Senior dog, weak hips, lots of allergies, what to do?

[Myka]

Hi all!

Roxy is just over 15 years old now, and 60 lbs American Staffordshire Terrier. She has allergies to chicken and fish (inc shellfish).

She is on a raw beef diet that is 83% beef, 7% bone powder, 10% organs (liver, kidney, spleen) that comes from the abattoir. This correlates to 19% protein, 13% fat, 0.4% fiber, 0.9% calcium, 0.5% phosphorus. She eats one pound of this per day split into two meals. A few times a week I add an extra tbsp of ground bone (the same stuff used in the diet mix).

I add about 3 tbsp of a veggie mix in the morning meal that I steam and grind up fine. It is broccoli, brussel sprouts, butternut squash, carrots, parsley, spinach, red cabbage, and blueberries. There is also bone broth added to this veggies mix before it is put into containers and frozen.

I also add in the morning meal 1.5 tbsp freshly ground flax.

A couple weeks ago I also started making "Golden Paste" out of turmeric, black pepper, and coconut oil. Roxy gets 1.5 tsp per day split into each meal.

Over the winter Roxy hasn't had much exercise, but now the weather is warmer she has been going for a lazy walk almost everyday for 0.8-1 km. She trots along for most of it, but I lets her stop and sniff things so she doesn't stay trotting the whole time. This is mostly on fairly soft, sandy, natural ground (we live on an acreage). She is noticeably sore in the evenings after the walks.

We have 7 stairs the dogs go up and down to get outside to their pen, and also a flight of stairs to go to our bedrooms, so she's been doing a lot of stairs since we moved here 18 months ago. I think this has helped keep range of motion for her hips.

I'm not sure the Golden Paste has made any difference at all, though I will continue using it until the 1 lb bag of turmeric powder runs out. I'm going to try adding MSM powder next time I'm out and about (with CoVID, who knows when). She can't have glucosamine because she's allergic to fish.

Anything else I can do for her? She's starting to get that "skinny butt" look around her hips, she's slow to get up from lying down, she walks base narrow, and accidentally drags her toes/trips frequently when walking/trotting. I'm starting to think she's getting close to the point where I will need to consider medications to help with discomfort/swelling.

[hazelrunpack]

Wow! Good job with Roxy! 15 years!

It sounds like she's having a bit of an issue with age-related neuropathy. I'm not sure what more you can do for it. Light to moderate exercise can help them maintain muscle mass, but keep an eye on her feet. If she develops abrasions from the knuckling, you might have to find some socks or booties to protect her toes.

[Myka]

Thank you for your reply! Yeah, it's hard to believe she's gotten to 15 already!

You may be on to something with neuropathy. I was thinking it was a movement she made trying to avoid a pain. It's always just the right hind that she will accidentally drag. It is not causing any type of abrasions at this point, but I will keep an eye on this. I did take some short videos to post here, but not sure if videos work.

Since moving to the acreage, this is the first point in her life with us that we've known her wanting to go for a walk. When we lived in the city she would go hide if I got her harness out. She didn't like leaving the property, so we always just got her to play with toys in the yard. It's nice to see her out and about having a good time now. <3

In all honesty she's doing really well for her age. The vet commented last time that her blood work looks like a young dog.

[Myka]

Here are a couple short videos of Roxy from the side and behind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biOP5lNZ6RY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuwdtJtzMhs

[hazelrunpack]

Oh, Myka, she's looking GOOD!!

When Brier's neuropathy got bad, we had some success with gabapentin. It's a nerve-pain drug and it had some side-effects, but we kept it to as low a dose as we could notice improvement with and it did give him some relief. But he was dragging his feet much more than Roxy is at this point...

[Myka]

Hi Hazel, thank you so much! She really doesn't look or act like she's 15.

Thanks for the info. I seem to think that Roxy was on Gaba before. About 4 years ago she went through a really weird phase where she would go hide at the back of the yard (like climb behind bushes which she would normally never do) and shake like a leaf. That's around the same time we started noticing her hips bugging her. We thought maybe there was pain and being the breed she is, she just wasn't showing how much pain she was in. I think she was on Gaba for a bit, but we didn't get any results, so she was switched to Trazodone for anxiety. This stopped the problem in its tracks, and after a few weeks we took her off, and it wasn't a problem again.

I do have some low dose Meloxicam I can give her if she's having a bad day, but I know this is hard on their liver and kidneys, and it doesn't work right away, so I really don't use it. I might look into other options that will work faster. One vet did prescribe her Tramadol when we were trying to figure out that problem with hiding and shaking. I filled the prescription, but I never gave her any. I wasn't convinced she needed an opiate pain killer.

She's had a good week this week, but it's been cold, so she hasn't gone for any walks. The walks really make her sore, but she needs to keep in shape. Maybe I should buy a treadmill and get her walking on days that it's too cold, so it's more consistent. Or maybe it takes a few weeks for the turmeric to build up in the system and start working.

I might try fish oil again, and see if by any luck she's outgrown her fish allergy. I know shellfish is definitely still an issue because for her 14th birthday I bought her a can of Kangaroo dog food and careful scrutinized the limited ingredients in the can, and completely over looked Orange Lip Mussel. She was covered in hives. Happy birthday! Oops.

Wow, the forums have really quieted down these days. I haven't been on here consistently for awhile.

[hazelrunpack]

If you have the option of hydrotherapy, that might be something to look into, as well--great exercise with minimal stress on joints

[growler~GateKeeper]

Originally Posted by Myka

I might try fish oil again, and see if by any luck she's outgrown her fish allergy. I know shellfish is definitely still an issue because for her 14th birthday I bought her a can of Kangaroo dog food and careful scrutinized the limited ingredients in the can, and completely over looked Orange Lip Mussel. She was covered in hives. Happy birthday! Oops

Carnivora has a Primrose Oil for pets that have fish/shellfish allergies.

[Winston]

Awe I remember sweet Myka.

Roxy looks awesome for 15!! Dont have much too add other than so nice to hear from you and Roxy!!!!! she looks great...

Cindy

[cosmoloco]

Originally Posted by Myka

Hi all!

Roxy is just over 15 years old now, and 60 lbs American Staffordshire Terrier. She has allergies to chicken and fish (inc shellfish).

She is on a raw beef diet that is 83% beef, 7% bone powder, 10% organs (liver, kidney, spleen) that comes from the abattoir. This correlates to 19% protein, 13% fat, 0.4% fiber, 0.9% calcium, 0.5% phosphorus. She eats one pound of this per day split into two meals. A few times a week I add an extra tbsp of ground bone (the same stuff used in the diet mix).

I add about 3 tbsp of a veggie mix in the morning meal that I steam and grind up fine. It is broccoli, brussel sprouts, butternut squash, carrots, parsley, spinach, red cabbage, and blueberries. There is also bone broth added to this veggies mix before it is put into containers and frozen.

I also add in the morning meal 1.5 tbsp freshly ground flax.

A couple weeks ago I also started making "Golden Paste" out of turmeric, black pepper, and coconut oil. Roxy gets 1.5 tsp per day split into each meal.

Over the winter Roxy hasn't had much exercise, but now the weather is warmer she has been going for a lazy walk almost everyday for 0.8-1 km. She trots along for most of it, but I lets her stop and sniff things so she doesn't stay trotting the whole time. This is mostly on fairly soft, sandy, natural ground (we live on an acreage). She is noticeably sore in the evenings after the walks.

We have 7 stairs the dogs go up and down to get outside to their pen, and also a flight of stairs to go to our bedrooms, so she's been doing a lot of stairs since we moved here 18 months ago. I think this has helped keep range of motion for her hips.

I'm not sure the Golden Paste has made any difference at all, though I will continue using it until the 1 lb bag of turmeric powder runs out. I'm going to try adding MSM powder next time I'm out and about (with CoVID, who knows when). She can't have glucosamine because she's allergic to fish.

Anything else I can do for her? She's starting to get that "skinny butt" look around her hips, she's slow to get up from lying down, she walks base narrow, and accidentally drags her toes/trips frequently when walking/trotting. I'm starting to think she's getting close to the point where I will need to consider medications to help with discomfort/swelling.

Adorable Roxy! Good job for reaching 15 years, more love and happiness that you can give to your family.♥

[Myka]

Unfortunately, my update is that Roxy passed away on May 9th. This was just a mere month after the above posted videos!

On the evening of May 8th Roxy injured herself, and it was determined that she fractured the neck of the hip and tore her ACL. We didn't see it happen. She was 100% non-weight bearing. Even with a hefty dose of Tramadol on board, she was unable to adjust herself on her bed, and unable to stand up or sit up from a laying position due to the pain. She has an extremely high pain tolerance, and to see that she was unable to cope, and couldn't even in lay in bed without whining, we made the difficult decision to say goodbye to her. It was the only rational option as she was not a candidate for surgery.

On the other hand, even on her last day, she had zoomies in the yard that morning, and had a great day watching us in the bobcat and laying on the deck with the sun shining. I miss her SO much, and I am SO grateful that she shared her life with us for nearly 10 years (we adopted her at 5 1/2).

[hazelrunpack]

I'm so sorry, Myka

[shriekcurliness]

Omg, I'm so sorry Myka, I'm sure it was painful to let her go and to be honest, I'm not sure if I can even do that if the same situation happened to my baby. (

[growler~GateKeeper]

Myka so sorry to hear of Roxy's passing

sweet Roxy

[Andrea22]

I'm sorry about your dog. Is this a temporary diet, or all the time because of its illness? I just remember when my dog had health problems, she followed the same diet. Only at the same time, I gave her CBD oil. My dog had liver problems and so suffered terribly. Every time she whined, my heart bled. When I went to the vet, he prescribed a whole list of foods that she shouldn't eat and advised me to ease her pain with CBD oil. By the way, this oil helped my dog a lot, and he stopped whining.

[sana]

so sorry for your loss