The Blog Pound

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 , the wee hours

You’d think I’d be better at this by now

I just can’t seem to get back into regular blogging, no matter how hard I try. It’s not from lack of topics, as I compose a blog entry in my head almost daily—I just never get around to actually writing it down! We’ve had a few bumps in the road over the last few weeks, too… we lost our Internet connection for over a week, and the server this blog is hosted on was down for about three or four days. I don’t even know if anyone is still reading, but figure I might at least get a visitor who’s lost :)

All the creatures and humans here are doing well, although Eli, our 13 year old German shepherd, is starting to really show her age. She’s lively and happy, but is having a lot of trouble with her back legs due to arthritis and muscle atrophy. I inadvertently exacerbated the problem by stopping her access to the second floor of the house a year ago, when she started to have a leaky bladder. The incontinence was so bad that she would just leak urine when she walked around, and it was almost impossible to keep track of the leaks on the carpet to clean them, so I kept her downstairs. We eventually got her on Proin, which fixed her bladder problems completely, but by that time she’d trained herself to not go upstairs and I didn’t really think anything of it. In retrospect, the stairs were great exercise for her hind legs. I made her leg problems worse last fall when I removed the doggie door (the cats kept going outside)—when she used the door, she had to lift her hind legs over a high step, and I think that helped keep her limber. Now she even stumbles slightly just walking over the track for the sliding door. Her weight had dropped about 15 pounds during her last wellness exam, and I’m pretty sure that’s entirely a loss of muscle mass. The good news is that she still loves to run around the yard with Dante, and rarely misses a chance to ask me to throw a ball for her to fetch. Rimadyl has been great for her, and when she’s on it she’s vastly more agile and less prone to stumbling. Flippy suggested today that it might be time to see about getting Eli a cart to help support her back legs, and it’s definitely something for us to consider if the problem seems irreparable. Right now I’m still hoping I might help build those rear leg muscles back up by getting Eli back on the stairs a couple of times a day. I wish she liked the pool—I’d happily deal with cleaning dog hair out of the pool filters if I could get Eli to use the pool for exercise. I’ve been trying to get her in it for years, though, and she always refuses to go beyond the first step. When Eli was about 10 weeks old we spent a lot of time at Laguna Beach and she just hated the waves and getting her feet wet, so she’s never been a dog who likes water.

Other than Rimadyl, the one thing which makes a big difference in Eli’s agility is Dasuquin. If you’ve got a dog on Cosequin, you might want to consider making a switch to Dasuquin, which seems to be just a little bit more effective for a similar price. Eli’s been on glucosamine and chondroitin supplements for most of her life, and I’m positive they helped hold off these problems. I’ve seen a couple of the older cats start to move around more after putting them on Dasuquin, too. Use it as a preventative if you’re able, but better late than never.

Speaking of cats, I’m still anxiously awaiting my first set of bottle-babies in two years. I’ve told the vet’s office that I’m willing and able to take on the next litter which is brought to them, and while I don’t wish any kittens to be orphaned/abandoned, I’ll be happy to blog about any that I’m lucky enough to care for.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 04/28 at 01:27 AM
The Litterbox • (7) Comments • Permalink