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He's a very small rescued chihuahua, almost 9, lived entirely in a small rabbit cage the first year of his life, to "protect" him from the 4 huge dogs he also lived with. He's been amazingly healthy considering he's probably a genetic mess...backyard breeder petstore nightmare type thing. His legs are slowly collapsing.    Back legs are starting to collapse now too.  The tendons and ligaments which help hold muscle to bone are starting to disintegrate, and the legs are just slowly collapsing as the skeletal system loses its support. So far though it hasn't affected his goofy nature, or even his mobility to any great degree, even though he's now walking on the human equivalent of his wrists. I don't take him for walks on concrete any more. No more meandering around the neighborhood. The joints will continue to collapse. There will come a point where his legs just won't support him at all any more. I have him on a variety of supplements to give his system as much nutritional support as possible. Three different vets/referrals, and that's all that can be done. They're still not sure what the diagnosis is....possibly a canine type of addisons, or maybe cushings. All they can tell me is what it's not, and that it's not a curable thing. loving sucks. Here he is before he became a cripple. 
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May 20, 2016 15:04
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| # ? May 7, 2024 14:53 |
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Clip those nails the poor thing
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May 20, 2016 16:42
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A) I mean, those nails are long, but you're living a blessed life if you haven't seen much, much longer. B) If she clipped them any shorter than they currently are, the dog would be bleeding.
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May 20, 2016 18:35
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Myrddin_Emrys posted:Clip those nails the poor thing They are clipped. Can you not see they're blunt at the ends? They are down to the quick already. If they were being ignored they'd be a lot more pointed and a lot longer.
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May 20, 2016 21:43
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Poor puppy. He's very lucky to have somebody like you. 
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May 20, 2016 22:55
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LITERALLY A BIRD posted:Poor puppy. He's very lucky to have somebody like you. Thanks a lot. He's a ridiculous little thing, but he's mine and I'm trying to do right. I never intended to rescue something so small, but if you've rescued, you know how poo poo like that can just happen and suddenly you're taking home something entirely different than what you started out looking for. It's cost me close to a $1,000 already to get this far with his non-diagnosis...and I don't blame the vets for that. There's just some stuff that's impossible to know in veterinary medicine. And I'd gladly shell out twice that much if there was a cure. I'm just grateful that he's not in pain, and still as feisty as ever.
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May 21, 2016 00:31
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Would swimming him aided help with routine gentle exercise?
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May 21, 2016 02:39
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Poor guy! Is there any kind of support wraps they could use? Like athletic tape or something? Give him some extra hugs.
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May 21, 2016 02:58
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Kharnifex posted:Would swimming him aided help with routine gentle exercise? The Vet said it would, if he'd swim. He used to swim ... he doesn't like the water at all, but if I filled the tub up when I gave him a bath, and let him go, he'd do the paddle thing at least. Now though, he won't paddle. Maybe because those lower limbs just sort of flop around? Seriously, it'd be funny if it weren't so sad, there's just no tone at all, those lower extremities are completely limp. And I can't bring myself to let go of him in the water, y'know, so that he goes under which, theoretically, would force him to start paddling. Can't do it, I just wimp out. quote:Poor guy! Is there any kind of support wraps they could use? Like athletic tape or something? Give him some extra hugs. Thanks. Yeah, I tried wrapping them with several different things. There are two problems with that. One is that they can't stay wrapped for long because I have to wrap them really tightly so that there's actually some support, so that the legs don't bend at that joint. And that reduces the blood supply to the limbs which could compromise them even further. And two, when they're wrapped like that, he won't move. He'll stand there, and look at me like I'm cruel and heartless, but just won't budge unless I leash him and gently force him, which will get him to move, but only when I'm tugging at the leash. And sometimes he falls over.  Whereas when they're unwrapped, he's bouncy and crazy and still very mobile, considering. I've come to the point where I'm more interested in giving him the most luxurious, fun life that I can, while I still have him. I mean, the outcome of this isn't in question. He's going to get to the point where he'll just be a pancake because his legs won't support him all. And when that happens.....well, you know. Maybe it's wrong, but I feel like I'd rather whatever time he has left be as stress free as I can make it. And doing those things creates obvious stress, so I tend to back off. I'm willing to have my mind changed about that but so far I haven't come up with a good enough argument against that approach.
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May 21, 2016 12:36
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I can just imagine the soulful eyes that come with the why the hell are you doing this to me looks. Your description of his reaction reminds me of this time in college where my roommate has ferrets and they were cold so we tried to make them sweaters out of old socks. We cut holes for heads and legs but when we put them down all the would do was roll around like they had no legs and ultimately speed bump until we took them off. What kind of treats does little man like? I think it's awesome that you are doing everything you can to make sure he is as comfortable and happy as possible 
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May 22, 2016 03:23
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There are vets that specialize in canine physical therapy that could offer more insight than your primary care vet if you're willing to go down that route. They're expensive and depending on where you live you may have to travel a bit to get to one, but it sounds like something you'd be willing to consider.
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May 22, 2016 15:52
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Amberlyn posted:The Vet said it would, if he'd swim. He used to swim ... he doesn't like the water at all, but if I filled the tub up when I gave him a bath, and let him go, he'd do the paddle thing at least. Now though, he won't paddle. Maybe because those lower limbs just sort of flop around? Seriously, it'd be funny if it weren't so sad, there's just no tone at all, those lower extremities are completely limp. And I can't bring myself to let go of him in the water, y'know, so that he goes under which, theoretically, would force him to start paddling. Can't do it, I just wimp out.
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May 23, 2016 01:47
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:There are vets that specialize in canine physical therapy that could offer more insight than your primary care vet if you're willing to go down that route. They're expensive and depending on where you live you may have to travel a bit to get to one, but it sounds like something you'd be willing to consider. One of my friends is a Vet Tech for a great Vet close to 2 hours away from me. My friend set up the appointment and the Vet was amazing, but didn't tell me anything my primary Vet hadn't already. She did however call a Vet friend of hers who is just what you said...a specialist in that kind of physical therapy. She does more horses than dogs, but she's been doing this for years and has worked on her fair share of dogs. We all three...actually 4, because my vet tech friend was right here too....talked back and forth on speaker for a while. The consensus was that it wouldn't be worth it. Given that the addison's or cushings or whatever it is is a progressive, degenerative illness, all the therapy would do is strengthen the tissue that hasn't yet been compromised, until it is. It won't repair the existing damage or halt, or even slow the progression of the tissue degeneration. Given that kind of prognosis, it just didn't seem to be the right thing to put my dog through that when it won't change much of anything. That's why I've pretty much ended up where I am with this. He's such a happy little guy right now even in spite of this hat I just want to use whatever time he has left for fun and pampering and no stress. The Vet said that even the supplements I'm giving probably won't do much, but he doesn't mind them and it makes me feel a bit better to do something. So I give him all his supplements, feed him high quality food but not too much of it (the leaner he stays the less stress on the joints) and pamper him with his favorite treats which are any of the jerky type, doesn't matter what flavor, he just LOVES to chew on those things. I cut them up because he's so small and one full one would practically be a meal for him. Here, have a bonus photo, taken at Christmas obviously. The other is a later rescue. Her owner was going to put her down because she didn't want to pay a pet deposit. And my Vet said if she'd just waited a week, the dog would have died anyway...malnutrition, eye and respiratory infection, gut issues, some type of skin dermatitis that left her bald in places....she was a mess.  Untitled
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May 23, 2016 13:31
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| # ? May 7, 2024 14:53 |
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Amberlyn posted:He's a very small rescued chihuahua, almost 9, lived entirely in a small rabbit cage the first year of his life, to "protect" him from the 4 huge dogs he also lived with. He's been amazingly healthy considering he's probably a genetic mess...backyard breeder petstore nightmare type thing. Could/would you consider buying or making one of those dog wheelchair things for his hind legs? He's small enough Im sure you could make one cheap out of piping, and I bet there's tutorials online that could show you how. Obviously his front legs are jacked too but from your posts it seems like his main mobility issues come from the back end. Just a thought. Fake edit: Yeah there's tons of tutorials online, for both 2 wheeled and 4 wheeled you can look into. Here's one: http://dogsaholic.com/care/how-to-make-a-dog-wheelchair.html
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Jun 1, 2016 09:23
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