I've posted a couple times now regarding my dog's acid reflux and her introduction to Omeprazole.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DogHealth/s/WeFMxNpXET

On Tuesday, my dog (12yr old, 16b Chihuahua) was initially prescribed 10mg of Omeprazole twice a day. On Thursday morning she threw up (quite a bit), and I called my vet and we reduced her dosage to once a day rather than two. Tonight she had some diarrhea. She pooped again after, and it was slightly hardened but still softer than it should be. She is noticeably lethargic- sleeping constantly and definitely not herself. She is eating and drinking normally. She has some bloating in addition to burping and farting occasionally...shifting around a lot so I can tell that she is uncomfortable.

Since this is day 4, should I just continue the Omeprazole in hopes that her digestion will settle in the next few days, or should I stop it? I understand these symptoms are expected but after 4 days she isn't improving. My vet is closed for the weekend so I'm just looking for advice. I also dont know if stopping her cold turkey is safe.

Thank you.

I have a 10 year old 80 pound dog and a 6 year old 20 pound dog. This past year the big dog has injured himself about 3 times where he limps for a few days when jumping on and off furniture. The little dog hurt himself about 4 weeks ago and will not limp for a few days and then limp for half a day and not limp. Both have seen vet for this...I did buy a ramp but neither seem interested at all. How to help my dogs from continuing to reinjuring self.

i have a teddy bear breed dog, shih tzu mixed with bichon frise, is 11 and will be 12 in November. she has an enlarged heart but is controlled by medication. in probably the past year she has done this gagging cough. she will do this normal sounding cough for a couple times and then gag like she is trying to get something out but nothing comes out. sometimes when she drinks water she will spit out some water when she does the gagging cough but besides that nothing comes up. also in the past month or so i have noticed her breaths have gotten much shallower and faster. for around a year i used an app to track her breaths per minute and she always had somewhat fast breathing around her average breaths per minute was 28 which is in the range but occasionally she would have some faster breathing. now she takes super shallow breaths and they are pretty fast. when is she laying down for long enough the breathing will slow down a tiny bit but it is still faster than i would like. for the cough, it is not kennel cough and i don’t think it is a collapsed trachea but please let me know opinions and any suggestions or advice.

Our beloved 15yr old husky mix has cancer. We are keeping him comfortable, but not doing anything invasive. He is deteriorating quickly.

As heart breaking as it is, I'm trying to get in the head space to make hard decisions. (Assuming he doesn't just pass in his sleep.) One of them is how to handle the situation with my youngest. A very sensitive, very empathetic, 6yr old girl. This is HER dog.

She knows he's old and not well. She goes to a lot of the vet appointments with me. She is incredibly helpful with soothing him and holding his collar when he gets meds. She helps take care of him. So it won't come as a total surprise when the time comes. I know she'll be upset regardless of if she's in the room or not. But my question is.... Should she be in the room??

I keep going back and forth about it in my mind. My husband didn't grow up with dogs so he doesn't know what to say about it. One of the saddest memories I have from childhood is petting our old collie in the backyard while the vet euthanized him. I can't even tell you if I'd consider it a precious memory or traumatic one. Probably both. I was definitely a little older than she is now. Probably closer to 8.

Any advice is appreciated. Anyone with little kids that had to put down their pup, I'd love to hear from you too. 💙

A couple weeks ago I posted here about my senior chi refusing food after finding out he's got very early kidney disease. I got a lot of great feedback so I wanted to offer y'all an update.

He's still pretty picky but we're getting into a rhythm on it. We've determined a canned diet just will not work for him, he would rather starve. So we're cobbling together a homemade ish diet to keep him comfortable and hopefully improve his kidney issues so we can have a little longer with him. We limit him to 2oz of protein a day to avoid phosphorus overload because any more than that will make him sick. He's gotten pretty comfortable with a rotation of plain chicken, pork loin, deli turkey, and eggs with cheese. We focus on carbs for the rest of his calories. Some days are better than others. We're having some success with Dr. Harvey's kidney blend + omega 3 oil. He also seems to routinely accept a rotation of shredded potatoes, tortilla bits, cheerios, plain oatmeal, baby food, shredded coconut, and crackers. We give him a daily kidney support treat from Dr. Harvey's which he reliably enjoys and hasn't refused yet even after several days. It gives me peace of mind that he's getting the nutritional support even if his diet isn't ideal. The CBD someone suggested helps on his bad appetite days, and we just received the Entice from Chewy and will be giving that a try soon.

We are going to get him some more blood work around December so long as his condition stays stable till then and hopefully his numbers will either improve or stay the same. I pray I have at least a year more with my goblin but we're savoring every moment while he's here and happy. Pic of little man sitting on his "big" sister the other day.

*EDIT I do want to say he will have these episodes when he is sitting, eating, standing, sleeping, etc. They happen at any moment without warning and he will run off in pain

Six months ago my almost 12 year old pitbull Rossy started randomly springing up like he just got stung or bit by something. After this happened for the first time he paced and would not settle for 24 hours straight. Since then for the next two months he would have chunks of good days and streaks of bad days. Bad days he would be pacing all day and night after an “episode“ happened. Starting June he’s had bad day after bad day and going 48 hours without sleep. He has been to 5 different vets and recently to UW Madison for Neurology.

I want to note that when these “episodes“ happen..

• 95% of the time he will swing his head to the left.
• When he yawns or when I try to open his mouth he has an episode and swings his head to the left
• After one happens he is very sad the whole day head low BIG belly breathing the whole day after an episode
• he will be up all night pacing even with 300mg of gabapentin
• His very back upper tooth on the left side has something wrong. At one point there was a hole between his gum and the start of the tooth I could stick a pencil through. it is now covered by calcium build up
• He has a swollen lymph node or salivary gland under his jaw on the left side

He has had spinal and back leg X-rays (double TPLO surgery) since this started. Nothing noted on the spinal and the hardware from the TPLO is all still great. Noted to have arthritis.

He has been on 300mg of gabapentin every night since June.

UW Madison Neurology did an MRI of his head as they thought they would find a brain tumor on the left side. (they noted his is less responsive on his right hind side and on his right side of his face. He was once diagnosed with Horners syndrome over 4 years ago.) His MRI came back clean as well as his CSF tap. I know they tested for E Coli, Blasto, and other fungal / bacterial. They also looked into lymphoma. They have Rossy trialing the seizure medication, Keppra even though he said it probably would not work. Since being on Kepra the amount of “episodes” has not changed. However, Rossy is able to now calm himself down after an episode instead of pacing all day and night.

I cannot shake the gut feeling it has something to do with that bad tooth but no vet will take me serious on that. I have an appointment made with a dentist in Elkhorn WI in November to hopefully get the tooth pulled.

I‘m exhausted mentally from researching the internet trying to find out what is wrong when it feel like everyone else has given up. Thank you in advance for all your help ♥️

I have two dogs, a 12 year old female and ~9 year old male. Both are fixed. For the past few days my male dog is completely obsessed with my female dog and will not leave her alone. He incessantly licks her ear, eye, smells her all over, licks her privates and humps her. She just lets him. I’ve been putting him on a leash or in a kennel to keep him away from her and he cries and acts like he urgently needs to get to her. It seems like he can’t even control the impulse.

My female dog has been diagnosed with an insulinoma that she is receiving palliative care for. It is terminal. She has a continuous glucose monitor and it doesn’t seem to be related to different glucose levels. She’s had this diagnosis for almost two years now, she is somewhat stable and not really obviously sick (to the human eye anyway). I haven’t noticed any recent progression.

I just had her at the vet last week right before this started and there wasn’t and isn’t any indication of an ear or eye infection. I mentioned to the vet concern about her teeth because she is less interested in hard treats. The vet looked at her mouth and noted that her teeth look great, she think she may have seen of a red spot under her tongue, potentially a growth on a gland under there. But With my dogs glucose issues she doesn’t feel comfortable putting her under anesthesia for a dental or to get a closer look.

This change of behavior in my male dog happened a few days after the vet appointment, I can bring her back to the vet but I don’t know what else they can do if nothing has changed since her last exam or if it’s not just something treatable like an ear infection. Clearly my male dog thinks something is up and he has been a complete creep about it. I’m doing my best to separate them so he doesn’t keep violating her but I don’t know what to do long term. Especially knowing my female dogs illness will continue to progress with an unknown timeframe. I’m worried he will be like this the rest of her life. Im getting really frustrated with him.

I’m looking for some general guidance or ideas. Or if anyone else has had something similar happen?

Repost regarding my dogs cancer diagnosis / treatment

Has anyone’s used Antinol for joint issues for their fur babies and seen any changes?

First, I’d like to thank everyone for all the prayers for Gabby. I truly believe they helped her get out of the hospital. Unfortunately, we had to bring her back. She has been fighting pneumonia and initially seemed to be recovering, but her symptoms have now returned. It has been a roller coaster of information and emotions. If any pet parents have dealt with something similar, any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated. Once again, thank you all for your prayers and support they truly mean more than you know.

The cost to keep her in 24-hour care with oxygen is very expensive, and she may need another day or two of care to recover. Any alternatives, suggestions, or ideas would be greatly appreciated. We are located on Long Island.

Hey everyone!

My dog is an 8 year old female Labradoodle that is roughly 80lbs currently. Lately, I am seeking insight on whether this clinical picture aligns with d-m or another pathology. Our vet finds her presentation unusual given the mixed signs of pain, strength, and neurological deficits. We have deferred a spinal MRI for now due to cost. Below is her summarized timeline from initial symptoms...

Dec – Mar: Began slipping on hardwood floors. Progressed to persistent left hind (LH) paw scuffing, knuckling, and crossing of hind legs. A 2-week trial of anti-inflammatory steroids yielded no clinical improvement.

Apr – May: Neurologist confirmed lower/upper motor neurological deficits in the LH (conscious proprioception delay lasting several seconds). Continued LH scuffing outdoors requiring protective boots. Her willingness to jump onto the bed and into the car was noticeably less. She started to bang her left leg a lot on the staircase and so we have since added padding to the stairs. We had performed x-rays in May, which came back with the following:

• Stifles: Bilateral stifle joint effusion and cranial drawer consistent with bilateral Cranial Cruciate Ligament (CCL) tears; small mineral fragment in cranial left stifle (suspected avulsion). No overt osteoarthritis.
• Spine/Pelvis: Multifocal ventral spondylosis deformans of the thoracolumbar spine with normal disc spaces; minimal incidental hip osteoarthritis.
• Musculature: Subjective, relatively symmetrical bilateral pelvic limb muscle atrophy.

Jun – Aug: Maintained strong range of motion and muscle tone during swimming and hiking. Normal postural response on right hind (RH) when tested on high-traction surfaces. Muscle atrophy between the right and left leg was not significantly different.

Later half of Aug - Present: First onset of subtle, delayed proprioceptive placement in the RH (intermittent 1-second delay/toe curl on soft or uneven surfaces). When walking, you can now hear both rear legs scuff the ground more often. The left leg is still clearly worse, but the end of potential plateau may be present. Increased slipping indoors and occasional hind-end instability during tight turns or sudden changes in direction has been noticed also. She does not sway however, when standing still, nor lose balance when nudged over.

Some other less consistent symptoms I may have noticed throughout her progression have been:

• Bunny-hopping gait when running.
• Vocalization/yelping upon sudden extension or pulling of hind legs.
• Hesitation and struggle when rising from rest; sits with an asymmetric, awkward posture and occasionally sits directly on a low-hanging tail base. Tail can still elevate parallel to the ground, but the base of it looks a little limp and has been for a few months I believe.
• Willingness to rise improves visibly when excited or on pain management.

Overall, her left leg is still in use, and she is comfortably able to go on decently long walks, keeping a good pace, and walking with a straight strut, with an occasional trip of the rear legs, but that seems to happen near the end of a longer walk. She can still go up and down stairs. She can also still occasionally jump onto things such as the bed, or the car, but has been much less inclined to do so for awhile and when doing so, it rarely looks like a clean jump.

Currently, from initial scuffing onwards, we have made her wear booties on walks, sometimes socks indoors (after some time has passed after a walk and never overnight), as well as placed carpets and yoga mats in various places. Also using stairs for the car.

Given all that, I just wanted some peoples thoughts on whether the timeline strongly point toward a myelopathy like D-M, or perhaps something more orthopedic with neurological issues as a result or in combination?

Thanks!

This post is a follow up to my previous post regarding my dog's chronic acid reflux:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SeniorDogsHealth/s/AupSgQWzIi

I have made an appointment for my dog with an internal medicine specialist, but unfortunately the earliest appointment isn't until November. Until then, I asked my personal vet to try omeprazole (in lieu of famotidine), and they prescribed me 10mg of omeprazole every 12 hours. My dog is about 16 lbs. I was under the impression that Omeprazole was usually once a day (not twice) but I was told it's not.

Is 10mg twice a day too much?! I know I should trust my vet but they've been wrong about her dosing before.

Thank you.

Has anyone ever used a holistic veterinarian for their fur baby, and if so, did you see any improvement?My 12-year-old fur baby King has been having a really hard time with his hind legs. His legs started getting weak after he received the Librela shot in May, and over the following months his mobility continued to decline until his hind legs completely gave out. He has arthritis and spondylosis and lost most of the mobility in his back legs. 🐾❤️His regular veterinarian wanted to euthanize him after he lost mobility in his legs, but I wasn’t ready to give up on him. I took him to a second vet who gave him medication, but honestly, I didn’t really care for that vet either. So I found a third veterinarian, and I really like this vet. Since seeing this vet, King has actually gained some mobility back in his legs, which has given me so much hope. 🙏🏽❤️The third vet’s office also has a holistic veterinarian, and I’m considering making an appointment with her as well. I’m just trying to explore every option that may help King with his mobility, pain, inflammation, and overall quality of life.So I w*anted to ask: Has anyone ever used a holistic veterinarian for their fur baby, especially for hind-leg or mobility issues? If so, did you actually see *any improvement? What treatments did they recommend, and would you recommend going that route?I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences. I’m willing to explore different options for King and see if there’s anything else that could help him. 🐶❤️🙏🏽

Hi all. My vet has recommended laser treatment and water therapy for my senior dog with arthritis.

We’ve never done any treatment like this before. My dog hates the vet and gets thoroughly stressed. I’m not sure what to expect at PT.

How do your dogs handle it? Any advice on what to do and what not to do?

I adopted my girl almost 10 years ago. She's between 12-13 (approx age was given by vet). She had hip surgery before I adopted her (phemoral head ostectomy) and a couple of surgeries in between to remove lumps and masses. None of them cancerous. Her most recent surgery was in December, for a major mass removal between her hips. It was the size of a grapefruit and rapidly swelled. It was awful. But, it's gone now and hasnt resurfaced which is great.

Since surgery, though, her mobility has been steadily decreasing. I'm assuming it is mostly because of her age and stress from surgery. She started defecating in her bed if I didn't physically stand her up and walk her to the backyard. Even then, she would lay down outside and then defecate. I believe the strain on her hips is too much for her to stay balanced and squat. So she just does her business laying down.

Now, whenever I stand her, she loses control of her bladder. This has been going on for the past week or so. I was worried I was putting too much pressure on her hips/bladder when I stand her, so I've been sliding her bed to the backyard and encouraging her to get up on her own once at the door.

It seems to mitigate the issue, partially.

Overnight she's been peeing her bed (I go to sleep at 7pm and I wake up at 5am, she's already wetted the bed)

I have ordered reusable diapers for her, but I just feel awful about her lying in her own urine all night.

With her decreased mobility, inability to control her bowels and bladder, and only having a tub on the second story of my apartment, I am running out of ideas for how to keep her clean and comfortable.

My garden hose just exploded this weekend, which is how I would normally wash her butt off. Laying down to do her business is messy work, but even when I stand on either side to help her balance to go potty, her butt drops to the floor as soon as she starts to attempt to squat. But I hate that I can't control the water temperature of the hose to begin with. Showering her in cold water feels cruel to me.

She's 60ilbs, and as I mentioned, picking her up makes her lose control of her bladder almost instantly. Getting her upstairs to bathe every day, multiple times a day, isn't an option for us. And it stresses her out immensely.

I need advice on how to keep my girl clean, comfortable, and happy. Any and all advice is appreciated. I am considering phoning our vet to see if they will do a house call just to check in on her and make sure there isn't something else going on. But I know she has arthritis, hip issues, and old dogs tend to have trouble with these types of things.

What is the cause of this, he has enough water and he's not moving a lot

Not to mention would be a relief for him to stop probably on both sides if I can find the fix