My 12 year old boy has severe arthritis in his back and right hip. He gets laser therapy and an adequan injection once a month, along with a dose of gabapentin daily. He is once again enjoying 45 minute hikes through the woods at our environmental center. It has greatly improved his quality of life!

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A Golden at the end of the day, makes the stress go away!

So, if this were your dog, would you have a 3rd opinion? I'm not made of money, but if I'm treating him for the wrong thing I want to know. Like I said in my earlier post, if you didn't see him walk, you wouldn't know anything was wrong. His eyes are still bright he's perky...all the golden traits

Andy's feet sometimes get tangled up with each other and he tips over. Nothing serious, and he'll get back up and keep walking. His gait is exaggerated. He's never yelped out in pain. Does this describe anything that your "baby" goes through?

We walk sometimes with a Great Pyrenees that is the same way. Acupuncture has her going on 11yrs of age. That girl can still walk a mile.

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Do they know what causes it?

Probably age and genetics. My boy passed at 13yrs 3 months of age with a perfect spine.

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My Ryles had an X-ray a few years back to check out his knee which he injured while playing snowballs. In that X-ray she noted that he had spondylosis of the lower spine.

Our choice of vet was holistic in fundamentals and conventional when need be. What she recommended and we followed was chiro adjustments, laser and some acupuncture. We did this, numerous subsequent visits initially until he was "normal" again and then moved on to maintenance. Chiro every 4 weeks.

Ryley never fell over until this last year ( about 6 months before he passed) - I suspect he had some degenerative myelopathy happening. As he would fall and also knuckle his hind end and weakness. I did some rehab with him to get him to lift his feet and remember that he has back legs.

I am not vet, that is for sure. Ryley was 13 and as most doggies, he had arthritis and the spondylosis. He too still tried to jump and buck and play, he seemed to tire faster.

I would suggest as other, try some chiro, laser and acupuncture. I suspect the falling over is from something else and with chiro laser and acupuncture, he may "loosen up" and be a little more steady on his feet.

We did not use pain medication until the last month of his life when he started not being able to climb or descend stairs. Again I cannot say that was from anything in particular. We had Ryles on a number of supplements over the years including Recovery SA, Biologic Vets Senior, Fats, Vites. Did they make a difference? I don't know, there was no other Ryley to have on placebos.

The cost of laser is pretty reasonable here in BC along with chiro and acupuncture.

I am sorry the costs are adding up, I too would be wanting to know what is going on. If you wish more chit chat, please pm me.

At the end of the day, look at your handsome boy and do what is best for his quality of life, if it happens to be a little laser (some doggies love the heat) then that is what makes him better.

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Ryley Wye
Pedigree Unknown
13.5 years of beautiful healthy life
Never ever forgotten

If you do a search in the senior section, you will find a lot of recommendations for treatments of seniors' gait and spine issues.

I also used a heating pad and massager on Copper on a daily basis. Another member's vet recommended a cold pack for her senior. I never thought to use one on Copper, but do now use them on my back since I have stenosis, bone spurs, degenerated discs (general old age itis) and find that the cold helps a lot. I went to PT and one of the things they did for me was chiropractic adjustments, but due there being some sort of disjunction along Copper's spine they were not comfortable doing that for him.

I strongly recommend you try some laser light therapy or acupuncture and see if it makes a difference. It is non-invasive and can't hurt as far as I can tell and I do know it helped Copper, Tucker, Toby, Barkley, Toby and Clyde on here that I can remember off the top of my head.

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Copper's Mom (always)
Gotcha 10/2004 - lost ya 10/2010

Well, I am not a neurologist... But it sounds like he has proprioceptive deficits(loses track of where his feet are)... Many dogs in that situation are not in pain...sometimes it is due to degenerative myelopathy... According to the textbook I quoted from the condition(spondylosis) is non inflammatory, so in theory NSAID's won't help. However, with an old dog, the NSAID's help the other areas where there is arthritis... The only way to know for sure would be to do a huge work up with a neurologist...

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Janice and The Celebration Gang -
"Samantha, George, Tiki, Emily, Mick and Basil" Gone but not forgotten, Sally(Windjammer's Ima Country Girl CDX CGC), Laney(Mandell Marlenes Celebration UD RA CGC), and Cookie(Starseeker's Kissmas Cookie CDX RE CGC).

Sorry missed that part. We had orthopedic foam beds for Ryley in the house. I was told to keep him warm, he was never an outside boy. As with humans, I think the cold is very hard on arthritis. Can he stay in more often then in the yard?

You may also try luke warm heating pads on his back - and some massage of the muscles as they are probably working overtime.

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Ryley Wye
Pedigree Unknown
13.5 years of beautiful healthy life
Never ever forgotten