Another update on Mr Simon
 . Thank goodness for the Help Em Up Harness. At least I can get him back up and out to go potty. Took him to his regular vet today. They ran a full blood panel, Valley Fever test, gave him a cold laser treatment. All his bloodwork looks good, though we won't get the Valley Fever test results back until Tuesday. He's going back to the Vet Neurological Center on Wednesday at 9:15 for complete imaging..Xrays, MRI, Cat Scan..sigh...but hopefully we'll finally get to the bottom of it and figure out how to help him. He's back on the prednisone and tramadol and crate rest. Alarmingly he's also gained 7 lbs due to his inactivity which he definitely does not need right now and he hates green beans but I've got to get the weigh off of him. Please send white light to my Mr Simon. At 7 1/2 he has too much life left for this! |
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I'm really sorry. Fingers crossed that they find something easily treatable.  Kristine |
Poor Mr. Simon. Hope they find something to help him. I don't know his background but did you try shark cartlidge? That really helped my first sheepdog when he started to have trouble with lameness. Sending sheepy thoughts and prayers your way.  |
| Poor Simon and poor you. I had a dog unable to walk after a spinal injury. It was distressing for the dog and me, and physically demanding for me. I sympathise with you, it's a terrible situation. I hope you can find out what is wrong and get it sorted soon.  |
| Special thoughts and prayers for both you and Mr. Simon. Hope they get some answers soon. |
| Ashley, I've never tried shark cartilage. Simon is my rescue boy. He was three when he came to live with me and had spent most of those first three years confined to a crate. He has never had a normal Sheepie gait, but has always loved to run and jump and play. The weakness started in October. Since then he spent 8 weeks on crate rest with prednisone and tramidol. We've been doing acupuncture treatments weekly for the past month. He's also on a high dose of Ultimate Omega and also a high dose of Glucosomine, Chondroitin, MSM. He was seen at the Vet Neuro Center in October who put him on the crate rest as a conservative approach. He got his first laser treatment today. His hips are excellent, according to my vet who is a canine rehab specialist. No indication of spondylosis. I finally sent in a DM (degenerative myelopathy) test last week. Hopefully the imaging next week will give me some answers since nothing else seems to be giving him any improvement. When he got dramatically worse yesterday for no apparent reason (no sheepie silliness I witnessed) I was at my wit's end and decided I had to quit the whole total conservative approach and just do what I have to do.... |
| It is very hard to watch them when they are struggling with trying to walk and get up. I would cry watching this happen to Pooh Bear. Will keep Mr. Simon in my thoughts. |
I was going to write yesterday to see how he was doing.  Meesha's coming off pred and she wants to eat everything in sight. I've been giving her a spoon full of pumpkin as a treat along with vegetables. Has Simon tolerated veggies well in the past? Just wondering if you can you maybe make him a doggy soup with different vegetables that might keep the calorie count lower but make veggies more appealing and meals more filling. Put maybe a skinless chicken breast in water and boil it for a flavored broth... then add lower calorie veggies. I've put broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, zucchini, cabbage, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, etc. into the pot. Since you're trying to reduce calories, remove the chicken from the mix (just use it for flavoring) and put the soup mixture it over his food. It depends on what he's used to eating though, whether he can tolerate this... the last thing either of you needs is him to get diarrhea. Praying you'll find a direction to take to help your boy. |
| Thank you all for your kind thoughts. Jaci, that's a wonderful idea! (And thank you for the help with the harness, we've mastered it). He is used to getting raw baby carrots, broccoli and cauliflower for treats. He's not crazy about the broccoli but Bella loves it and he won't be one-upped by her, lol. I can even use some organic low sodium chicken stock I always have since I eat low sodium as well. And with the prednisone...he's likely to eat anything. I regularly rotate their food so they don't really have sensitive stomachs. I did get some pumpkin today to add some fiber. We will get to the bottom of this....and hopefully it's treatable and he can fully recover. I want to see him run again...he is so joyous when he runs. Simon has not always been an easy dog...as a matter of fact, he is the most difficult rescue I've ever had and there were times I admittedly thought about giving up. But finally after 4 1/2 years he's become a delight. I want to enjoy that for a lot longer. |
| thinking of you try and hang in there |
| I hope your boy gets back to running and jumping soon. It must be so difficult to see him like this. |
| The shark cartlidge helped my guy when he got on in years. Actually humans take it as well and swear by it. Worth a try. My own dog, Bella, has an occasional slight limp after playing too hard. We were at the Vet for it and after ex rays found nothing really wrong and hips perfect. But the limp was from a sort of groin muscle pull and takes a long time to heal. And it flares up once and a while after chasing her brother around too much. Then I give her a small dose of Dermax for a day or two and limit her running  and she is back to her usual self. I also give Glyco-Flex.Hope you find some answers for poor Simon.  |
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