One of the lights of my life is Kenny. Although he's nearly 12, we've only had him for just under 4 years. He didn't have a very nice early life, but since he's come to rule our house, he's been absolutely loved to bits and always will be. He's a wonderful character, and I bloody well adore him. He's had to have a cancerous tumour removed a few weeks ago, and his legs aren't great. He's been through the mill a bit, really, didn't have very good owners, and spent far too long in rescue kennels, before we 'found' him, as a result of a media story as it happens.
His back legs are stiff, because he was never exercised as a pup, and he's developed arthritis in his front 'elbows'. I want to make sure that his kidneys continue to be OK, as they're not in the best shape - not bad, but I don't want them to become bad - so that really rules out things like Metacam, certainly at the moment, as it can upset the kidneys.
Anyway, as a bit of a PSA (hopefully) to other dog owners whose pooches might be suffering with arthritis, a new treatment has come onto the market which (forgive my lack of knowledge here) effectively replaces, via an injection, the cartilage which has worn away, and is causing the bones to more or less rub together.
So - he's having it done tomorrow morning. It's not cheap (think Custom Shop Tele) but if it can cure (or alleviate at least) his arthritis and give him a new lease of life, then it's well worth it. I'd spend my last penny on him anyway, so there.
:-) This is him, looking very anxious after I sneezed - he's such a drama queen. If anyone's interested, I'll post the results in the hope that it might help another dog as well. Fingers crossed!
Call me Dave.
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We also did the Herbal stuff which helped to a degree.
Do let us know how this works out as sound interesting
It was shortly going to be all about helping him with his mobility and discomfort, probably to the long-term detriment of his kidneys, so this has hopefully come at the right time. The injection comes over from Holland, and it's a pretty new thing for dogs. Our vet has done it twice before on a couple of Rottweilers - one of them went up the stairs the day after, for the first time in five years apparently!
I'm hopefully but cautious, of course. Apparently there's no real recovery period as such - it works more or less straight away. I do hope it works - the little fellow has had a rough life, and we knew we'd taken on a chap that needed a lot of care and attention, but he's worth it a million times over.
I'm supposed to be a grown-up, as well.
Good of luck Kenny
We've been giving my 9 yo labradoodle glucosamine for the last 12 months, fwiw. Hoping to hold back the ravages of time.
He's a brave little soldier.
The operation for his arthritic elbows seems to have worked pretty well. His little legs are still pretty stiff (he wasn't looked after or exercised as a pup or young dog - not in my care, I hasten to add) but he's not really limping at all now, which was the whole point of it all - to reduce the pain. It seems to be an effective treatment, so if anyone wants any details, just let me know.
It was a couple of thousand quid, to be fair, but well worth it - added to the op for his tumour, and his ear, it's added up to quite a few guitar sales, but my goodness, he's worth it and much more!
He'd had two crap 'owners' and had been in rescue kennels for some time. Unfortunately, there's no way that he would have been Britain's loneliest dog, as there are always many poor things out there that need help. I'd just lost my 17 year old dog and was heartbroken, but couldn't pass him by. It's been love ever since. Well, it has for me - I think he just tolerates me, but he does appreciate the biscuits!