I recently lost my Marek to Spondylosis, he was a GREAT dog who handled the illness with heart. There is no cure but all the vets we went to agreed to exersize him as much as he wanted to. What little muscle buildup you gain can give him more time. The illness runs it's course no matter what you do, as "bridging" takes place the dog gets tighter and tighter, the electricle inpulses stop going their normal routes and that's when you see what appears to be rear end mobility problems.

The bright side is that many dogs live their normal life span and pass on from a different illness not associated with Spondylosis, hopefully that's the case with your dog. We tried Derramaxx but Rimadyl by far had the best effect, chinese herbs had no effect. The holistic vet that does accupuncture looked at the xrays and said it wouldn't help but it may help your dog if the bridging isn't to far along. Massage and Rimadyl turned out to be the best course for our dog, at the point we were at the long term effects of Rimadyl didn't matter, he ran around till 1 week before he died. The great dog i'm talking about is pictured in my byline.

I wish you and your pup the best,
AL

Mr. Curbow,

Thank you for sharing Marek's story with me.

Please call me Al, my father is Mr Curbow, lol. If you decide you want to try the chinese herbal way i'd be more than happy to send you the stuff i have,
AL

Tramadol works really well for Jenna when she needs something. It has very few side effects and is MUCH safer than Rimadyl (rim scares me). I rarely have to give her anything (yet) but if she has been less active than usual, or if it is cold and damp, she feels much better after a couple Tramadol.

Hambone is on 50 mg of Tramadol in the morning and 100 mg at night. It seems to be working. I look at this as a winter dose and when it gets warmer, I hope to wean him down to one in the morning and one at night or less. Hopefully the Ester-C, glucosamine, etc. will help. He is still a perky guy, but much slower and more cautious.