Harnesses are bad for dogs as well as owners. I’m sorry that it tuned into health problems for your doggo.
Lots of professional dog walkers get shoulder and back issues from walking dogs in harnesses. It encourages the dog to pull as there is a lot of leverage in their favor. Also depending on the fit and how the leash is attached you can run into the issues you are having to deal with.
Posting this to educate on harnesses because I see too many people with dogs in harnesses where the dog is just towing people around and it makes me winch every time.
I’m sad to hear, Harness problems? 12-15-18 years and polar dogs can be old. There is hips problems some times(spend id). Attach a picture from 2006. A gang and maybe, -its the cold whether that does is.
I definitely believe in a proper fitted harness over any collar, but unfortunately this one was too small for her and would often slide infront of the shoulders when she would bend over. I knew it didn’t fit right from the start, but I struggled to find a better alternative at first. “Good enough for now” became the daily standard when she didn’t complain and the end result is what you see above.
Great news though, she had her first full bowel movement since early Friday morning. I think that this was one of the last big hurdles for getting her into a more comfortable and manageable state. It’s still too early to see if it’s sustainable, but I’m much more hopeful now than I have been in weeks.
Thank you everyone for all the support and thoughts
The cats do work. They love to catch and eat crane flies and these katydids (green tree crickets). I believe they find these as tasty morsels. They both post up at the tomato plants around dusk and wait for the giant hornworm moths which they catch and walk around proudly meowing w it flapping in their mouth and adding a growl if I get too close to take it before its dead. Once dead its an unappetizing cotton ball lying on the floor and isnt consumed.
This thing made it past the gaunlet and I caught it on the wall inside.
“Look what I got!”
“SNAX!”
Best wishes to all of the pet owners out there dealing with scared animals this holiday weekend (in the US).
Many dogs rescued from reservations have been shot at, making them extremely “gun shy”. Annabelle grew up on the res and got loose as a young adult to spent another 6 months back there before being found again, so based on her ability to recognize a rifle (but not handgun) I would say this also applies to her.
As far as an update on her condition, the gabapentin was a bust. She just couldn’t tolerate the side effects and I couldn’t ask her to put up with it for the 2-4 weeks it would need to take full effect. That was a big disappointment as I think it would have been her best chance for long term functionality. I then decided to get her on muscle relaxers (methocarbamol) instead, but unfortunately I had to give her a couple more tramadol while waiting for them to come in and that got her constipated all over again.
After looking up a few how-to’s on “external expression”, I’m not sure if it did what I intended, but it did something and she was finally able to have another full movement for the first time in another five days. I’m going to try and make an appointment with a vet tech for tomorrow afternoon so they can do it properly. She seems much more comfortable right now at least and I have an old prescription for diazepam that I cleared for use to help with the anxiety from loud noise.
Tomorrow morning we have a second appointment with the animal acupuncturist and I’m going to encourage her to focus on the lower back and hip region which should hopefully help with the bowel problems. I’m still figuring out the details for an effective and sustainable palliative treatment plan, but I think the anti-inflam, muscle relaxers, and acupuncture are all a step in the right direction.
Not mine yet but a new stray feral cat just showed up on my deck this week. And the picture doesn’t really capture it but it’s the saddest most pathetic looking thing I’ve ever seen.
Hi!
To many cats i row now
I’m 6.1-6.2(186cm) in high(that’s me in the picture). To the left a Samoyed, to the right a Russian Borzoi. It was pointless to put things(food) away on kitchens shelf(standard in Europe 90cm) when the Borzoi was 91cm over the shoulders.
By the way, when are folks over there start “talking in real measurements” ~meter system.
regards
