Justice is better now!

We took Justice to the vet yesterday, and he is doing better. THe doctor said he has all the proper reflexes and basic strength. Yesterday he was walking better than on Thursday. They took Xrays that showed minor arthritis, but in areas that shouldn't affect him. We think that he may have either slipped on the new tile floor or had a minor seizure and then couldn't get up. He was in an uncomfortable position for a long time and panicked. So he has been afraid to get up or down for fear that it could happen again. He is shaky on his feet, but able to move around o.k. Liberty was so nervous for him that this usually hyper dog refused to leave his side in the morning. But when he was on his feet, so she was so overjoyed that in her exhuberation, she knocked him over!

He still needs help getting up and lying down, but he is not in imminent danger. We'll get the results of the blood tests on Monday. His kidney is abnormally small, which the doctor was a bit concerned about, but he has not had pain or anything there. He hasn't shown pain at all. So he looks like he'll live a bit longer.

We so badly want him to last until Andrew comes from Brazil with Marina in January! He put so much love and effort into training Justice that we really want Marina to get to meet his first dog.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Vicki,

Nice to see you post, and many many thanks for your kind words.

I hope you're feeling ok, and am glad to hear your "pup" is doing better.

Take care!
-mgb

Good news Vicki,

I hadnt seen the post, but so glad he is doing better.
We have a 13 and half year old Golden and she falls over a lot.
We have rugs everywhere so that she can gain purchase to get up.
She has arthritis. Is on Glucosamine which seems to help, but I guess, cant turn back the clock...

Hope you get more good news..

Pen

So happy to read the good news, Vicki.

That's wonderful news, Vicki. He is obviously such a fighter.
I've always been fascinated with animal behavior, especially amongst themselves.
It's interesting in what ways Liberty changed when Justice started feeling rough. I see that in the pecking order of our 3 dogs when our oldest, Kaz, got really sick. Attention-seeking chaos.

Dogs really experience so many emotions...
Sorry for going off tangent. I know how much you adore your pooches aka dogs aka Family! I know how much Justice means to you. I am so thrilled that he is pushing on through !!
Love, T

That's not too bad

I am glad Justice is holding on


I hope the kidney matter is nothing serious. Let us know whenever you'll know more, please.
Big hugs and pats for Justice and Liberty!

Risa

Well, Justice is hanging in there, but he hasn't been himself since Thanksgiving. A lot we think is just psychological. He is afraid of falling and getting hurt again. My mom found him sprawled in the living room a couple days ago when she got up, and today she found him down in the backyard. One problem is that my dad has to use his knee walker because he can't step on his left foot. He has been religiously observant about that, which pleases my mom and me, as well as the doctor, a lot. But that means that we can't put rugs on our tile surfaces because the walker would get caught up in them. And Justice has trouble walking on the tile. So we try to keep him on the carpet, but sometimes he decides he wants to go somewhere else and ventures on, although lately he has been more afraid. We are keeping water in the back room now, so he won't have to go through the tile to get to the water.

But the newest problem is that he seems to be constipated. He will go outside and stand for a long time, sometimes even trying to squat for a while, which is really hard on his legs, since they are super weak. But nothing comes out. So my mom called the vet today, and he prescribed an enema! Yuck! Poor Justice! Poor us! My mom will pick up the special dog-formulated enema this afternoon, and we'll give it to him tonight. But that is going to be very miserable for all of us, especially Justice.

I want to know why not just give a stool softener. It seems to me that an enema isn't going to address the long-term problem. He's likely just to build up again. After all, that's what my mom and I use to keep regular because of our regular narcotic use. Why not a stool softener for dogs? But the vet ordered the enema, so we are going to have to try that tonight. I hope Justice doesn't suffer too much from that!

He clearly is not himself since Thanksgiving, very tentative about trying to go places or get up. He needs our help to get on the bed. My parents went out in our backyard today, where the dogs and bird love to relax in the sun, but it has a few steps. I had to pick up Justice and carry him up the steps because he couldn't make it up them by himself. My mom managed to get him back down by herself, since my dad can't help out with that. He has to use crutches to get up and down steps himself, and he struggles with those both because he is heavy and because he is so tall (6'7" or 5'19" as he likes to say) that his center of gravity is very high, so he falls over really easily.

But we're glad we at least still have Justice. If he can make it at least until Andrew and Marina come in January then we will be happy. He's had a long, good life, other than his first year, but he doesn't remember that anymore. He just remembers all the love and joy he's had with us!

About the constipation. Start giving him some pumpkin with every meal. It will help him go. The usual recommendation is a tablespoon or so. Abby gets a teaspoon with every meal just because I don't get out with her real often and it helps keep her regular.

The other thing you can do is get a laxative for the old guy (I think I have cat-lax for my dogs).

Justice had a delayed reaction to the enema. When we gave it to him, he went a little bit, but not a whole lot, and he still kept trying. What he would do is start to squat, but he couldn't stay in that position, so he'd have to take a step or two forward and another step or forward, so he wasn't squatting anymore. His legs, back and front, are just so weak! The vet said to watch him for half an hour after giving him the enema. He took it really well. Apparently it was pretty gentle. All tree of us were surrounding him and holding him down because we thought he'd fight it, but he didn't. He just lay there until he felt the need to go, so we helped him get back up, and as I said, he got a little bit out. But that night he was back to doing the same routine of trying to squat but stepping forward because he couldn't stay in that position.

But the next morning, my parents discovered that he had messed all over my dad's study. My mom said it was very loose. But what was worse was that my dad ran his walker over the mess and spread it all over the house! Yuck! So we are nervous about giving him further treatments because we don't want the same thing to happen again. We want him to be able to go, but only to go when he is outside. And during the day, someone is inevitably here to let him out if he needs. It's nighttime that is so bad because we're in bed and don't know that he's ready to go.

I told my mom about the pumpkin, and we may try that, but really slowly. I think we won't a laxative for the reasons stated above.

Any further suggestions? It is heart-wrenching to see him struggle so much. He doesn't appear to be hurting, which is a blessing, but he is scared and afraid to lie down. We have to put him down to get him to lie down because he doesn't feel comfortable doing so by himself. And he never knows where he wants to be. He just wanders around the house. We just keep begging him to hold on until January. Andrew and Marina come January 4! Hold on until then, Justice!

Vicki,

The "laxative" is not like a human one. It has the same effect as the pumpkin - they use it with cats for hair balls, it just sort of "greases the pipes"

Vicki, I am so sorry that Justice is not doing any better. I know you all want your brother to see him before he passes away but are you sure you're doing the right thing? What I mean is, is it worth his going through all this discomfort? If Justice manages to hang on and your brother is able to see him, do you really think he wants to see him this way? And since he is not well, the chances of his passing on or needing the vet's help to pass on could very well happen during your brother's stay. That would surely put a damper on the visit.

Since you've posted this on the forum, I assume you wanted advice and suggestions. I may be the odd man out here as I haven't seen anyone else with my opinion. Please forgive my usual blunt fashion.

I would put Jusitice's feelings ahead of anything else right now. Being a pet owner requires we make difficult decisions at the end. The discomfort of constipation on top of whatever pain and weakness the dog is in should be considered. Justice doesn't want to soil the house. The description of his relieving himself sounds like he's in terrible discomfort.

Please tell me you will consider what I have posted. While we cannot do this for our human family, we can do the right thing for the lovely animals we have in our lives. I'm sure your brother will understand.