9-1-09

This is about my dog, Samba, who is a 15-year old lab/shar-pei mix. She has degenerative myelopathy which is incurable and generally results in the decline of the dog’s ability to utilize her legs. I first noticed in early 2009 that she was dragging her hind leg nails. When I brought her into the vet to fix a skin condition, I mentioned the dragging nails, and the vet performed a simple test where he positioned her hind paw in the unnatural position where she was standing on her knuckles. Samba didn’t correct her paw position, which led the vet to determine that she had neural degeneration of her spine. He didn’t offer me much more information, other than the fact that her condition would continue to decline.

Samba’s condition did deteriorate as her hind legs became weak and unpredictable as to whether they would hold her up or allow her to stand up long enough to do what she needed to do. She began to cry a lot for help and my husband and I became frustrated with all the time we had to devote to helping her get up and tend to her basic needs, e.g. relieve herself or get a drink of water. This became very stressful since we have 2 young boys to also care for. In May, 2009, we decided to make some adjustments such as bringing her outside on a schedule since she was no longer independent enough to do so on her own.

After some research, I discovered that her condition was called degenerative myelopathy (DM) and there was no cure. The best I could do for her, was to try to stabilize her condition and keep her physically strong. As a result of my research, I started her on a regimen of pills – Vitamin C, E, B-complex, Rimadyl, Glucosamine and DogtorRX. The latter is an anti-aging supplement which is supposed to help with some of their ailments. For more info about DogtorRX, see http://www.petequinox.com/. I think all of this has helped as she is able to get up and around on her own vs. consistently not being able to do that without my assistance. She still falls, but she is also able to get around for short durations to do her business.

In addition, I put Neopaws booties on her so that she can manage in the house on our hardwood floors. We have throw rugs all over the place, but the boots help her out in areas where there are no rugs. She also wears these on her walks outside.

In September, I will be starting physical therapy for her at Scout's House in Menlo Park.