Border collie Jack passed away on February 28, 2022

[SandyL]

Re: Border collie Jack

Haha anywhere would be friendlier than VCA !! There are a few private vets around here so I guess I should get off my butt before it gets worse and make some calls!!

We originally got the laminat and tile BECAUSE of all our animals!! Figured it would be easier to keep clean and free of hair due to the kids allergies. Accidents are a breeze to clean up....Was REALLY a life saver before tig was diagnosed and peeing all over the place for a couple of days! But it's really hard on their legs and hips. A couple of years ago, Tiggy jumped off our bed and her nail hit the floor just right and rammed straight into the paw Stik with the carpet!! Next time, I'll probably go half and half

Sandy

[buddingartist]

Re: Border collie Jack

I just caught up with your thread Natalie.

So sorry that Jack's problems are back. I hope you finally get some answers as to what causes this problem. He is so young and I am sure it is disheartening to watch such a young dog go through this. Yep, if only they could talk

Good luck and extra hug for Jack

Louise

[k9diabetes]

Re: Border collie Jack

Well, that seals our flooring decision! Glad you mentioned the concerns about the laminate.

We have been back and forth for months - tile vs. laminate vs hardwood vs. carpet - and in the end we decided that Jack would be a far happier dog with carpet. If we went with any of the others, we would have to have area rugs all over the place, which kind of defeats the purpose of a different kind of floor and would break up our great room floor plan visually into a bunch of blocks.

Having heard the concerns about Heidi and the floor, sounds like carpet is the right decision.

We are fortunate that I work from home and my husband's weekends are Sunday, Monday, Tuesday so we can make vet appts early in the week without a scheduling problem.

Our neighbors very overweight dog is limping recently. And sounds like they are having a similar problem with her. It seemed odd to me that this marked limping she has suddenly showed up and makes me wonder if she doesn't actually have some kind of an injury plus arthritis in the background. She's 12 so arthritis is likely but her behavior looks more like an injury to me.

The ER vet we use is a specialty clinic on Greenhaven so not far from you. Unfortunately, I don't know most of the specialists there any more as it changed hands last year. But it generally has a much friendlier atmosphere than VCA Referral Center in Sacramento.

Natalie

[SandyL]

Re: Border collie Jack

Aw Sandy, sorry to hear about Heidi's problems. Can you describe what she's doing?

You are definitely an angel going all the way up to Santa Rosa!! Totally understand why... But I doubt if I could get the kind of time off that I'd need

She is having the typical problem with getting up from a lying position.... Totally uses all her strength with her front legs. Doesn't sit like a normal dog... She will either sit with both legs spread outwards (really wide) or sits cocked to the side with the other leg stretched outward. I really feel its her hips but in a split second if she hears the mailman, she's out the back door and RUNNING the fence line!

First vet... Out of the 30 they have there lol... Very conservative, felt Heidi had pulled something so just a 500mg buffern. 2nd opinion we got Tramadol. Both felt that the problem was due to the large area of laminate and lack of carpeting we have in the house. Said they've been seeing alot of this with large dogs.. So now I have a million throw rugs and runners and she literally will jumb from to rug to rug

You can really poke and prod and she NEVER shows signs of pain ANYWHERE! It's like when we go to the doctor for something and the morning of the appt it's gone

If you hear of anyone decent in the area , that didn't go to our local vet school lol, please let me know. I'm sure I'm going to have to do something

Sandy

[k9diabetes]

Re: Border collie Jack

Aw Sandy, sorry to hear about Heidi's problems. Can you describe what she's doing?

We debated what orthopedist to see. There probably are some good ones around here, but the neurologist is in Rohnert Park and if we go to their orthopedist, they will have all of Jack's records and previous workup and the neurologist's firsthand experience with the diagnostics.

Plus, in their orthopedist's favor, he didn't go to the local vet school... and he has a border collie of his own.

So we are starting with the orthopedist in Rohnert Park and will see how it goes. They are a large specialty clinic so have IMs and neurologists and surgeons on staff.

I've heard really good things about a guy in Mill Valley as well.

The neurologist felt from the beginning that the type and location of Jack's limping and apparent signs of pain did not make sense as coming from the two bad discs we know he has. So I think everyone is leaning towards it being a soft tissue problem.

I actually need to find a new GP vet. There's only one at our current clinic that works very well for me and he's as afraid of Jack as Jack is afraid of him. I tried one last year and it didn't work out at all. So I need to get back to that task as well. We had a really great ER vet when Jack had the limber tail problem - wish she was in general practice.

Natalie

[Judi]

Re: Border collie Jack

hope you get some answers and help Natalie. nothing can ever be easy can it?

[SandyL]

Re: Border collie Jack

Oh Natlie, it is hard when you can't make your babies feel better NOW.... Not later! Hopefully you'll get some reliable info from the orthopedist.

We're currently getting the runaround from our vet for our other baby Heidi. She's having hind end and leg weakness.....never seen a dog sit like she does, it's actually weird looking vwho are you taking jack to?

Sandy

[Patty]

Re: Border collie Jack

Really, really hoping the ortho consult sheds some light on things Natalie.

[MaryLea]

Re: Border collie Jack

I know it's hard watching them when you know they don't feel well. If only they could talk!

You have done so much for Jack. Hope you find out something you can help him with this time, too.

Mary

[jesse girl]

Re: Border collie Jack

its hard to watch our babies struggle you have worked so hard natalie to find the problem so you can figure out a possible procedure that might help

is swimming something jack can do removing gravity from the equation might release some of that energy with less discomfort

hope jack feels better and positive healing thoughts so jack can have some fun with less discomfort

[Brooke]

Re: Border collie Jack

Poor Jack it must be really hard watching him in pain like that. I hope you guys can find out what's wrong, or like you said, at least manage the pain. Best wishes for the appointment.

[k9diabetes]

Re: Border collie Jack

Just a quick update on Jack. Whatever causes his pain has been worse for the past couple of months. Today he hardly wanted to walk when I took him out, which isn't like him. He's also showing more signs of his weak pasterns, especailly in back. Not every day or all the time but intermittently and often.

A couple of weeks ago I took some photos of how he was standing on his back feet flatter than usual and sent them to the neurologist. He reviewed them with their orthopedic surgeon and suggested that we do an orthopedic consult since Jack's problems do not seem to be nerve related.

So we are signed up for an appointment in a couple of weeks.

I suspect that in the end his pain and limping problems will probably be soft tissue related, perhaps largely due to his pasterns. We noted this problem early on after we adopted him. And probably no fix but if we can ever truly KNOW what the cause of the pain is, we can better manage it. A couple of GP vets have mentioned laser therapy, for example. But we don't know what to aim the laser at.

Interestingly, also, this is the same time of year he had the acute back pain two years ago. I often wonder if it isn't at least partly related to a seasonal allergy that may generate some inflammation.

There doesn't seem to be much out there on weak pasterns. One show judge guy wrote an article some years ago and most of the other sites just reproduce it. Lots of theories (like most things!).

Risks tossed out as possibilities include a diet too high in protein while the bones and ligaments are growing and developing, too much calcium, raising puppies on smooth surfaces so the soft tissue doesn't get worked properly (Jack may have spent a large part of his young life on a kitchen floor). Some folks have managed to correct it in puppies if it's caught early and those kinds of things are changed.

It's sad to see such an energetic dog who is too uncomfortable to take a moderate walk... his brain really needs stimulation and other than giving him things to chew - he will only chew things he can consume, it's hard to entertain him when his movement is restricted plus not let him become a chubby-chub-chub, which also isn't good for his joints.

Kind of gloomy...

Natalie

[eyelostit]

Re: Border collie Jack

Hi there Nat

My neighbor had a cute dog across the little valley from me, about 1/16 mile, dunno, he's my neighbor I really don't talk to him much and I don't care too other than when I get one of his UPS packages by mistake.

Anyway he had a male, he looked like a cross of a shepard and greyhound, the dog was kept in a kennel outside about 4 ft x5 ft kinda small for a dog like this. All the dog did was bark all day and all night, once he got loose and came over here, he was a great dog, he played and laid down for me, took one of my plastic flower pots and was throwing that all around, he was happy to run and not be locked up in that kennel he needed attention and he wasn't gonna get it. I put a lease on him and took him back to the neighor who was running his mower and naturally thanked me, the dog got loose again and my other neighbor asked me who's dog it was, so now he takes the dog back.

Now when I was looking for a dog after Niki died on the web, I seen this poor dog on the humane society website, I hope someone adopted him, I felt really bad, I couldn't take him, the dog was eager and would run to the AH if he got loose.

That rotten damn neighbor and they are the nice words for him %^*!#had a new dog over there in a months time, a smaller dog, the man is a complete AH, I guess the smaller dog suits him and can stay in the house not to mention this guy is a local small business man.

I avoid this person, he's not even a person in my book, he's goin thru the male change of life always rumming the engine of a car, or using a chain saw and its 10:00 pm at nite that don't bother me as much as it does the other neighbors, what a piece of work!
Just had to vent here

Dolly & Angel Niki and the Pipster

[k9diabetes]

Re: Border collie Jack

Newman is so handsome!

We used to have a dog down the street named Bodie who looked absolutely terrifying. He's a big red mix with wolf-colored eyes and a husky/shepherd look with long legs and no matter what he's doing, he always looks intense, intense, intense and mean. Just by being out front he used to terrify people who didn't know him.

I figured out he wasn't actually mean or scary because Chris, being blind, wasn't the least bit afraid of him. Turns out that's just how Bodie looks. He's actually a big ol' teddy bear.

For anyone with fearful and fear aggressive dogs, I love the concept of DINOS - Dogs In Need Of Space.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/DIN...51550661567160

DINOS promotes giving working, senior, reactive, and fearful dogs the space they need to live in the world and for others to always be courteous and obey leash laws, avoiding running up to unknown dogs, etc.

Natalie

[Shellie]

Re: Border collie Jack

I would pet him...but I only pet dogs after asking the owner. No owner, no petting. I don't care what breed...depends on the dog and how you approach. But it IS sad that you and pip have to pay for it with fear. Hugs!