I was clinging on too much to her good days like watching her play with other dogs or running around and found ways to minimize her difficult times.

In the end I don't regret my decision and know it was the right thing to do for her. Her last night we shared a great steak dinner and I was with her at the end. I buried her at my cottage where we had so many great times, but that was as difficult for me as the trip to the vet.

[skideeppow]

^^^my guy is still lucid, but he has some of the same issues, cant make it outside to poo, gets stuck on the floor and can not get up.
His eyes are glazed over.
But then yesterday he was full on running in the snow, so it is hard to make a decision to put him down when he has that kind of energy.

[skideeppow]

Here he is doing god knows what, rubbing his ears?

https://youtu.be/12ip4xkkcm4

[iceman]

Linky to the glycoflex and meloxicam? As in which ones to get. My pit is 15 years old last month and getting pretty weird in her back passenger side. Like her toes dont work. Some days its worse than others.

Don't know about the meloxicam but this is the glycoflex we give our guy that has helped him a lot: https://www.vetriscience.com/index.p...il&p=900569120

They have it on Amazon. Hope it helps.

[nyskirat]

Sounds like our Vizsla from a few years back.

Over the course of the summer to first week in October she went from extremely healthy and active (running 5-8 miles a day plus a 2 mile walk) to being put down.

Turns out she was having mini-strokes and the only reason we knew this was due to the fact I saw her have one in June when I was sitting near her one afternoon. She tried to get up and suddenly had full-body spasm that lasted a few seconds where she struggled to get up and run around. I just thought she was wigged out by something but slipped on the floor.

As we got closer to August she started to lose control of her legs and forget where she was and who we were. Doctors tried a few things, including steroids, thinking it was a brain tumor. They didn't really work but she seemed happy enough so we let her be. We'd occasionally have to help her up the stairs (carrying her) or gain traction on the floor but other than that she was completely OK.

The final straw was one Sunday in October when we came downstairs and she was hiding under the TV stand, on the hard wood floor, unable to get up and move and absolutely terrified of us all.

We took her to the vet and put her down that morning. I didn't go, I couldn't handle seeing her put down, but when I said my final goodbye she seemed lucid and wagged her tail. But we all knew it'd be selfish to keep her alive for our own happiness.

It was really tough saying goodbye but she's in a happier place now.

SkiDeepPow, in regards to that head rubbing, it doesn't seem too strange to me. My parents have a tiny dog who does that all the time when he is excited and has done it for a long time. I think he's just trying to itch the side of his head/wipe anything off his face onto the couch.