SadKen
Well-Known Member
Just been on holiday, and our 10 year old GSD had a fall on the first day while playing on wet grass, and lost the use of his back legs momentarily. We think he either damaged his back, or his (arthritic) hip dislocated. He recovered enough to stand in about 5 minutes, but has since been very wobbly at the back and in the first couple of days was drooping at the back end.
We have already seen a vet about the wobbliness (this was obviously worse but we have seen it before). There is no pain, he can still go up and down stairs, he is very keen to go for walks, still entirely continent. However, he is slow, has lost muscle substantially on his back and back legs, can only manage a trot, and is a bit unsteady if not nearly as wobbly or droopy as he was last week.
We realise that we are probably nearing the end.
- In the meantime I am trying to balance keeping him fed sufficiently (the muscle loss is making him look thin) and not putting too much weight on due to his hips - he's on Wainwrights senior kibble but I'm thinking of switching to something else to help with muscle support - any suggestions - I don't want to compromise kidneys with too much protein as he's on pardale for his hips? (reasonably priced is good - my younger GSD costs £80+ a month to feed, but if there's something brilliant we can fund it).
- Then there is walking - my younger GSD is super fit, super fast, ludicrously high energy and wants to run. I need to make sure he gets enough exercise whilst walking them together as much as I can, both for time purposes and because they like it. All tips welcome! I don't like him to chase balls because he doesn't care if he falls as long as he gets the ball!
We have already seen a vet about the wobbliness (this was obviously worse but we have seen it before). There is no pain, he can still go up and down stairs, he is very keen to go for walks, still entirely continent. However, he is slow, has lost muscle substantially on his back and back legs, can only manage a trot, and is a bit unsteady if not nearly as wobbly or droopy as he was last week.
We realise that we are probably nearing the end.
- In the meantime I am trying to balance keeping him fed sufficiently (the muscle loss is making him look thin) and not putting too much weight on due to his hips - he's on Wainwrights senior kibble but I'm thinking of switching to something else to help with muscle support - any suggestions - I don't want to compromise kidneys with too much protein as he's on pardale for his hips? (reasonably priced is good - my younger GSD costs £80+ a month to feed, but if there's something brilliant we can fund it).
- Then there is walking - my younger GSD is super fit, super fast, ludicrously high energy and wants to run. I need to make sure he gets enough exercise whilst walking them together as much as I can, both for time purposes and because they like it. All tips welcome! I don't like him to chase balls because he doesn't care if he falls as long as he gets the ball!