Sorry for bringing back this old subject, but we put down hardwood flooring in our living room about six weeks ago and now my 9-month-old rott puppy is experiencing problems. He has taken more then a few slippery falls and now he is limping off and on in his back legs. It hasn’t slowed down his normal outside play, running or jumping around on his own. Before I run him into the vet and have her convenience my husband the dog needs more drugs, I ordered Syn-Flex from Leerburgs and it should arrive today. My thoughts are for now to treat with this, put down non-skid runners and see how he does.

I bought this puppy a week after losing both my 7 & 8 yr-old rotts with-in a three week period, and after some huge vet bills and enormous heart ache I’m a little short on trust. Now here we go again with our new pup “Buddy”, he was 7 ½ weeks-old when we got him and we have already had to treat him with antibiotics and prednisone three different times due to skin allergy’s caused by fleas.

I switched him from Science Diet to Innova EVO 4-months-ago and have him on 400 Vit E & 1000 units cap of fish oil daily to try and build up his system. The change in diet has cleared up his skin and so far no new outbreaks but I need to get him off EVO and something more suitable for a puppy.

Raw would be my first choice but convincing my other half is going to take some time, for now I need to find a suitable alternative to feed. I’ve been looking at California Natural Brand but haven’t made a decision yet. Suggestions, advice or comments would sure be helpful on my situation.

Thank you,
Peggy

 Quote:

........... I bought this puppy a week after losing both my 7 & 8 yr-old rotts with-in a three week period, and after some huge vet bills and enormous heart ache I’m a little short on trust. Now here we go again with our new pup “Buddy”, he was 7 ½ weeks-old when we got him and we have already had to treat him with antibiotics and prednisone three different times due to skin allergy’s caused by fleas.

I switched him from Science Diet to Innova EVO 4-months-ago and have him on 400 Vit E & 1000 units cap of fish oil daily to try and build up his system. The change in diet has cleared up his skin and so far no new outbreaks but I need to get him off EVO and something more suitable for a puppy.

Raw would be my first choice but convincing my other half is going to take some time, for now I need to find a suitable alternative to feed. I’ve been looking at California Natural Brand but haven’t made a decision yet. Suggestions, advice or comments would sure be helpful on my situation.

Thank you,
Peggy

I'm so sorry about your dogs who died.

I'd want x-rays on this guy. You can explain up front that you prefer to explore alternatives to prescription drugs in all possible situations. But if you're looking at pano, it'd be good to know it, or to know that he has sustained an injury in a fall.

In this situation of leaning towards raw but not quite ready, I'd seriously consider THK
http://www.leerburg.com/honestkitchen.htm
food, which is not kibble. It's dehydrated raw, and is perfect for addins of RMBs. You could start with it either as is or with cooked meat (not cooked bones, of course) addins, and, as your husband becomes more comfortable with the idea of raw, you could start using RMB addins.

Non-skid runners sound like a great idea, BTW.

Thanks Connie,

I am going to see if I can get an appointment with the vet for Saturday, in the mean time what do you think about giving him the Syn-Flex?

I had thought about the Honest Kitchen before, that may be the better choice since I can add either cooked or raw meat. I know Buddy will eat the meat raw, I had given him a small piece of raw steak one time and also a small piece of raw chicken breast and he didn't hesitate to eat either. At nine months old would you start with chicken wings (not sure if I can get the backs) or would chicken quarters be better?

Regards,
Peggy

In addition to what Connie said, you might want to find a holistic vet in addition to your current, allopathic vet. If you're lucky your current vet will be glad to refer you to a hollistic colleague. If not, try and find one on your own and use him/her to get a second opinion.

 Quote: PeggyBayer

......I am going to see if I can get an appointment with the vet for Saturday, in the mean time what do you think about giving him the Syn-Flex? .... I had thought about the Honest Kitchen before, that may be the better choice since I can add either cooked or raw meat. I know Buddy will eat the meat raw, I had given him a small piece of raw steak one time and also a small piece of raw chicken breast and he didn't hesitate to eat either. At nine months old would you start with chicken wings (not sure if I can get the backs) or would chicken quarters be better? .......

Syn-Flex is mainly glucosamine. This is a good thing for OA and other joint problems, IMO, and lots of people start middle-age dogs on it as a matter of course, OA symptoms or no.

OTOH, salmon oil and Vitamin E, good for anti-inflammation action, is something I believe (with many others) is a great supplement for almost all dogs.

So glucosamine (I believe) with this young dog, can't hurt and might help, but salmon oil (I believe) is a positive step, period. I think the salmon oil is the more appropriate course here, as much as I like glucosamine for dogs with deteriorating joints.

If you mean what parts to add to THK, I'd think any parts are fine. THK is balanced already. I personally have weight-bearing bones ground up, but that's just me. I go to a natural foods store where the butcher is very accommodating, and I get the front end whole and the back end ground. (He throws the organ meat in the grinder, too, since I have a dog who will leave intact liver in the bowl forever.)

Updated -

Sorry for the long post - I took Buddy my (9 1/2 month-old rottweiler) to his regular vet on Saturday and the dreaded diagnosis of hip dysphasia was confirmed. Buddy was such a good boy and let the vet put him up on the table, bend this and that and flip him over without him putting up any type of struggle. They also were able to get a pretty clear x-ray without having to sedate him.

The vet feels that he has a mild case and that his right hip is a little better then his left (no OCD seen), but she could feel some popping when manipulating his left hip joint. At this point she did not recommend any surgery. She said to allow him to continue with his normal exercise and gave me some “Zubin” to give as needed. Most likely he has had a certain amount of discomfort all along and has grown accustom to it. I had already started him on Sym-Flex two weeks ago and will continue with that. He is already getting salmon oil & vitamin E daily due to flea allergy.

We had put down non-slip runners to help him with better footing on the floor and we have gotten a larger carpet to cover all but the edges of this floor. Over the holiday the neighbors has a huge crowed visiting along with a few extra dogs so Buddy over did himself a bit running around (on our side of the fence) and was limping on his right leg the day we had taken him in. I did give him the pain med that day and the next and by Monday he was walking okay so haven’t had to give him any more since then.

I have never had a dog with hip dysphasia before so I am reading up on all I can find on this site and on the Internet. I will at some point take him to an ortho vet for a more complete evaluation and in the mean time I have a lot to learn. For now I will let Buddy teach me what he can do so I will learn where I need to step in and stop him from over exerting himself. My husband is home all day so Buddy is in and out pretty much at will, he stays fairly active inventing his own games of tossing and bouncing on the ball, chasing squirrels or any other flying creature that dares enter his domain. For now I think it’s best if we do our walking on our property rather then the hard surface of the roads and try to figure out how and where I can include some swimming.

I have ordered the Honest Kitchen Dog Food from Leerburgs and when that arrives will probably take 10 days to switch him over from his current dog food.

I’m not sure if I am doing this right in regards to paid meds, I know the meds not only help with pain but with any inflammation also and I am wondering if I should have him on something for awhile to address any inflammation he may have? My understanding is that the Sym-Flax will also help with these but the vet thought that it takes 4-6 weeks for it to reach the right levels his system.

Any advice would be most appreciated,

Thank you,
Peggy

Updated -

Sorry for the long post - I took Buddy my (9 1/2 month-old rottweiler) to his regular vet on Saturday and the dreaded diagnosis of hip dysphasia was confirmed. Buddy was such a good boy and let the vet put him up on the table, bend this and that and flip him over without him putting up any type of struggle. They also were able to get a pretty clear x-ray without having to sedate him.

The vet feels that he has a mild case and that his right hip is a little better then his left (no OCD seen), but she could feel some popping when manipulating his left hip joint. At this point she did not recommend any surgery. She said to allow him to continue with his normal exercise and gave me some “Zubin” to give as needed. Most likely he has had a certain amount of discomfort all along and has grown accustom to it. I had already started him on Sym-Flex two weeks ago and will continue with that. He is already getting salmon oil & vitamin E daily due to flea allergy.

We had put down non-slip runners to help him with better footing on the floor and we have gotten a larger carpet to cover all but the edges of this floor. Over the holiday the neighbors has a huge crowed visiting along with a few extra dogs so Buddy over did himself a bit running around (on our side of the fence) and was limping on his right leg the day we had taken him in. I did give him the pain med that day and the next and by Monday he was walking okay so haven’t had to give him any more since then.

I have never had a dog with hip dysphasia before so I am reading up on all I can find on this site and on the Internet. I will at some point take him to an ortho vet for a more complete evaluation and in the mean time I have a lot to learn. For now I will let Buddy teach me what he can do so I will learn where I need to step in and stop him from over exerting himself. My husband is home all day so Buddy is in and out pretty much at will, he stays fairly active inventing his own games of tossing and bouncing on the ball, chasing squirrels or any other flying creature that dares enter his domain. For now I think it’s best if we do our walking on our property rather then the hard surface of the roads and try to figure out how and where I can include some swimming.

I have ordered the Honest Kitchen Dog Food from Leerburgs and when that arrives will probably take 10 days to switch him over from his current dog food.

I’m not sure if I am doing this right in regards to paid meds, I know the meds not only help with pain but with any inflammation also and I am wondering if I should have him on something for awhile to address any inflammation he may have? My understanding is that the Sym-Flax will also help with these but the vet thought that it takes 4-6 weeks for it to reach the right levels his system.

Any advice would be most appreciated,

Thank you,
Peggy

i'm not sure if this idea has crossed your mind or not yet, but our entire house is hardwood floors, and when we first got them at 12wks they would skid and slide out a lot. thankfully they didn't get hurt, but we found that having them on leash and forcing them to walk at a reasonable rate (for a puppy though, that's almost abuse!) when they were going over the really polished parts helped out a lot at preventing falls.

doesn't help the injury the poor guy's got at the moment, but just a thought

Just a thought, have you ever trimmed the fur on the bottom of his paws? That might help him be able to get more of a grip on the floors in the future.