Hi, brand new to this site, but it seems great! I rescued a 3 year-old Lab about 8 years ago. He gets lots of love, about 3 walks a day and high-quality food. In the past year, he has slowed down quite a bit. When he goes for his walks, he takes several sit-down or lay-down breaks, and spends most of his time at home just laying down. I give Murphy Rimadyl (1 pill in the AM, one-half pill in the afternoon). He also gets 1 Gabapentin daily , as well as Dasaquin. On the whole, he's healthy, with no major medical issues. He's just getting older, and I'm wondering if there is anything else I could be doing for him. I used to take him for laser treatment once a month,but I wasn't sure if that was actually doing anything (and it was a little expensive). I thought about resuming the treatments. What do you guys recommend?
Hi there, welcome to the forum! It sounds like Murphy truly is living his best life with you I don't have any experience of laser treatment, but one of our other members with a senior Lab might. I'm assuming he receives the rimadyl on veterinary prescription, so you could ask your vet's opinion about how else to keep him fit and comfortable for as long as possible.
The drugs your dog is on are quite powerful. Gabapentin can act like a sedative as well as a pain killer. I was given some for my dog as an extra sedative before taking him to the vets(the vet trip causing the stress) As yet I haven’t needed it so not such how dopy it would make him. Rimadyl made my previous lab very ill and whilst I can’t prove it brought about his demise at nearly 12 it certainly believed it helped. If I had my time with him again I would go down a more natural route and look at Golden Paste which is a mixture you make yourself at home based on turmeric(an anti inflammatory) Murphy sounds like he has had a great life up until now. Keep up the good work.
I've heard Hydrotherapy can help immensely with arthritic dogs and there's acupuncture that may help too. Speak to your vet about local recommendations. How far and how long are you walking your dog? If he needs to take sit down/lie down breaks along the way it may be getting a little too much, he could possibly be in pain/getting short of breath...another point to discuss with your vet. It's certainly heartbreaking to see them slow down and age. I too have an arthritic 11 yr old, mine gets Gabapentin 300mg twice a day along with Prednidale and Yumove. He still enjoys his daily walks but he's now had enough after a 20 - 30 mins potter. He used to be a very fit Lab who'd run all day and never slow down. Unfortunately we can't turn back time.
Murphy's been on Rimadyl for a few years now. He gets periodic blood tests to make sure it's okay. The Gabapentin is more recent, but two different vets told me it's fine to use. I do worry about the sedative effects, but the vet said that usually occurs only in the first couple weeks. I've just seen a few posts about "Golden Paste". Is this something real, or basically chicken soup for dogs?
Chicken soup! Lol It’s an anti inflammatory used by humans and for dogs. The paste is a combo of good quality ground turmeric coconut oil water a black pepper. You boil it up and end up with a paste that can be stored in the fridge. The amount you give depends on the weight of your dog but around a teaspoonful. As labs eat most things you can just add to daily food. There was also a thread on here recently suggesting turmeric for itchy skin. As with anything we give our dogs check for any contraindications.
