So now it's the OTHER leg...

We took Samson to the vet yesterday because we've been noticing for about a month that he now limps to favor his right leg. We know it's not due to hip dysplasia because of his previous xrays, so Travis called up the doctor and was told that we could get a follow-up check-up for a reduced cost as well as a full set of new xrays for just $33, so Trav packed up the dog and hauled him to the vet.

Nothing new showed up on the xrays, but they felt all over his legs and seemed to think that his right knee was more swollen than his left so he may have injured his ACL. They weren't, however, able to get any slippage in the joint like what would be expected with a torn or damaged ligament. Because we can't confirm this theory, we'll just limit Samson's activity for the next two or three weeks and hope that if it is indeed an injured ACL, it can have some time to heal on its own without exploratory surgery.

The other theory is that his limping is due to the tick-born illness that we improperly treated Samson for the last time we took him in. Because the test for Lyme disease can (apparently) easily produce false negatives, we decided to forgo said test and just treat for it anyway. We were given two weeks of antibiotics which we will dispense correctly this time (we did it wrong last time because we misinterpreted the instructions).

Keeping our fingers crossed that he feels better soon! He's having such a difficult time getting up and walking around. :(

Also, peanut butter is really starting to lose it's value to him because of all the pills we've been giving him. lol

Glucosamine & Chondroitin

After not seeing much results with the glucosamine pills, we've started giving Samson glucosamine with chondroitin; we've also started giving him fish oil pills. He's been on the new supplements for about a week now. Hopefully we'll have more success with these.

Samson limps pretty regularly now. A year ago it was only very rarely. I hope it doesn't keep getting worse at this rate...

A Little Sibling Rivalry

Not my dog and cat. lol

Samson and Abby had their first fight last night. Here's how it went down...

We're renting out our house this weekend for the football game, so we're staying at my parents' house. I had taken the dogs and Oscar to my parents' house yesterday morning before I went to work because our renters were going to arrive at our house at noon. The dogs had been at my parents' house all day and hadn't eaten anything yet (which is like their usual schedule anyway - they tend to eat just once in the evening), so Travis gave them each a rawhide chew to tide them over before we fed them when we went to bed. They ate the treat without any problems.

The trouble came afterwards when Travis put out some of their toys; a couple of the toys were ones in which we often put peanut butter or other treats (they didn't have anything in them this time, though). I guess the stress of being in an unfamiliar place was too much, because as soon as Travis set them on the floor, Abby and Sam just went at it! A lot of growling and barking and showing of teeth, but they never really bit each other (which is usually how most dog fights go anyway). We were able to break it up pretty quickly so the fight probably didn't last 30 seconds. Once they were quiet, we put them face to face with their treats between them, so they'd accept each other and make up. They behaved fine after that, so we gave them some supper (on opposite sides of the room just to be safe lol) to quell the Hunger Monster.

It was quite an exciting evening!

Garbage Diver

When she's bored, Abby will occasionally stick her head in the garbage, pull out a paper plate, and rip it to shreds in the living room. It usually happens when she can hear us outside in the yard or garage.

Abby also still digs when left to her own devices in the back yard. She dug this beauty a few weeks ago; I think she was after a mouse or something...

Samson is still limping. We can't tell that the glucosamine is helping very much. We'll give it until the bottle is used up, then I think we'll try a glucosamin+chondroitin combination and see if that helps any better.

Samson at times has a habit of licking, almost compulsively at times. He'll usually stop if I tell him "enough", but sometimes he just CAN'T stop and keeps licking the air! lol Anyways, we recently noticed a pattern: more often than not, he licks his left leg. I think he licks it when it's paining him, similar to how a person might massage a sore joint. I'm sure this isn't always the reason he licks, but I think perhaps this is a big reason for a lot of it.

There is a bunny living in our back yard. The dogs go absolutely NUTS when they see it outside munching on the grass. And the bunny will just sit outside the window and continue munching the grass while the dogs bark and growl like maniacs at the window 5 feet away. lol Peter Cottontail nearly bit it today, though. Travis was running some water on our deck under which the bunny apparently lives, and the rabbit took off across our back yard. Abby and Samson promptly took up the chase, and Mr. Cottontail came about a foot away from a grizzly death. Lucky bunny. lol

Glucosamine

The vet emailed me Samson's x-ray, so here you go! His right hip is fine, while his left hip is moderately malformed.

We've started giving Samson some glucosamine tablets. We're not doing the stuff from the pet section at the store, but instead we got stuff from the pharmacy section because glucosamine is glucosamine regardless of the packaging. ;) We're giving him two pills per day around the same time that he eats in the evening because they say it absorbs better when taken with a meal.

While I know the glucosamine pills won't heal his condition, we're hoping that it will help prevent his condition from worsening as quickly as it would without the glucosamine. Travis did a lot of research on it and has learned that the pills will help the cartilage rebuild as it is broken down by the malformed bone.

Anyways, I guess that's about it. We haven't really noticed any improvement in Samson's limping, but we've only been giving him the glucosamine for about three days, so we'll just have to give it a little time.

Hip Dysplasia

After a few weeks of treatment for lyme disease, we continued to see Samson occasionally limp on his left back leg, so we decided to have the vet do some x-rays to see if there's something else going on. Turns out there was: hip dysplasia. It's only of a moderate level in his left hip, but it still kinda sucks (though we are relieved it's not something horrible like bone cancer with which pyrs tend to have a bit of a reputation). There's not really anything we can do to fix it, and it will only get worse as he ages. All we can do is pain management.

We may try to get some glucosamine to help strengthen the cartilage in his hip joint, but that won't fix the problem which is the bone itself. Also, Samson's occassional dose of prednisone complicates things because he can't be given anything else while he's on it -- it just doesn't mix well.

We'll just have to take it a day at a time and see how it goes. Hopefully he'll age well, and his hip won't get too bad over time.

Two Weeks of Meds

So here's Sam's two-week update after starting his treatment for lyme disease. His behavior is 100% back to normal, though every now and then we still see him limp a little. We're just grateful that he feels better and is acting like himself. :)

In other news, we've rented out our house for the Ole Miss vs. GA game this weekend so we're going to visit Travis' dad for a couple days. While cleaning the house and getting things in order, Travis commented on how Samson kept following him around. I think Sam knows that we're going somewhere and he thinks we're gonna leave him like we usually do for vacations. lol That big teddy bear will just break your heart! He'll be so excited tomorrow when he realizes he's coming with us.