Canine (General)

[montblanc]

Hello there,


My name is Tudor and I live in Romania. I found on a local forum a link to this place, so here I am trying to find a solution to my problem.

I have an 6 1/2 yo Golden Labrador Retriever. Since January (or maybe longer but I didn't notice) he has visible trouble getting up after he lied on the floor. If he stays on some kind of carpet thats ok, he'll get up easier, but if he stays on parquet, there you go, he'll get up pretty hard. I've had him taken to x-rays, that revealed no hip dysplasia but, unfortunately, some kind of "vertebrae conjunction" in an early stage. His doctor told me that there are 2 of those zones which developed some spikes, that will evolve into connecting 2 or more vertebrae, finally resulting into paralysis.

The dog's vet also told me that there is no cure for this condition, since it's of metabolically origin, the only thing I could do was to establish a long term treatment that would make the dog feel better, though not stopping the evolution of the illness. He also said that, since in his knowledge, Labradors these days live for around 10 years, I should expect my dog to live at most until 10 years of age, or at least until 8.

You can probably imagine what is my condition right now, or at least you should if know how living with a Labrador is like. Now, since I was told that there can't be performed a surgery on my dog for his condition, the only way I can act is treatment with anti-inflammatory and other kind of similar drugs? Is there any way with which I can increase his life expectancy? Is there any diet or behavior that my dog should follow in order to make this disease advance at the lowest speed possible? I literally don't know what to do now, and I am really desperate... I had another dog who dies because of the same illness, but at 15 yo, and still, I could not put him to sleep although he was almost completely paralyzed. I really want to avoid another similar moment.

Please help me.

Thank you very very much,
Tudor Petrescu.

Bucharest, Romania.

[Daveyo]

Hi I am Daveyo

I understand your dog has a spinal condition. As to extending the life of the dog, these particular dogs live on average of 10-12 years like it or not depending on their genetics of overall condition. Keeping them in good health and in good physical condition is usually the precursor to hopefully give them longer life. Please go to my site at [moderator note: website address has been removed] and register there and make a post so I can catch you and discuss your problem in depth. There I will be able to explain to you better of what you need to do and I can cannect you to a specialist that has some good knowledge regarding your dogs condition, since the fact your in Romania. I am glad you found this site as well.

I hope to hear from you shortly.

Daveyo