ARISTIAN FREE ZONE - Page 1

Buddy is 11.5 years.  He did the splits (hind legs) on the kichen floor early this year and immediately developed symptoms akin to CDRM.  He's improved a lot... he doesn't fall over so much but he's clearly rather doddery on one hind leg... anybody (almost anybody) any ideas please?

MISSBEEB ,Sorry i can't really help you what does your vet think,let us know how Buddy gets on. you are soooo naughty,but i like it.  liz

He sounds much like my oldie who is 12.5 years old.  I think as they get older the muscles get slack and when something like the splits happens they dont really recover.  My lad on damp days is always worse  than on dry ones.  I've given him a bed off the floor and that definately helps.

You could try a magnetic collar as some dogs definately benefit from those.  You may find a glucosamine chrondritin combination will also help him, I would try it for 1 month and if there is no improvement stop using it.

I'll try that Beepy, I can get it from Zipvit online, thanks.  Vet really doesn't know where to go without Xrays and I don't want him knocked out at his age unless absolutely necessary.  I'm taking him to a Chiropractor next week!

Liz, some things have to be done... right?

the dog in my logo had cdrm and he too was always worse on damp days.He died of lukemia(sp) in the end,i was actually glad i did not have to watch his cdrm deterioate,he was very very special. Missbeeb... definately right. liz

Good luck Missbeeb.  I totally understand where you are coming from with the xrays.  We have made the decision that from now on we will only manage our lad, we feel dignity is more important that draging him backwards and forwards to the vet.

I had a bit of a rant on another thread about whelps that "we" save when the bitch will have nothing to do with them, or whelps that would clearly die without our intervention.  What are we saving when we do this?  If, at a later date, these "saved whelps" are used for breeding... what long term damage is being done?

I took my old chap for acupuncture and chiropractic, which worked for a long time......... he didn't have CDRM but was increasingly shaky on his pins as a result of arthritis in his lower back...... acupuncture in particular is highly effective for neurological problems. If you have access to a good practitioner you might want to give it a try...

He slept on a 7" thick orthopedic foam bed which gave him the support he needed.  I got it from the Foster and Smith catalog.

Good luck with Buddy - it's hard to watch them grow old....

I know exactly where you are coming from.  A good friend of mine will help her puppies to a point but she feels if nature doesnt intend them to survive its usually for a good reason.

I also feel that there is a point where suffering is caused by keeping elderly animals alive, usually to please the owner's feelings.  Look at what we are doing to so many humans, nature would have bopped them off years ago, but oh no, dr's are here to save lives and years later our geriatrics are often encased in bodies that dont work, with minds that disappeared years ago, just to please society - we'd be prosecuted if they were animals.  So on that basis we treat them till we see that old age is kicking in and then from that point we maintain them to a good quality but will not unecessarily stress them.  After all a 11+ GSD has a much higher mortality rate from anesthetic so why make them suffer or possibly end their life earlier just to try and keep them another couple of months without say a tumour or a couple of xrays that in time prove there is nothing that could be done anyway.

AnjaBlue, Thanks, I hadn't thought about accupunture... I'll ask around the dog people down here for info.  I got some special (the price was very special) Vet Bed for veterans from Crufts and he loves it, so 7" thick foam would go down very well I guess!  Keep you fingers crossed for the Chiropractic treatment.

Totally agree about our old dogs Beepy... and our old folk!