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Drugs seem to be kicking in. She went outside to go potty (both pee and poop). Still limping but I had to wrangle her to go inside! Yay! She has move from her safe hiding place in the bathroom to the trip-able space in my bedroom doorway. Rock on!

PS: I have never been so thrilled for my dog to go to the bathroom. At the vets, she sat on the scale and peed everywhere! She wasn't incontinent it was just obvious that she hadn't gone all day because it was painful and couldn't hold it anymore. I know this is just temporary drug related relief but I'm so glad that she can have some comfort - empty her bladder, move, clear her bowels... Hopefully she will rest. I couldn't get her to finish her last tramadol. Because she weighs 130 lbs she literally just got 11 pills! The Tramadol is a non-opioid pain killer as opposed to the anti-inflammatories. She's supposed to take 5 and she could only eat 4. She normally is a pill-eating machine! Still she's comfy I'm going tot ake it.

I hope she continues to feel better.

Poor baby!

Loads of mojo headed your way!

I'm glad she's more comfortable. Sending big/gentle hugs to your sweetie. And to you. ((((hurtbs))))

Hurtbs - I am a lover of Large breeds, and growing up we had a dog that was a mutt, and was supposed to be half Lab and half St. Bernard, but she looked just like a mastiff, and acted just like a mastiff, she was a sweet lazy baby, and she weighed about 125 full grown.

She had one hip go out when she was about 9 months old, and the other at a year. We live in an area where we are close to one of the best vet schools in the nation, and at the time the surgery to fix the dysplasia was experimental, and expensive. We saw a rather renowned large breed vet, and he encouraged us to help her develop her muscles, and he stated that if we got her strong, she would survive on those weak hips for many years. She lived to be 12.5 years old.

I know now they recommend water therapy for this diagnosis in older dogs. They basically put them in a shallow pool, and walk them on a treadmill to build up their muscles. It works. I know someone who has done it with a Shepard (notorious for bad hips)and she has done really well.

Be very careful with the Rx NSAIDS from the vet, they can cause GI bleeding, and liver problems, just keep an eye on her stool, if it gets weird, or has a horrific odor stop the med and call the vet.

I had to put our Dane on the meds, and found that Petmeds was the cheapest route, and they delivered them to my door. The Glucosamine and Chondroitin that is made by Schiff, is OTC, for people, and is usually cheaper than what the vet sells, and just as effective.

Tramadol is a great med, and has little side effects, we used it on our Dane, and our Bouvier.

Sending warm wishes, and healing thoughts your way. It sucks to see our big girls hurt.

Thanks for the info TushNurse.

She is resting today and is able to go outside on her own and relieve herself. She is peeing and pooping like a champ - in the YARD! She even seems to have gotten some sleep.

She had zero indication of hip dysplasia when she was younger. As a mastiff it was something that they checked for at all of her visits. She has never shown signs of pain or discomfort without an injury. In fact, just hte other day when my boyfriend came over after three days away she spun around, ran around the place, and was overall quite active. Her weight is good - I'm actually nervous to try to take weight off of her as she's ideal body type and I don't want her to lose muscle mass. I've always been careful about exercising her. Her diet is also good.

I'm following the instructions on theds - she's got anti inflamatories and tramadol. And yep, looking at both her stool and urine. Good times!

I came home mid-day to check on her and just be in her presence. She clearly feels better with me here even wagging her tail. I just hate seeing her in so much pain and unable to do anything. We have her consult appointments et up next Friday. I hate that we have to wait so long.

hope things continue to go well. Its so hard as they age.

(((hurbs and pup)))

Such a beautiful girl. Sending good thoughts and mojo her way, and yours too.

Mojo Mojo Mojo! Such a pretty girl.....both of your dogs are pretty.

Thank you all for the good thoughts and energy.

Update: She's doing a little better, but honestly I think it's just relief from the meds. She's resting a little and will move around when motivated. I had to kind of push/pull her to get up out of her crate to go to the potty. After she got moving, however, she seemed to feel a little better.

I'm able to do work via telecommuting, so I'm just spending time with her. My colleagues have all expressed concern and been very kind. I'm notorious about my love for my dogs. My boyfriend is sadly doing work on a cruise for a few more days so I have practically no communication from him other than a daily email and possibly a phone call tomorrow when they put into port.

I have a poker game with friends tonight. I'm debating about not going... If she's okay, I think I will go for an hour or two and enjoy others company and get away from it. I'm just so worried that I'm going to have to make a difficult decision soon...

I hope they find out what it is and correct it. Good luck to you too. The waiting and not knowing is so stressful.

Prayers included!

@StillLivin - I have seen the veterinarian already and they believe it is hip dysplasia. We have an appointment with a veterinary orthopedic surgeon next week to assess how advanced it is and potential medical treatment. The only "cure" for hip dysplasia is a full hip replacement - a very painful and intense surgery and recovery that for a 10 year old mastiff is not a reality.

We have an appointment with a veterinary orthopedic surgeon next week to assess how advanced it is and potential medical treatment. The only "cure" for hip dysplasia is a full hip replacement - a very painful and intense surgery and recovery that for a 10 year old mastiff is not a reality.

Well, if surgery isn't really going to be an option for her, I guess you just keep her as comfortable as possible, while you can.

When our cat was sick (he recently passed), the vet made a med out of horse vitamins and some sort of opiate. It worked really well! I think the vitamin made him feel better, overall, and the pain med helped with his pain.

Hurtbs,

I think we have chatted before about our Mastiffs.

We lost our oldest girl last fall at age 13. She also began doing what you are describing about a year prior to her death. She was diagnosed with Degenerative Myelopathy.

http://www.caninegeneticdiseases.net/DM/basicDM.htm

It is a spinal disease. Stella started off just slightly dragging one back leg. And it was so slight, I only noticed if she was walking across concrete and could hear her back nails scrape. But it was only once in a while and I had chalked it off to her age. By the time the disease set in, one back leg was fully effected. Sometimes her toes would curl completely over and she couldn't get them back up. But the next day be better. We gave her aspirin and gluclosimine for her last year which seemed to help. The one thing about the disease itself is it is paralyzingly, so there is little or no pain. They may hurt themselves trying to get around, which may be what your girl has done.

I'm so sorry you're dealing with a sick fur-baby.