Border collie Jack

[jesse girl]

he looks great natalie . jesse goes though many different challenges. 99 percent of it is temporary and just heals on its own sometimes it takes awhile

actually jesses epilepsy has been slowly fading dont know why but very happy and hope its a permanent trend . i am glad i never put her on medication for that .

[Abby's Mom]

Natalie

Awww...love the pics of Jack. I bet he has you wrapped around his paw...

Barb

[peggy0]

He's so adorable!!

[buddingartist]

Natalie
Jack is just adorable. What a cute face

I just went through the same thing with Cleo, not gnawing, but licking her hip constantly and limping more and more and even refusing to go on some walks.

The metacam and tramadol no longer helped, the vet (a new one) tried deramax and it doesn't seem to help much. The x-rays show severe degeneration and the hip that is hurting is not the one that she had the surgery on.

Next step is Cartrophen injections. It starts with 1 per week for 4 weeks and then the frequency of future injections depends on how she is.

Hope they find a solution for Jack. I know how hard it is to watch them struggle

Louise

[k9diabetes]

Jack's stuff sounds a lot like Cleo's Louise. He doesn't have a hot spot there. The skin isn't really broken, no lesion. It was just red and irritated from being chewed on. It is over a knobby part of his hip bone and it does seem to my untrained eye like he may have lost some muscle mass in that thigh.

My guess is that it either hurts or may have nerve issues like burning so he's chewing on it to try to make it stop.

Fortunately, his gait problem is fairly mild and has improved with rest.

When we did the consult with the orthopedist, he was interested in doing a detailed x-ray workup of that hip and it may be time to do that. He wanted him under anesthesia so they could get very fine images. We could also consider having his lipoma removed if he's going to be under already.

I absolutely love both the neurologist and the ortho surgeon. Just wish they didn't work at a clinic two hour's drive away. But better that than turning Jack over to someone I don't trust. They are very much-relationship-centered in their approach.

Natalie

[CarolW]

Sorry the clinic with the great ortho and neurologist is two hours away - doesn't so much matter for the humans - it's the dog! How's Jack doing on the trips?

Hope you can get to the bottom of things with xrays under anaesthesia.

Lots of love and hugs, to you and Jack,
Fri, 19 Jul 2013 06:28:07 (PDT)

[Rubytuesday]

Hi Natalie, Just came across this. I have such a hard time keeping up with the discussion page I often don't get to "everything else".

Jack is beautiful!....and I can also see how he would be a handful. Have you ever read the book " A dog year"?

I hope the there is a fix for the hip ?? pain and it isn't terribly expensive. How old is Jack? It is hard enough when they get older and ouch, but Jack looks so young.

Tara

[k9diabetes]

Jack still seems a bit sore in his back. At some point, we probably will take him to the specialists and have them do a thorough workup of that hip. We have been limiting his exercise somewhat, but also trying to avoid him suffering from too much cabin fever!

Jack is about six years old. He has had this problem pretty much from the time we adopted him at one to one a half years old as his exercise tolerance was always modest given his breed and age. He's on daily Metacam, which definitely seems to help him. But whatever he did to it recently still hasn't resolved despite continuing with Metacam.

Natalie

[buddingartist]

Natalie

Have you noticed if Jack is worse when there is high humidity. Cleo seems to struggle a little more when it rains a lot or it's very humid outside.

Poor Jack, I know how you feel watching him struggle, he is so young

Louise

[k9diabetes]

I'm not sure about the humidity Louise. It's pretty dry around here and rain this time of year is almost unheard of. I think he either overused it over a course of a few days or maybe twisted it while swimming at the river.

He seems somewhat better. We are limiting his walking time only a little bit now.

He is going through a transition right now. Jeff is retiring from the police department and so has been home part of every day for a few weeks now as he uses up his accrued vacation time. Jack LOVES having him home more. But it is throwing off his routine, and if there is anything Jack treasures after food, Greenies, and outings, it's routine!

Still, every time Jeff leaves the house, he has to go through the pre-work play routine they had when Jeff was leaving for work. Meanwhile, I can come and go with a Greenie and a "See ya later Buddy!" LOL Jack misses the play opportunity so we have to be sure and make time for it if Jeff isn't leaving the house during the day. He is the most ritualistic creature, two-legged or four, that I have ever known.

Natalie