Oh, I wish that my Bonnie could talk to me, she's not been herself lately, but it's not all the time. Well just to fill you in a little, she a lab 9 in Feb and really started to slow down over the past four months. I just wish my babe could talk to me and tell me what's wrong, she's always wagging her tail, and always full of brightness, on the whole mainly eating and sleeping and playing in her normal way. But just slowing down a bit we felt. But I'm worried she might be uncomfortable perhaps since she's not herself. Even my Mum who walks her whilst I'm at work says she's noticed her having "off days". She went off her food a bit so I tried other food and also putting some gravy with it, and she eats it all sometimes and other days she doesn't. Then I was really worry because the other morning she left her toast which was really out of character!!. I'm watching her carefully but just worried, and perhaps if anyone had any ideas. It's odd because she's not really her proper self, but then again she's not really distressed or showing any signs of illness or upset, she just not my ususal Bonnie. I thought that perhaps she was having problems with stiffness and hence sometimes fine and other times not!! {watching moving about off the settee, etc} Anything I could try to ease stiffness and see if it is?? Looking forward to any suggestions. Cheers

Hi

I would suggest you take her for a visit to the vets to get her checked out as there might be something wrong that is making her not herself. It may well be old age creeping in so there are things that you can do to relieve certain symptoms so see what you vets says.

I am sure she will be OK and will perhaps need some OAP TLC !

Lucy

Is Bonnie on any medication at the moment, or has she been recently ?

I'd also suggest a vet's checkup to make sure you're not missing anything you'll kick yourself for later. For instance, one of my Collies was spayed at 12 years following an emergency op for pyometra - once we'd had the op, it was apparent that problems had been brewing for some months, probably since her previous season, as she was like a spring chicken.

If all is OK, then maybe you could try some herbal remedies to boost her - have just finished reading 'Where Are You To?' by Dex Cameron, and he swears by Aloe Vera juice for his older Danes. Just one of many ideas .... glucosamine for joints would be another.

M.

Thanks for the advice. I have booked to see the vet tomorrow so let us hope it's nothing serious, but at least it's a bit of piece of mind. Also just spoke to my mum (Bonnie daytime walker) and she reports that Bon has been running normally and is just fine, and is being given some extra TLC and need picking up from my mum's, as mum do she's being spolit.

No joyce she's always been a very healthy dog and isn't on any medication at the moment, the only thing she does tend to suffer with is her ears - and of course this I keep a close eye on and no problems there.

I hope all's well at the vets but special settee cuddles tonight for my Bon!!

Thanks to all the posties

Hope your little one picks up soon for you. :) Julieann xxxx

How did Bonnie do at the vets ?

Lucy

Just to up date you - as I suspected it's stiffness, in her hips and she's been given a week of anti-inflammatory tablets to take, she's so good she just took them straight from my hand no problems at all. Further visit next week and hope that the soreness has gone and decide what to do from there I suppose but I think I try some herbal remedy also, going to talk it over with vet next week.

Hope you don't think I'm being nosy - just wondered which anti-inflammatory tablets the vet prescribed ?

Hi Me,

If you want a herbal remedy, try Dorwest Herbs who stock herbal products suitable for dogs.

Hope Bonnie is now responding to treatment!

Hello there, Bons seems to be getting a bit better, certainly seen a change in her yesterday and today, so hopefully the tablets are doing their job. Joyce, I'll have to get back to you tomorrow concerning the name of the tablets, can't remember off hand and I'm not at home.

To Lily - Dorwest Herbs not heard of them in my area but thanks for the suggestion, I'll track down a herbal shop somewhere.

Also, some further chat would be helpful to me, we were recently discussing and had really made up our minds that we'd get another dog and in this connection were planning for April/May time, but in light of recent events we're reconsidering again any advice or suggestions would be helpful concerning our Bon.

Joyce the tablets given to Bon are called Rimadyl 20mg. Seem to be doing the trick she was running well this morning and more her normal self, thank goodness.

Hi Me,

I had an old Labrador that was on Rimadyl and it helped him immensley & I would on the whole advocate it for dogs with stiffness or arthritis.

BUT, I would qualify that by making sure that you are aware of the potential side effects ( I suspect this is why Joyce was asking what medication was given.)

Rimadyl has in some cases been linked with sometimes severe side effects which I really think you need to be aware of see: http://www.srdogs.com/Pages/rimadylfr.html

It is not my intention to alarm you here, but merely to make you aware of what COULD happen, that said my last old chap had no problems at all with Rimadyl and it helped greatly with his arthritis.

Hi FabLab
I missed 'Me's' reply yesterday so thanks for posting the link re Rimadyl. Yes this was the reason I was asking about the medication. Knowing how badly some dogs have been affected by this drug it is SO important that owners know what to look out for in terms of side effects.
You're right it does help a lot of old, arthritic dogs but vets just aren't making people aware of the downside as well. Fortunately, the srdogs website does have a lot of info.

I, too, do not want to alarm anyone unnecessarily but there are many heartbroken owners who wished they'd had a warning about Rimadyl.

Joyce

So glad she is feeling better ! I give my elder labs cod liver oil tablets which seems to help and also helps keep a lovley shiney coat !

Lucy

My oldest will be 14 in about a fortnight. She seemed to suffer from stiffness from quite early on (well about 9 or 10 :)) and I put her on New Zealand Green Lip Mussel which has benefitted her enormously, if she goes without it for any length of time she becomes extremely reluctant to get out her bed. Over the last year or so however she has become perhaps a bit more sleepy that she already was and quite frail looking, loosing a lot of mussle but still retaining a bit of fat coverage to the ribs. I recently took her to the vets for a good check over where nothing was found and in particular nothing was noted to indicate kidney loss, although my understanding is there could be a degree of this before it would indicate on a urine or blood sample. She had been showing less and less interest in her food so following the check up I changed her diet from Beta Adult to Beta Senior which she is enjoying very much and has definately become more lively and interested in what is going on. Of course I must not kid myself that old age can be 'cured' but she does seem to be having a new lease of life. I hope this will be of interest to you.

Further check up at the Vets for Bon tonight, so going to have a good chat with regards to what happens now! Bon's been a lot better, well picked up alot, so the prescribed seems to have work but, thanks for the advice been to the site recommended and had a good old read, I did realise as with any medication there would be side effects, but boy, oh boy, I'm gonna have to look down other avenues as they say. Going to contact my local herbal shop at the weekend and see what they have got and now thanks to the posts I have some things to try and look for.

Hi Me

I too have a lab who is 9 years old. Recently, she too has been very 'sad' and I have put that down to problems with her arthritis. I give her glucosamine tablets, which do seem to work on her. Coincidently enough, she has recently had ear problems, an infection, which has now subsided. Your comments about your lab's behaviour were like reading a mirror image of my own! Glad that Bon is feeling so much better.

Regards
JC

Thanks for the post JC, I thought I'd make a quick response. Bonnie does tend to get problems with her ears, an infection she had over two years ago, means unfortunately that she is now prone to the problem of infection. I keep up a good routine with cleaning her ears and observe well and am glad to say I seem to catch any ear problems in advance and nip them in the bud. Trying the glucosamine tablets, so hope they work for Bon as well. Best wishes to you and your lab.

You can't beat Thornit powder for ear infections.

My old big guy (you've guessed it a yellow lab) was 16 when he was put to sleep just over a year ago and had suffered from joint stiffness since he was 6 years old. He had been on a high dose of rimadyl for many years without any side effects. From the age of 14 we started taking him to an alternative vet in Oxford, Jimmy Symonds where he had acupuncture complemented by cortaflex (which you can get from most farm shops) and lots of massage which helped my old guy no end. This alternative therapy enabled us to reduce his rimadyl to half/0 tablets a day and improved the quality of his last few years immensely.

Hi Yell/LO, what a great age he lived to :) One of my male lab`s was on Rimadyl but he`s been off it for over a yr now & I`m giving him Syn-Flex instead. Heard good thing`s about Cortaflex tho. Laddie`s 6yrs now but hope he make`s it to the grand age your dog did.
Christine, Spain.