It's a bit hard for me to write this... As you may remember, we first realized that Merlin has really terrible hips when we got him x-rayed when he was about a year old (I was hoping to use him as a stud dog and do competitive dummy work with him, but that was clearly not to be...). The hip scoring goes from A1 (the best score) to E2 (the absolute worst), and his hips are E1 both sides. We have been careful with him, giving him lots of exercise, some dummy work, some physiotherapy, keeping him slim, and generally allowing him to be a young happy dog, while being cautious (not allowing too much jumping, etc). Up to now, he has not had any symptoms, other than a tendency to get cold water tail really easily.
Anyway, for the last few months I have noticed his back legs trembling, especially when he is excited or when he is standing on one leg to pee. Of course, we have been to the vets and discussed this at length. Rather than put him under anesthetic and x-ray his hips again (because, realistically, what is that going to say, other than that they are awful...) we have decided on conservative treatment to start with. He does not limp or show any indication that he has pain, but the vet feels that this trembling, especially when on one leg, is an indication that his muscles are having to work harder to keep his joints in place.
So - our Merly boy is on a diet (he weighed almost 39 kilos at the first weigh-in). He is certainly not overweight, but a big boy with very big bones. Since the first consultation he has lost some weight and yesterday weighed in at 37.7 kg (very pleased!). We want him to lose another kilo over the next month or so, which will put him on the thin side of normal for his size.
Secondly, he had a 10-day course of inflammatories, which actually did not really show any results.
Thirdly we have started him on the underwater treadmill. To begin with he was VERY skeptical of this, but now he goes up the ramp on his own and walks happily and confidently into the tank, and now does 15 minutes at a time, which will be increased to 20 minutes twice a week until he reaches the level of fitness and muscularity (is that a word?) that the physiotherapist wants, then we will drop back to once a week. The idea is that this will strengthen his back legs in particular, and prevent him shifting his weight forwards too much, which often then leads to shoulder/knee/ankle issues later down the line.
I am so sad about this. We knew all along that this time would come, and we've done so well to get him to 5 years old with no symptoms... but it is a blow to us both. I know many of you have dogs with joint issues, and you will understand. In the meantime, he is the same happy, funny, goofy, glorious fool as ever. I love him so much, it really is quite painful to think about the future. Thank goodness dogs don't do that, and only live for today.
Anyway, for the last few months I have noticed his back legs trembling, especially when he is excited or when he is standing on one leg to pee. Of course, we have been to the vets and discussed this at length. Rather than put him under anesthetic and x-ray his hips again (because, realistically, what is that going to say, other than that they are awful...) we have decided on conservative treatment to start with. He does not limp or show any indication that he has pain, but the vet feels that this trembling, especially when on one leg, is an indication that his muscles are having to work harder to keep his joints in place.
So - our Merly boy is on a diet (he weighed almost 39 kilos at the first weigh-in). He is certainly not overweight, but a big boy with very big bones. Since the first consultation he has lost some weight and yesterday weighed in at 37.7 kg (very pleased!). We want him to lose another kilo over the next month or so, which will put him on the thin side of normal for his size.
Secondly, he had a 10-day course of inflammatories, which actually did not really show any results.
Thirdly we have started him on the underwater treadmill. To begin with he was VERY skeptical of this, but now he goes up the ramp on his own and walks happily and confidently into the tank, and now does 15 minutes at a time, which will be increased to 20 minutes twice a week until he reaches the level of fitness and muscularity (is that a word?) that the physiotherapist wants, then we will drop back to once a week. The idea is that this will strengthen his back legs in particular, and prevent him shifting his weight forwards too much, which often then leads to shoulder/knee/ankle issues later down the line.
I am so sad about this. We knew all along that this time would come, and we've done so well to get him to 5 years old with no symptoms... but it is a blow to us both. I know many of you have dogs with joint issues, and you will understand. In the meantime, he is the same happy, funny, goofy, glorious fool as ever. I love him so much, it really is quite painful to think about the future. Thank goodness dogs don't do that, and only live for today.
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‘s for him and 
‘s for you
