9 Month Old GSD with Weak Hindlegs - Page 8

Gautam

Your avatar picture shows grassy open spaces, are you able to take Mervin to exercise there regularly. To play offlead?  Exercise and good muscle tone and general mental well being does of course play a vital role in dog health.

A dog should certainly obtain pleasure and enjoyment from exercise for their spiritual well being as well as their physical well being, and this can contribute greatly to their recovery from ill health IMO. 

Beware any kind of 'enforced' exercise, such as Aaykay describes, it is dangerous. This may be undertaken to obtain a particular title for those that show or work, but is done under very strict controls and then only when the dog has been very carefully conditioned over a period of time and over a certain age. It is not generally what most would class as exercise for their dogs, it is done separately for a specific purpose.  For most, exercise would be going out to a pleasant area, maybe fields or woods, and enjoying time with their owner playing and running free (at least that's what mine do every day :)  Culturally it may be something that you see a lot of people do, it doesn't make it the right thing to do, and you can always be the one to do things differently!

Good luck. How is Mervin getting on with his new food?

Gautam, it is in the destiny of each of us to face various challenges--these problems both test and build our characters. 

I say you're meeting this challenge head-on, with determination.

You've taken the upper hand at this moment in making the decision to (1) seek out a place where you could reach countless other dog owners, some of them with experience in the field of veterinary medicine, and gather information from them on the possible cause for, and ways to resolve, Mervin's present problem, and (2) sift through the advice posted here, consider how it did or didn't apply to Mervin, and finally make the ultimate choice to take him to the city to obtain better medical care, along with being pro-active and making adjustments to his feed and supplements.

So it would appear that destiny's attempt to put an insurmountable obstacle in your path has been thwarted by your unwillingness to permit it to happen. You and Mervin will triumph over this, I have no doubts.

Just want to applaud you Hexe for the way you responded to the other "*&% poster.  I would not have been so pleasant.

You can all be pissed off at me if you want.  I realize I’m raining on your parade in this thread but that is only because between the three of you (Hexe, Eldee, and Abby Normal) by the end of page 2 you all were prescribing specific supplements and drugs, quantities and all in coming to your own conclusions.  I guess I have a problem with that.  Now that we know the dog is anemic, re-read your original posts and asks yourselves if you would give the same advice in retrospect?  Keep an eye on how much information was requested, how much information was known and the amount of advice that was being given between the three of you.  For me, it was clearly over the top so I couldn’t help but chime in for the dog’s sake. 

With that said, I do want to apologize to Hexe and the board for what turned out to be an inappropriate expression used earlier.  I usually try to type whatever I’m thinking in the moment as if I’m standing right in front of you talking.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  However, I guarantee, you would not have been offended if we were talking face-to-face and I said the same thing since you would have recognized immediately it was said in jest.  Therefore, by no means was I intending to personally attack Hexe as I do have respect for her.  I know she is very knowledgeable in her own right and I usually agree with most of what she is saying.  I just don’t agree with her in this case is all.

Gautam

How is Mervin getting on?

Hi
Mervin is doing good. He has developed good appetite but his stools are inconsistent. Sometimes they are well formed and sometimes like pudding. However, he has developed lots of energy and likes to play with my younger pup.
Gautam

Have you reported this to the new city vet? Are you putting some enzymes on his food?? Glad to hear he is doing better, but I think you need to let the city vet know about his inconsistent poop.  He can't advise you if he thinks all is fine.  That runny poop you speak about is undigested food just going straight through his system.  Mervin may just need a bit of help with digestion. 

Lynn

loose poo can be caused by coccicia, guardia and also worms.

have you treated for all of these, if so, how?

SitasMom, if you read back to the initial posting, the dog was treated with both metronidazole AND Drontal plus. 

Gautam, it's encouraging that Mervin's energy level has increased, but like Eldee, I would urge you to relay the information regarding the inconsistant stools to your big city vet, and find out if he wants to see him sooner than he originally had requested--Mervin still cannot afford to lose a single milligram of his feed, so you must speak or at least get a message to the new vet that there is still an issue with the pup's digestion.

We're all looking forward to seeing some photos and video of Mervin and his 'little brother' at play!