My Neopolitan Mastiff had to be put to sleep on 12/7/08. My husband and I went away for the weekend for a Christmas party out of town. We hired a dog sitter and checked in on the evenings while we were gone. When we got home we found our dog in the garage (not an outside type dog) and the house smelled like feces. Apparantly he had soiled all over the house (which the sitter cleaned up), on the couch, in the kitchen… He wasn’t sick when we left.

Here is the deal though. The dog food we were feeding him came from a friend. We had recently began feeding him Iams Active Maturity for Large Breed Dogs, because of his arthritis. Well A good friend of mine had just recently lost their old dog (he was like 14 years old) and had 3/4 bag of dog food left. She knew that we had started feeding him the Iams and gave us the bag.

Well after we took him to the vet that night, I was telling my friend what had happened and she told me that was exactly what happened with her dog. So now I don’t know what to do. The reason this question is so late is because I am very pregnant, and the holidays…

Anyway, my friend and I are wanting to look into this a little further, but don’t know where to start. Is there a statute of limitations on this? Should there be a lawsuit involved? Who do we contact and with what information?

Please no smart alek comments. And for those of you that thought it was foolish of us to take the food…my friend had no idea that the food is what may have poisoned her dog until I was telling her about mine. Thanks for looking.

So, we just got back from the vet today and she suggested some different supplements. My older dog is having some arthritis issues, so I’m ordering some Flexicose for him. Aside from that, both my dogs get fish oil daily. But, she mentioned that I might look into a multivitamin type thing for them. My only problem is that I really have no idea what kind to buy. Any advice, brand-wise or anything?
I did ask my vet. She didn’t know and didn’t have anything in stock. I’m a new patient, I guess, and I haven’t been to her for an actual appointment until today and I don’t think I’ll be going back…

My dog was diagnosed with arthritis a while ago, after he had surgery on his ACL.. We had him on prescription medicine but we decided to switch him to a strong joint supplement due to cost and lack of progress made on the medicine. Just the other day he started crying when walking and climbing up the stairs. We have immobilized him for a few days and he seemed to get better. Last night there was a strange dog on our property and he decided to chase it away, now he is back to square one. He isn’t limping but the pain seems to be under his back legs or in his tailbone. Please help!
Oh yeah and stop suggesting I bring him to the vet. I am not financially able to right now you brainwashed fools.
I am pretty sure it is a slipped disc. I am taking him to the vet ASAP. Yeah! Another expensive genetic disposition related issue!

I have a 13 year old black lab (brittany) i have had her since i was about 3, she is the greatest dog in the world. Shes going to be 14 in only a few weeks and shes been acting like most older dogs do, she has arthritis and a broken tail (but there isn’t anything we can do about the tail). Anyways we have a 3 year old black lab (Sammy) and he normally tries to play with her and stuff like that but now all he does is lay next to her and licks her… Sammy is so depressed he doesn’t even play fetch or any thing anymore, this just started a few days ago but im still worried. I thought it was just because he was sick and we had to take him to the animal hospital and he had medicine and the medicine was making him sick but i don’t think it was because he ran out a few days ago. The Brittany is scaring me and so is Sammy he has always been so annoying and playful and now hes not, and Brittany is normally just Brittany… there isn’t much to say that she does. But please if you have ever had this or heard about something like this happening please tell me.

Hi. I have a Chow Chow dog, who is 12 years old. I have noticed that when he is sleeping, his fore legs twitch for a while, then it stops. It only happens when he is sleeping, never in any other moment. His fore legs muscles never twitch when he is awake, or eating, or walking, never, ever. Just when he sleeps, and it only happens sometimes, not always. And when it happens, its just for some minutes, then it stops, it seems it happens only when he is in a state of deep slumber…or dreaming.

He can walk, run, normally, doesnt has a problem with that. He has some arthritis in his left fore leg because of his age, but has medication for that. In some occasion, I covered him with a blanket because it was cold, and the twitch stopped, but sometimes happens when its not too cold.

So this twitch seems strange, because it happens only for some minutes when he sleeps, only at sleep, and then it stops, and it doesnt happen everytime he sleeps, just occasionally.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance

My older dog (11 years old) has been acting strange. He is normally EXTRA friendly, kisses everyone, easy going, almost too much of a pushover. The last 3 or 4 days he has been acting very odd. He is his normal loving self, and then you go over to pet him and he will growl. So you pet him and talk to him and he will literally try to bite. So we back off, thinking maybe he doesnt feel well. Then 2 min later, he’ll be back to normal. His activity level is the same as normal, he is eating, and pooping/urinating like normal. He has been a healthy dog. He does have some arthritis, and cant see real well out of one eye, but doesn’t have trouble seeing in general. The first time he did this growl/bite thing we thought we had startled him, but he has done it about 4 times over the past 3 days. This morning he was fully awake and aware when it happened. Im worried, so please share any ideas you have. I am going to call the vet today, but wanted to know if anyone has experienced this before.
Just wanted to update those who were kind enough to respond to my questions. I took my dog to the vet, he did not find any new problems with him. He felt like it was just old age creeping up on him. His eyesight is not great, he has arthritis, and he may have been just ‘zoning’ out and we startled him. So he is now on prozac and feeling pretty darn happy

A friend of mine has a Border collie with a luxating patella the vet she has seen has said because of the Age of the dog and the fact Arthritis will of set in now it is not worth operating on the dog as the success rate is poor ,

The vet has said the best he can do is offer the dog pain killers but this dog cant even stand on his leg,

I had a dog with the same problem but the dog was younger she came to me because of my dog.

I don’t know whether to tell her to find another vet risk the surgery ,her vet wont budge on this so what would be the best thing for this dog.

Euthanasia is not an option as the dog is fit and healthy apart from the Luxating patella
My own dog had this done twice at the age of 6 and 7 and i know i was told it might not work but it did but thank you for all your answers

I volunteer at a shelter. I walked to a dog I normally see and the dog was laying down and looked exhausted. I got the dog out of the kennel and walked him outside. I pet him and he started whining. I decided to head back and he set down, not moving. He looked a little out of it. Afterwards he laid down and stared off before closing his eyes. I ran to the shelter staff and all they said was the dog must have had arthritis. I wondered if it was a seizure, but I don’t know! I kept telling them I did not think it was just arthritis. Please help, what does it sound like to you???
I got him back in the kennel and he still looked bad. Can arthritis REALLY do all of this? The closing of the eyes and glazed look is what really worried me
The dog is old and has been there a long time. The weather has been changing a lot which is what the excuse was from the staff. I did report it in writing so hopefully it will be looked at. All they wanted to do was tell the vet that his leg hurt.
I thought the dog was dieing, I started crying and I got repremanded saying I shouldn’t have kept walking him (which I didn’t, he went inside right away.) I’ve never heard of a dog just randomly doing this. I walked him YESTERDAY and he was fine.
Thank you all that responded so far. I suspect there is something serious wrong with him, too. I am concerned they will put him down, even though it is a shelter that is not known for doing that — they will sometimes. I would take the dog, but am unable to at this time. If there is something massive wrong with him I couldn’t afford to get him expensive treatments (which is a major reason I have not tried) I have tried to get him adopted, but he doesn’t show well because he barks a lot
Also, I walk him once when I go. It isn’t very far and he never acted like this. To my knowledge no other staff or volunteers with the exception of one other person walks him.
We had an outbreak of distemper at the shelter could it be that?

Years ago, my first chow suffered from arthritis. This was before the days of rymadyl, duramax & other canine medicines. I was able to keep her comfortable with acupuncture, shark cartilage, and other chinese herbs.

Now, my current dog is showing signs of arthritis again. The rymadyl isn’t working as I had hoped. So, I”m going to start her on the regimen that kept my previous dog comfortable. Only problem is I can’t remember the herbs prescribed. I believe alfalfa was one, but I know there were chinese herbs as well.

Anyone able to offer any suggestions until I can find a decent holistic vet?

He can drink a gallon of water and still want more. and he can’t hold his bladder any more its’ some times like every 15 or 20 minutes. if he says I gotta go he mines right now. if you say wait a minute. he’ll go right there. he just can’t hold it. he’ll try to wake me 3 or 4 times a night to go. and I cut is water off 2 to 3 hours before bed time. he roams the house all night looking for water. ya get up to go to the bathroom and he’ll knock ya legs out from under ya trying to beat ya to the toilet. other than the fact that he is an old dog and suffers from arthritis he seems fairly healthy. his breath smells like the Pitts of hell a lot butt he has a lot of bad teeth. but his gum color is good. I been around half a century, owned dogs all my life, big, little, inside, out side, lap dogs and man killing dogs. but I’ve never ran in to this problem.
I know I should take him to a vet. but I work in construction and it’s slow this time of year. I need to see my DR. too. and as soon as work picks up he’ll go before me.