Degenerative Myelopathy ??
If so, how long before it first started, to the time they just couldn't go anymore? My friends boxer just got back from a specialist, and was diagnosed with DM. They did a mylogram, and said there was nothing they could do. Surgery was not an option. She first started to show weakness about 4 mths ago. Any advice would be great. |
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| My first dog Jake lived 5 years with DM, from about 8 to 13 1/2.
There are other threads about him in here, try This Search |
| Did he have hip dysplasia or DM. Did you ever get him a cart?
The Dr. told her, since the dog has gotten really far along just in 4 mths, it may not be able to walk in 6 mths. |
| Hey Ron, will you tell me if you ever got Jake a cart? |
| No, we thought about it long and hard, but in the end we decided not to get him a cart.
We were travelling around the country in the motorhome, and it would have meant putting him into and out of the cart many times per day, as he certainly couldn't travel in it, and the aisles in the motorhome (when not parked) would be too narrow for him to get down, never mind turn around. The main reason, however, was that from all accounts we could find at the time, bigger dog breeds don't do particularly well with the cart, or at least not as well as the smaller breeds. On top of that, Jake was a big guy, still probably 97 pounds near the end, down from 106 in his prime. |
| I'm not Ron, but we did get our first OES a cart. Merlin lost the use of his hind legs due to compression of some vertebrae. He was 13 at the time. The cart worked for a while, but he was simply getting old and worn down and after a while, it was too hard for him to go even in the cart. A less expensive option, and one that a)works with the cart we used and b) works without a cart is a kind of reverse saddle that supports the lower half of the dog. You can then support their hindquarters by using the handles, sort of like carrying a suitcase, with 2 front legs. Of course, this requires some strength on the part of the owners, and some on the part of the dog, along with a will to succeed on the part of both dog and person. We got ours through http://www.doggon.com. The saddles are washable (important). The cart is very expensive; the saddles much less so. If you go that way, I'd get at least 2 saddles.
We were impressed with our experience with the site. They provided detailed instructions for measuring the dog and when we called with the measurements, they were knowledgeable about whether the measurements made sense for our breed of dog. There are multiple sources for carts, with different styles, etc. One, based in the UK, even is designed to allow the dog to lie down (the one we had did not--we had to unsnap Merlin and lower him to the ground). It's worth visiting the site I mentioned, and just googling wheels for dogs (or other pets. It's amazing what is available). In any case, I am sorry that your friends' dog has DM. |
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