Little Bryan - early dysplasia? Sprain?

[BryanAndLarrysMama]

Glad to hear he’s doing better! I would suggest you give Green Lipped Mussel (ongoing it can help reduce inflammation, has naturally occurring glucosamine and chondroitin and omega 3’s) and a animal specific glucosamine (not human form) is like a double whammy of natural anti inflammatory. Piper gets all that daily and since his arthritis diagnosis he hasn’t had a flare up (he also gets a raw duck foot daily which has glucosamine, chondroitin and collagen). I know how difficult it is with a dog that comes up lame…it took well over 2 years for Finnie to heal from a hock injury!
As for the stairs are they carpeted? I put stair tread carpeting going to my second floor…but I didn’t buy the individual pieces but rather I bought indoor/outdoor carpet (the kind on the roll that you buy in feet) and cut each piece individually. Was much cheaper!
I have 14 steps from my main floor to the second and very narrow, the dogs weren’t very comfortable doing them. Finnie also grew to dislike stairs when he hurt his hock because every time he’d go up them he’d yelp. Picking up a 30 pound dog to carry killed my back lol…he’s over that now thank goodness!

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Yep, the stairs are carpeted and outside we have treads on the steps (for rain or slow to prevent slipping). Sure makes a difference. Oh and yes, carrying my chubby buddy up the stairs is crazy! LOL One day I think he sort of "forgot" he was afraid and ran up stairs! So I KNOW he can do it...he just gets into these mental "no, i can't do that" phases sometimes. I'm thinking he'll get over it in his own time. He usually does.

And thank you for the mussel supplement suggestion. My vet has one they offer and I'm thinking it may be time to supplement him. He did so well in his healing. Basically I asked the vet for an antiinflammatory and I would take Bryan on his walk, adding a few minutes to each walk each week, making sure it was on flat ground, and when we got home I'd give him his antiinflammatory. Plus I put runners around the kitchen floor for better traction, avoided the big stairs to go potty outside (front door only has 3 stairs so we went out that way) and at the park kept him on the leash to avoid him sprinting and coming home hurt again. It's been a few months of this and he's done so well. We're still cautious to an extent, in case he re-injures himself, so I think like Finnie, we'll take our time getting better and play it careful. Thank you so much for your recommendations!

 

[Ann]

I second Lisa's suggestion for green lipped mussel. A while back, Sharon recommended one by Super Snouts, available online that is wonderful. It has helped my seniors with mobility issues enormously, and it doesn't break the bank. You can give it with with a glucosamine/condroitin supplement too.

 

[Sharon7]

I did lots of research into the GLM and settled on Super Snouts Joint Powder. The main thing is, the mussels MUST be cold-processed. If heat is applied to the mussels it kills off the Omega 3's. So do a little research. Luckily it is not expensive. And of course, keep Bryan's weight down. Every one pound of excess weight equals 4 pounds of strain to the joints!!