Okay, so my golden is 14 years old and arthritis. As of this point we don't know anything else but he has been kind of lazy these days and lays down a often.
We were feeding him beneful for awhile, then he did what he does in this video. We switched over to canned wet food, now he does it for that. Any ideas why he would do this?? After awhile though he will eventually force himself to eat it... if he goes too long not eating sometimes I'll just give him table scraps.
Check with your vet for alternatives. I also could not afford Rimadyl for Mazlon. My vet put her on Metacam as an alternative which you can get (with a prescription) from 1800PetMeds cheaper than from the vet.
Swimming is also a wonderful way of exercising an arthritic dog.
so he has now been through a complete script of antibiotics and tramadol. i had his tramadol refilled today, im going to go out in hurricane sandy to pick it up lol.
he has dramatically improved. i can't believe it, i went to see him a couple days ago and his wag was like he was a year old again! it was so rapid and fast, he grabbed this little stuffed santa doll on the ground with his mouth and ran over to me with it. it looked so cute!!
i brought him for a walk and he literally was almost dragging me because he was so strong. it is UNBELIEVABLE what a difference this is. he eventually started running so i jogged up with him. he still gets tired but the tramadol seems to have got him through a lot. i am going to keep him on the k/d diet, i also got some azodyl. my goal is to hopefully do what i can to get his kidney levels as close to normal with the azodyl then have him neutered if possible.
i got a lot of family support financial wise, everybody was in denial about him being hurt until they saw the change in his behavior. now all of a sudden everyone is saying 'oh my god'.
Be sure to see Coffenut's post about affording prescriptions.
So glad Buddy has improved. Have you told the vet how spunky he is?
So glad your family is helping you.
Please give Buddy big kisses and hugs.
I'm leaving my house now to get his tramadol, she said it was only $10 dollars so thats a lot nicer. I am going to also bring him back to the vet in 2 weeks for another round of bloodwork to see if anything is improving or disproving.
I did ask the first time I went though about anti-inflammatory and she said he cannot take any of them because of his kidneys
Hopefully... just hopefully, if I can get his levels up to optimal strength, I could possibly get him on them. I could only imagine how wonderful he would feel with it if he's feeling like this on just the tramadol!
it is phenominal... im just glad i was able to convince my family that he had issues. my dad especially didn't really pay that much attention to him nor did his girlfriend and now they're all over him.
a really strange thing too, the k/d diet food we get in a can, initally he HATED it. he would not touch it for the life of him. so my dads girlfriend tried one day to feed him with a spoon and oh my god he loves it! there is something odd about buddy and the interaction and/or the "spoon" itself. now he loves it! when im opening the can he already knows whats in it and he just wags like crazy for it!! i think that its really easy on his system compared to the regular food which i think was making him vomit. now, he doesn't vomit at all, he's running, wagging, playful, its the old him all over again!
here is a link to a picture of him, i wanna frame this hahaha
I have azodyl for him now, if anyone knows about it, please give me a shout! the next thing is to find a way to give him it. the capsules cant open up from what i read. i also was told about 'pill pockets'. i need to buy these asap
so now he no longer is at my dad's house, no more basement for him! i got into a crazy argument with his girlfriend because they didnt feed him the tramadol for two whole days!!!! i literally freaked out and screamed at her telling her how could you neglect him, if you had cancer and no pain meds you'd be feeling so ill you'd not want to live. so she kept yelling and i just had it and took him out. i brought him to my house for the day then my brother got today. so he's hangin out in a nice big house with carpets and theres another female golden there he can hangout with whos old and like him.
i am going to visit him there even though its a 30 minute drive. my brother loves that dog a lot too, way more than my dad which is a fact. there are no stairs there either which is good as i had to carry him from the 3rd floor to let him out.
this week i am going to try to buy him one of those orthopedic beds and bring it to him so he can snuggle on it. the carpet is better than a horrible cement floor.
i asked my lil bro how he was doing and he said hes cool. he told me that he did a lot of yard work and he just let buddy out in the backyard and as he worked bud just followed him around as he went to clean stuff up. i love these dogs, no matter what they just love being around you, and they will always love you unconditionally. man's best friend is a golden retriever! and somebody just told me the other day too that dog is god spelt backwards!
we've been putting the tramadol in a hotdog and he eats it that way. we're going to see if we can somehow put the azodyl capsule in one too first. and if no-go, pill pockets it is!
So glad to hear that Buddy is at your brother's house and you will visit him.
You can TELL HOW MUCH you love Buddy, by everything you say about him.-I'm sure he WOULD LOVE THE BED!!!
I 'm sure he loves you, too, and glad to hear he'll take the pill in a hot dog!
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