After a month of seeing her limp when she gets up from lying down, and having tried complete rest; partial rest; massage; icing her front shoulder, swimming, we decided it was time to go back to the vet.
Of course she had no limp at the vet surgery. It was pretty difficult to assess Penny's gait, seeing she loves her vet so much that she throws herself at his feet all the time for a tummy rub, but he did his best, and of course he did all that disturbing limb manipulation, trying to find the soreness. Penny, like so many other dogs, is incredibly stoic, but the vet concluded that it is indeed her left front shoulder that is giving her trouble. Probably arthritis, sigh...
So she's having a course of cartrophen. One injection each week. She did have this once before, after her cruciate surgery, so we know she can tolerate this medication. The information on the site says it has no side effects, and our vet said the same thing, but I'm cynical enough to think that NOTHING has no side effects. But we'll settle for 'minimal side effects'.
The difference this time is that the vet suggested continuing with 'moderate exercise'. He used to advise resting a troublesome joint, so it was a pleasant surprise to be encouraged to keep her active. Given that in human medication the doctors and physios generally suggest keeping active after injury, I'm glad to get the same advice for Penny.
It's easy to restrain her from over-exercising, because the weather is awful lately. Hot, hot, hot every day. I've never known an autumn like this. Seeing we've just had the hottest summer ever recorded in Australia, it's frighteningly like what the climate change scientists have been predicting.
Good weather for swimming, though, and there's a nice little beach on the Yarra river up at Warringal Parklands.
And another swim at Kepala Canine Resort wouldn't go amiss.
7 comments:
poor penny - i do hope she's not in too much pain... it can be quite distressing watching them being manipulated... if you're open to natural therapy, i've heard some good things about seaweed supplement for dogs and came across this interesting article - "Pet Arthritis: Holistic Prevention and Natural Treatment" - http://allnaturalpetcare.com/blog/2011/10/18/pet-dog-cat-horse-bird-arthritis-holistic-prevention-and-natural-treatment/ ...
Penny, hope that limp goes away!
Standing in the water should help to keep you cool, Penny.
We hope the injections help your arthritic shoulder.
Love ya lots,
Mitch and Molly
Lassie and Benjie, and Mitch and Molly, thanks for those good wishes. She seems not too bad, thank goodness, but I guess we'll find out how she really feels when this terrible hot weather ends and we can go for long walks. I sure hope she is up to that, as she usually loves going for long walks.
proud womon, thanks for that link. I do believe in alternative ways of treating ailments, so I'll go right over and have a look at it.
Hi Penny (& parlance),
Long time no woof!! We’re finally getting settled in our new home in Perth and so I’m FINALLY getting a chance to catch up with my blog friends!
We're sorry to hear about Penny's limping - hope that all the treatments will help her to feel comfortable. I'm starting to develop some arthritis type issues too now (well, at my age, I guess it's about time! ;-) ) - and I have also had Cartrophen, with no ill effects (although not much observable change either, Hsin-Yi says - but they say it is more for prevention & maintenance than treatment).
We do think swimming is really good for maintainign exercise in a low-impact way - so definitely get to that pool as often as you can! I've actually started regular hydrotherapy sessions with a local vet - will be blogging about it soon!
Slobbers,
Honey the Great Dane
Honey, I'll look forward to hearing how you go with the hydrotherapy sessions!
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