I just joined this great forum to get help and guidance for my Papillon, Ginger. She is 16 and has arthritis. Ginger had her second Librela injection today and I found this group when googling "Librela". I read through the Librela post and was happy to find so many helpful, knowledgeable people here. I live in the U.S.
Hello to everyone!
- Thread starter Luvdawgs
- Start date
- Location
- Herefordshire, UK
Welcome to you and little Ginger!
- Location
- Isle of Man
Hello to you & Ginger, what a pretty wee girl. I do hope she finds some relief with Librela.
Hi hope your girl finds some relief with her treatment. I have 2 dogs, my oldest Rory has been taking librella for nearly 2 years and is doing very well on it. His back pain was a big problem and also because of other health issues we couldn't use a lot of drugs so librella was the only real option. It's worked very well for him. He's had no real issues with it and he's lives a good life.
- Location
- Malvern Worcestershire
Welcome to you both. My Labrador Rourke, has been on Librela for about 2 years and I have found it very helpful.
Hi @Luvdawgs , welcome to the Forum to you and your girl Ginger! I have two labradors, our younger boy Stilton is 11 months old and our older boy Kipper is 6 with arthritis; he's been on Librela for a couple of years now. So far it's helped substantially, we've had no side effects and monitor performance closely.
Hopefully you'll find this a welcoming and supportive space for health challenges and everything else dog-related.
Hopefully you'll find this a welcoming and supportive space for health challenges and everything else dog-related.
Boogie
Moderator
- Location
- Manchester UK
Welcome to you from Tatze - black Lab, Ted - Cavapoo and me - human(ish)
- Location
- Cornwall , UK
Warm welcome from me and my two x
- Location
- East Sussex
Hi and welcome to you and Ginger.
Jacqui-S
Moderator
- Location
- Fife, Scotland
Welcome to the forum!
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
A very warm welcome from Maxx the yellow labrador and I from down here in Australia 
Somewhere here someone asked for more infomation about GInger. There are two types of papillons. Ginger is the more common type with ears that look like butterflies. Papillon is the French work for butterfly, in case you hadn't run across that before.
My husband and I are Ginger's third owners. We found out from Ginger's groomer that the groomer had worked on Ginger after she was taken away from her first owner because the owner, a hoarder, had 20 dogs and the City took 19 of them away and had them groomed and re-homed (thank goodness!) Ginger with her second owners from about ages 4 to 8, when the elderly couple had to give her up. We found Ginger in the local animal shelter when she was 8 and I fell in love with her immediately. She's still here eight years later (16 years old). My husband and I had two dogs before Ginger. The first, Sammi, lived to 17 and was a Scottipoo, and the next was Charlie, a Lhasa Apso.
Luckily Ginger doesn't have many health problems except her heart murmur that has always been a 2 on a 0 to 5 scale. During the past year, Ginger lost much of her eyesight and in the last couple of months she developed arthritis. Ginger can't hear unless there is a really loud sound. Ginger still has an excellent appetite and is alert when awake
We have had to block in areas to keep Ginger out because we want to keep her on carpet so she doesn't slide on the llnoleum flooring. Since Ginger can't see well, she sometimes bangs to the wall, but she is light (7.4 lbs now; before 13 lbs.)
One problem we have with Ginger is since she can't see much, she sleeps a lot during the day but at night she goes round and round in circles. Has anyone heard of dogs doing this before and if so, how do you deal with it? We are not sure what causes it but it didn't start until she lost a lot of her eyesight. She finally tires herself out and falls asleep after about an hour or two, but she keeps us awake when she does that. I don't want to give her the Gabapentin/Melatonin/Trazodone medicine to make her drowsy because I don't like to keep her drugged and am afraid if she is on it a lot it will affect her kidneys and/or liver.
My husband and I are Ginger's third owners. We found out from Ginger's groomer that the groomer had worked on Ginger after she was taken away from her first owner because the owner, a hoarder, had 20 dogs and the City took 19 of them away and had them groomed and re-homed (thank goodness!) Ginger with her second owners from about ages 4 to 8, when the elderly couple had to give her up. We found Ginger in the local animal shelter when she was 8 and I fell in love with her immediately. She's still here eight years later (16 years old). My husband and I had two dogs before Ginger. The first, Sammi, lived to 17 and was a Scottipoo, and the next was Charlie, a Lhasa Apso.
Luckily Ginger doesn't have many health problems except her heart murmur that has always been a 2 on a 0 to 5 scale. During the past year, Ginger lost much of her eyesight and in the last couple of months she developed arthritis. Ginger can't hear unless there is a really loud sound. Ginger still has an excellent appetite and is alert when awake
We have had to block in areas to keep Ginger out because we want to keep her on carpet so she doesn't slide on the llnoleum flooring. Since Ginger can't see well, she sometimes bangs to the wall, but she is light (7.4 lbs now; before 13 lbs.)
One problem we have with Ginger is since she can't see much, she sleeps a lot during the day but at night she goes round and round in circles. Has anyone heard of dogs doing this before and if so, how do you deal with it? We are not sure what causes it but it didn't start until she lost a lot of her eyesight. She finally tires herself out and falls asleep after about an hour or two, but she keeps us awake when she does that. I don't want to give her the Gabapentin/Melatonin/Trazodone medicine to make her drowsy because I don't like to keep her drugged and am afraid if she is on it a lot it will affect her kidneys and/or liver.
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
I don't have any advice but I want to say thank goodness there are wonderful people like you in the world to take care of unwanted dogs 
A friend’s older dog did this, I think it’s more common as they get older and possibly sight loss adds to the mix. It’s sometimes seen as a form of confusion or disorientation, a night light might help if she’s normally in the dark, and maybe a plug-in pheromone diffuser like Adaptil might help her settle (they seem to work for some but not all).
It might help to give her the option to sleep close to you if that’s possible and she doesn’t do it already - maybe a bed nearby so she knows you’re there.
Thanks for all of the information, Hah. I am buying the Adaptil. I hadn't heard of it before. I already sleep right near GInger. I'll let you know if it helps.
Ginger also does the walking in circles when she wants her dinner so for Ginger, may be a sign of agitation as well as when she is confused or disoriented.
I forgot to mention earlier that when we first adopted Ginger, she didn't know how to go on a leash for a walk with us or how to play with a toy. Apparently she must have used the backyard with her previous owners to do her thing, and never had any toys to play with back then. I'm glad we have been able to give her a fuller life.