Aa
rosco the rott
he is full blooded rott he is 81/2 years old my son and I got him when he was 8 weeks old so ,you can imagine his part in our family,it seems like every time lately we take him to the creek to swim his back and legs hurt him for a couple of days hes always been scared of water but all of asudden he loves it is he over doing it because on all day hikes hes never score after.
He's a senior dog now and naturally he can't keep up the same activity level that he could in his prime. I agree with the other posters that the first place to look is arthritis - particularly in the hip area.
It's somewhat diagnostic that you mention the business about Rosco wanting to swim more now even though he never liked it much before. With any orthodpedic issue like arthritis, being in the water is far less painful because the gravity resistance is greatly lessened. If old Rosco does have arthritis or some other orthopedic issue, he's probably figured that out. Once he's in the water, he overdoes it because he's not hurting as much while he's moving. Once he gets out and gravity takes over again... OUCH!
Swimming is actually a really good activity for any animal or human with arthritis. You want to keep the muscles as strong as possible to take pressure off the bones. The trick with Rosco is going to be to keep those swims low-key and shorter than he would like.
Definitely take him to your vet for a checkup. It wouldn't hurt to do a full senior dog workup while you're there to check his liver, kidney and other major organ function just to get a baseline for future comparison. Kidney failure is an all-too common cause of death that usually doesn't show symptoms until it's too late. Catch it early enough and the damage can be greatly slowed down. But that's a topic for another book. LOL!
Rosco obviously needs an anti-inflammatory medication like rimadyl or deramaxx to help keep him comfortable. Two of my dogs were on it for the last half of their lives and did very well with both. I found deramaxx to be more effective but it's more expensive than rimadyl. Keep that handsome boy going strong!
It's somewhat diagnostic that you mention the business about Rosco wanting to swim more now even though he never liked it much before. With any orthodpedic issue like arthritis, being in the water is far less painful because the gravity resistance is greatly lessened. If old Rosco does have arthritis or some other orthopedic issue, he's probably figured that out. Once he's in the water, he overdoes it because he's not hurting as much while he's moving. Once he gets out and gravity takes over again... OUCH!
Swimming is actually a really good activity for any animal or human with arthritis. You want to keep the muscles as strong as possible to take pressure off the bones. The trick with Rosco is going to be to keep those swims low-key and shorter than he would like.
Definitely take him to your vet for a checkup. It wouldn't hurt to do a full senior dog workup while you're there to check his liver, kidney and other major organ function just to get a baseline for future comparison. Kidney failure is an all-too common cause of death that usually doesn't show symptoms until it's too late. Catch it early enough and the damage can be greatly slowed down. But that's a topic for another book. LOL!
Rosco obviously needs an anti-inflammatory medication like rimadyl or deramaxx to help keep him comfortable. Two of my dogs were on it for the last half of their lives and did very well with both. I found deramaxx to be more effective but it's more expensive than rimadyl. Keep that handsome boy going strong!
I just wanted to check and see how Rosco was doing.I hope that he is feeling better.Take care and God Bless
arthritus probably
but we thought our dog had arthritus
it was a tumor on her splene the size of a grapefruit
get your dog cheked out,just in case, because it would be quite bad if it wasn't arthritus
Kaii
but we thought our dog had arthritus
it was a tumor on her splene the size of a grapefruit
get your dog cheked out,just in case, because it would be quite bad if it wasn't arthritus
Kaii
It sounds like your baby is getting arthritis.Rimadyl works really well for when they are having the problems that Rosco is.You could give your vet a call and see if you could go and pick some up and try it and see if he feels better then.Also you might want to get him on some joint supplements.Your vet will be able to recommend some to you.I think that the water is helping him with the joint pain.Well i hope that he gets feeling better soon.Take care and God Bless
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