[greenchild]

I took my big furbaby to the vet today for his annual checkup. He will be 9 in Sept, so he is getting pretty old for a big-breed dog. The bad news is he lost 7 - 8 lbs in the last 6 - 7 months, all on his hind end which means he is now losing muscle mass. He has arthritis & mild hip displaysia so he has learned to compensate for his back legs, but in doing so, he is actually making them weaker by not using them as much - he looks kind of funny now with his shoulder muscles built up so much and his back end so skinny. He has been doing wonderfully on a supplement called Synovi G3, which has alot of good herbs in it but it's now no longer enough. So we have to do physical therapy with him. Sit to stand, sit to stand, repeat. And walk him slowly up and down the stairs several times a day to force him to use his back legs. If we can get him to swim all the better. But I think we'll have some trust issues if I start throwing him off the dock!
Right now he's like okay, mom, I'll follow you around . . . I guess I will get lots of excercise doing this too!

[tparum]

awwww poor big ol teddybear. and i call him that because dh had a dog like that and all he was is a big ol teddybear. but i hope everything helps him out.

[*Bobbie*]

Awww poor puppy He is so lucky to have you as his mom though.

[SheilaRN]

Boy do I feel silly!!! I was thinking PT stood for PREGNANCY TEST not Physical Therapy!!! I couldn't figure why your MALE dog was needing one at first.

[greenchild]

Boy do I feel silly!!! I was thinking PT stood for PREGNANCY TEST not Physical Therapy!!! I couldn't figure why your MALE dog was needing one at first. [/b]

ROTFLMAO!!!!!