# Rapid decline



## RayneFallon (Mar 7, 2020)

I have a beautiful 10-year-old eastern bred German Shepherd dog. She has been a therapy dog visiting pediatric units and nursing homes for years and is now retired. she is not a jumper. She is a straight back, but has recently started to slope. . She is an exquisitely lovely dog. In the last six months we are having weakness and muscle loss in her hind quarters. She has difficulty getting up on slippery floors and when we walk now we need to stop to rest every hundred yards or so. My current vet says she has osteoarthritis. Her Brother died six months ago from progressive demylesation disease. My vet swear she doesn’t have it. She does not appear to be in pain, but for me it is painful to watch her try to get from down to stand.....she LOVES to swim, walk. Go to home depot( {). Rymadyl has no effect, not gabapentim, vet wants PT. I am not sure this will make a difference.....does anyone have a good vet in the Spokane area for German Shepherd dog??

sorry for the length, and many thanks for input


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

I’m sorry to hear this, Mary Alice.
I also have a senior, Hans is 9 1/2, and he seems to have trouble when he stands, somewhat stiffly. It is so difficult to see them start to have problems. I do know a friend of mine swears by a dog chiropractor, is that an option for you?
I’d love to see a picture of your girl.


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## Saphire (Apr 1, 2005)

Has your vet thought about possible DM?


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

Saphire said:


> Has your vet thought about possible DM?


OP says littermate died of DM 6 months ago but her vet doesn’t think her dog has it.


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

Lots of things to try here...

First, any older dog suspected of having arthritis should probably be started ASAP on Adequan injections (2 x week for four weeks, then biweekly or monthly for maintenance). It's an amazing drug that lubricates the joints and preserve whatever cartilage is left. In about half of dogs, it has a powerful anti-inflammatory effect. You'll know in about 3 weeks if it's working. Many dogs have a near-miraculous improvement in that time. Some old-school vets don't know about it, even though it's been around for many years and is widely used. The sooner you start it the better, as it slows the degeneration going on inside the joints. The shots cost around $50 each if done by the vet, but many vets will show you how to do them at home and sell you the vial, cutting the price about in half. The only FDA-approved DMOAD that inhibits cartilage loss. | Adequan® Canine

Second, you may want to try getting your dog a set of Dr. Buzby's Toe Grips for the floors. They really do make a difference on improving footing and stability on slippery floors for old dogs. Dr. Buzby’s ToeGrips®

I would try vet chiro adjustments (they're usually done monthly). My oldsters feel a lot better after them. Vet acupuncture with laser therapy helps some too, but I see a lot more benefit from the chiro adjustments. Dogs with arthritis in the hips are always out of alignment -- they try to carry more weight in the front, which jacks up their necks and shoulders on top of having stuff going on in the rear. Swimming is great. PT can help too, but only if you're diligent about doing the exercises (the vet PTs usually include acupuncture and chiro in the practice).

Lastly, and this is important: confirm the arthritis with an x-ray if you haven't already. If you do hind end x-rays, ask them to include the spine too (it doesn't cost anything more to position the dog to catch an image of the lumbar spine along with the hips). A lot of hind-end lameness that people assume is hips is actually spinal stenosis (which is rampant in the breed). At this age, there also are other things that can cause lameness. It's worth the extra money to be sure of what you're dealing with. One of my dogs years ago suddenly started limping as an oldster on a forelimb. Our vet thought it was surely arthritis in an elbow. We almost didn't xray it....but something told me do it even though we were pretty sure of what it was. The image showed a tumor near the elbow (bone cancer)--not at all what we were expecting.


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

My old girl had spondylosis in her lower back. J noticed some of the things you mention. Her croup became more steep and she lost some control of the hind legs.

We did adequan, Chiropractic, and laser. All helped her a lot.


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

We’ve had good experiences with Springwater in Hauser Idaho for physical therapy should you decide to go that route.


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## RayneFallon (Mar 7, 2020)




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## RayneFallon (Mar 7, 2020)

I so appreciate the feedback. Per my vet, she had really bad arthritis with creputus in her bilateral knees, but her hip rom was unaffected 2mos ago. This week, she said the ROM in her hips had decreased. Because she is specially aware, she does not think DM is the cause. My work schedule will not allow for regular PT, but I am going to peruse the chiropractor and X-rays as they haven’t yet been done. 
I’ll keep you posted!


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## Cheerful1 (Sep 27, 2011)

Good luck to you and your pretty girl.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

RayneFallon said:


> I so appreciate the feedback. Per my vet, she had really bad arthritis with creputus in her bilateral knees, but her hip rom was unaffected 2mos ago. This week, she said the ROM in her hips had decreased. Because she is specially aware, she does not think DM is the cause. My work schedule will not allow for regular PT, but I am going to peruse the chiropractor and X-rays as they haven’t yet been done.
> I’ll keep you posted!


Check out acupuncture. It worked wonders for my old girl and was part of our maintenance program for the patrol dogs. Best of luck to you both.


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

It wouldn't hurt to start her on a high-quality arthritis supplement too. Dasuquin Advance (which can only be bought from the vet) and Phycox Max (OTC - Chewy, etc.) are two good ones that seem to do more good than others out there, likely due to the combination of things in them. The Phycox Max chews are very palatable -- I'm using one of them as a daily pill pocket for one of my dogs.


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

RayneFallon said:


> I so appreciate the feedback. Per my vet, she had really bad arthritis with creputus in her bilateral knees, but her hip rom was unaffected 2mos ago. This week, she said the ROM in her hips had decreased. Because she is specially aware, she does not think DM is the cause. My work schedule will not allow for regular PT, but I am going to peruse the chiropractor and X-rays as they haven’t yet been done.
> I’ll keep you posted!



If you are too busy to do laser at your vet--- it's very time consuming, I think I was taking her 2x or 3x a week at first.

I bought a thing called Photizo Vet Care. It's red and near infrared light therapy. I have seen really good results in my dogs and I can vouch for it, because I've used it on myself a few times and it really helps. 









Photizo Light Therapy Devices to Relieve Pain and Inflammation


Photizo Pain Relief reduces pain and inflammation with gentle, but powerful red and infrared light.




www.photizousa.com





It's not cheap but you'd spend this anyway for a course of laser at the vet but now I own it and I can do it for my dogs whenever they need it. It isn't as good as what you get at the vet but it definitely helps. Bonus it also is great for healing skin problems if you have any of those too.


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