Oooo… “Twilight”, Kenai style–who needs vampires when you’ve got bats!

I apologize about the fuzzy pic–most of what I take is because of the tremors. But I decided not to just delete this one. First because of the catchy subtitle I could get from it (we do have a handful of bats that come out). Secondly, and sadly, because this is a great shot of how to recognize the sutble signs of pain in a Dane at a mere glance.

Look at the shape his rear makes: the hips are slightly tucked under, moving his hind legs forward. It makes his butt look taller than the shoulders, creates a hunch in the mid-back with a corresponding slight sway behind the shoulders, and reduces the range of motion. Now think about those yummy pics of show dogs: the hind legs stretch back, right?

You’ll see this in old Danes as their hips start to wear, or dogs with sore backs or knees. If you watch Kenai, you’ll notice he will stretch his hind legs forward laying on the couch or bed when they’re uncomfortable. He will sometimes spend extra “cleaning” time licking the knees. On really bad days, he’ll wimper and chew at the hock tendons.

Thankfully we haven’t had wimper and chew days in awhile, but I can tell when he’s not at his best. Subtle by nature or not, Kenai has his “tells”. Many of which are common to arthritic dogs. Like most things, Danes just show it on a bigger more obvious scale, so you can catch it before they need help getting up kinda thing.

An incomplete list, but some ideas

The single best supplement I’ve ever found for inflammation or arthritis is called “Flexicose”. Knuckleheads who don’t want to eat won’t eat it, though, (hint hint Kenai…). There’s a noticable improvement in the first or second dose with less severe problems. That and a pain rub called “Traumeel” can dramatically improve a dog’s comfort.

In addition, a really good bed right from puppyhood can make a big difference in how long it takes for your Dane to start losing his joint comfort. The official doggie beds are absurdly expensive, so unless you have a serious bed shredder and need the chew proof kuroda, just get yourself a crib mattress or perhaps a twin.

Matresses are much cheaper, and I’ve gotten vastly more wear out of them. Not to mention bedwetter pups or incontinent elders can have a waterproof mattress pad that just gets tossed in the washer–no zippers, no stuffing a round blob through a slit in a cover every ‘accident’, no padding gone lumpy in 6 mo. A simple sheet change, maybe a fresh fleecie and voila, all clean soft bed for buddies.

For the really pained, stiff, worn out ol’ hips, a heated matress pad on low can make getting up in the morning less of an ordeal. A horse-blanket style fleece coat can make a turn around the wintertime yard enjoyable a bit longer. Accupuncture and gentle massages help too, sometimes more than we realize.

If you’re thinking, “oh my love is just a youngster, barely 3″ or something, stop yourself right there. We only get 8-10 years on average with our extraordinary big guys. Even the 3 year olds can have joint changes without showing outward symptoms yet. Young or not, know the days of stiff and sore are coming for ‘em.

That’s why I never ever ever ever EVER recommend exercise and play that involves repetitive jumping for a Dane. I don’t care how young and spiffy they look, they can’t get away with that any more than we humans can without wrecking our knees or back. And our spine had only a vertical movement when we jump, whereas a Danes’ back will bend horizontally with every landing.

The same holds true with extended periods of running. Some folks like to go jogging with their dogs, but I don’t recommend it with a Dane. “Joggers knee” can be fixed in humans, but the knee replacements for dogs just aren’t as successful. It may be fun when they’re young and vigorous, but they will pay for it big time later.

***

There’s my lovely little boy bottoms. Just perfect for a pat and a rub!

By the time their new food came Friday, both boys where wracked with die-in-the-rears, vomiting, skin infections and the like…uhg.

BB has more vomiting than Kenai, as usual. Kenai’s the one with the worst die in the rears. He could melt the ground into sinkholes with what comes out of his back end poor baby.

I couldn’t decide if they had some rampaging bacteria or if the old raw food had flared their inflammatory bowel. They sure felt awful, the sweet stinks.

When it’s IBS, none of the anti-diarrhea treatments will work. Nothing. No OTC pills, not cheese or pumpkin. I mean ta tell ya when them bowels of theirs go off they seriously go off.

It was so bad Friday night (after hours naturally), I made a command decision rather than try to explain their history at the e-vet. I restarted their steroids, skin staph or not, at a slightly higher dose than they had been on. I also keep the nausea meds handy.

Is that not the face of “momma, me no feel good”? That’s my bed, btw, or at least it used to be my bed. Now it’s ours. He wants first his comfort-me, complete with footie massage, cheek rubs, and gentle smootches. Then he wants his space to nap awhile.

I call that don’t-bother-me-but-be-right-here “closenesses”–Kenai wants to be able to reach out and touch you if he decides, but he doesn’t want to be messed with so he can sleep. Once he’s asleep, there’s no sneaking off, either! Such a baby, my little love. He may be a golden grizzly, but he’s the world’s biggest momma’s boy too.

They felt so poorly I had to do something, but Lord I was sweating blood. If the trouble was infection, it’d go out of control really fast because of the steroids. We’d know definitively in a couple days, that’s for sure. I had BB’s brush with death via resistant staph a year and a half ago in the back of my head.

The weekend was tough, lots of babying and staying up all night watching them. The diarrhea and vomiting continued, though at a lessening severity and frequency. The steriod also has kept them eating and drinking, thank heavens. But gosh I wish they’d turn around faster. I know better–autoimmune flares come outta nowhere, and take a perverse amount of time to go away.

Then Kenai scared the living h-e-double-toothpicks outta me.

I had taken them outside to have some fresh air and play time, just to brighten up their day. They were playing just fine, and after about 10 minutes I took Beebs back inside. Just as I was getting him into the living room, he suddenly turned and scrambled back to the door crying. Huh?

Beebs got scolded a bit and put back in the room, and I went out to bring Kenai in. He was at the gate, holding up the left front leg, head hanging and hunkered down like a dying mule. I ran. Picked up my fat aching butt and ran to the playpen.

When I got there, I gently felt his leg and moved it some–nothing broken or dislocated, no bite marks or puncture wounds from snake bite, no sign of damage in the shoulder. After a minute or two, he limped along to the door with me. After a minute or two inside, he walked more normally to get Mom outta bed.

By the time she was up, you had to look really hard to see him favor it. He’s done this three times before with that leg, and those three times we went straight to the vet. Nada. I don’t know if he pulls a muscle, strains a tendon, pinches a nerve. All I know is how extreme the pain reaction is, and how quickly he sucks it up. Scare me to death.

Here’s something for the animal behaviorists to ponder, and perhaps they will have an explaination: BB knew the second it happened, from inside the house. There was no yelp, no crying. But little brother knew, and little brother wanted to go to him right now.

***

I know this is a long and probably too-detailed ramble of a post. Yeesh, I can yabber an Irishman to death sometimes! For all the sorry saga, there is a Bright spot: their skin and coat already seem to have improved a little. There hasn’t been the explosion of staph sores I worried about, nor nearly as much itching. There’s some shine, less shed…The new food?

Today is Monday, and I think I’ll stop using the promethezine for nausea in a day or two to see if the pred and new food are calming their GI tracts on their own. Oh these babies gotta stop scaring me. I’m goin grey like some wore out ol’ mare.

Seems like a downer post, talking about the pain that comes when they age, the worries when they don’t get well, the fear when they get hurt. Ya can love them, vast as the ocean, and still sometimes it makes ya question if it’s worth it. Then the answer comes: yes.

When you bring home a ball of feet and fur, you know you will loose them someday. It will tear your heart out, and yet you bring that ball of feet and fur home. You take them to the park to run and play, and you run them to the vet in tears sometimes.

The answer to if it’s worth it is in those beautiful eyes, in a soft muzzle nuzzle. They don’t ask why, they don’t say it shouldn’t hurt, and don’t believe they should live forever. They just live, they love, they do what they do and are purely what they are.

Life comes with death, love comes with sorrows, companionship comes with loss. A dog lives pure, a dog loves pure, and keeps you pure company right now. Dogs are pure, a glimpse of what life can be without all the complication and reminders of hurts we stuff into it.

They will live with the pain and love without as perfect a love returned to them. They live with it, and when it’s time to not live with it any longer, they tell you. They also tell you when it’s time to come out of your sorrows, and come back to living pure. They tell you to let go of your worries and play like tomorrow won’t come.

They’re just such pure creatures, dogs. 

“Silhouettes, sent from heaven, paint a portrait of eternal things…” –David Phelps

Maybe we could learn something from the buddy napping at our sides? Even if we loose a slipper or two to puppy teeth for the privelege, it’s worth it.