The end of my dog, Lightning? (Please Read)

I'm afraid the time may have finally come, the time to put down my dog Lightning. I am not 100% positive, but as his condition grows worse it becomes more apparent.

My dog is basically a Rodesian Ridgeback, but he is not a full bred. However I have seen some pictures of Ridgebacks that look exactly the same as him. He is about 12 or 13 years old, and is in good condition for the most part (except for one thing). He is not blind, he is not hard of hearing. Oh course he is not as sharp as he used to be, but he is still surprisingly good. In his prime he weighed about 65-70 pounds. Now, I'd say he is no more than 50-55, if that. He is very skinny, but more specifically his back end is very skinny. He still has powerful shoulders and front paws, but for some reason, he seems to have contracted a condition that has caused his back legs to go out. He has difficulty walking, and one of his legs is constantly wobbleing or is disoriented. He falls down frequently and cannot stand long without his leg to start slipping out from under him. It doesn't APPEAR to be hurting him, although it seems to be fairly severe. His teeth are in absolutly terrible, TERRIBLE shape. Many are missing, (because he has broken them while trying to escape from the gate which he doesnt do anymore) some on the side of his mouth are rotton and he has difficultly eating dry dog food. Again he shows no apparent sign of pain, but who knows? It seems only logical to conclude that this is hurting him. It is noteworthy that pain isn't a big issue for my dog though, he is the most pain tolerant animal I have ever seen. He can endure much pain without making a sound or expression. He once ripped his stomach open on a screw on the gate, and just walked into the garage and fell asleep. Im sure he has some other problem which disables him from feeling as much pain as normal, but I still hate to see him like this.

At times things look grim. He can barely stand, he's very old, his teeth are rotton and he is thinner than ever. But whats wierd is that he will have his days. Days were he will wrestle, bark and play with my other dog. Days were he can be found running in the yard, and rolling in the grass--seemingly happy to be alive.

Should we put Lightning to sleep?

 

Have you consulted with a vet? His leg problems may simply be arthritis and may be greatly helped with medication. As for the teeth, perhaps you could schedule a cleaning and have teeth removed that are rotten?

It doesn't sound like your dog has any serious health problems, he hasnt' been diagnosed with cancer and is pining away, he's just old. Talk with your vet!

 

I wouldn't put him to sleep if he was my dog, he could have arthritis. Have you taken him to the vet to do any tests? If he doesn't seem to be in pain he might not be. If he has arthritis you could probably get him meds to help ease pain and make it easier on his joints. Before you make the big decision, take him to the vet and see what is wrong. Have you been giving him wet dog food, you did say it's hard for him to eat dry dog food. Maybe wet dog food would be better. And that could be the reason for losing weight or it could be just the old age. Is there any diseases that are common in the Rhodesian Ridgeback that you know of? He could have something else like hip displaysia or something. Do some research on Rhodesian Rhidgebacks and see what syptoms are what and you might get a better idea of what he has. If you can't find anything take him to a vet to maybe do some x-rays and get some wet dog food if you don't already have some. There is a rule of Quality of Life that if your dog still does 3 things he/she likes, it's not time but if they lost interest in things they used to do, it's time. My mom just told me that and I don't know if you should follow it. I would think your best bet is to take him to the vet to get him looked at and do some research. Please keep us updated! Hope I helped.

Ashley

 

I found these sites,

http://www.puppydogweb.com/caninebreeds/rhodesian.htm

http://rrcus.org/assets/html/breedinfo/RRFAQ.htm

http://rrcus.org/assets/html/breedinfo/dysplastic.htm

http://www.canismajor.com/dog/rhode.html

I hope these helped at least a little in your decision on what to do. Good Luck!

Ashley

 

If he were mine, I wouldn't give up on him yet -- definitely get the vet to check for arthritis, hip, and spine problems, and ask for an opinion on his teeth. Get a full blood panel done (CBC, Thyroid, Chem Panel) if he hasn't had one recently. Hind leg weakness, lethargy, and decreased resistance to infection are symptoms of hypothyroidism, which is VERY common in dogs and very easily treated (inexpensive pills, twice a day). Plus, dogs typically respond very quickly to thyroid supplementation in terms of alertness and stamina.

If the test results come back looking pretty good, I would look into getting a dental cleaning and discuss the anesthetic protocol with the vet. Propofol and isoflurane is very safe, so I would definitely prefer to try to get his teeth cleaned rather than deciding to put him to sleep. You're right that having rotten, painful teeth can be a quality of life issue, but even if he's not a good anesthesia candidate, the vet might be able to control the inflammation and infection by occasionally giving a course of antibiotics. As Mockingcat has stated, the issues you've mentioned don't sound like terminal diseases. I would get him on a glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM supplement, offer him canned or a mix of canned/dry (if he's having trouble eating kibble, he may not be eating enough to maintain his body weight), and make an appointment with the vet.

What are you feeding him? A dietary change to a more nutrient and calorie dense food might do wonders.

Aside from some possible 'old dog' issues, Lightning sounds like he still has a lot of life left in him; I wouldn't be thinking of euthanasia.

 

I agree with most thats been suggested but you also have to be realistic here, he's already 12 or 13 years old and he has multiple health problems, if the teeth have been bad for a long time you could also be looking at heart problems, kidney problems, etc, he needs a full, complete workup, if you brought him into any of the hospitals Ive worked at the vets would not even consider him a anaestheic candidate without a full blood panel, x-rays on his chest (as well as his hips and spine, abdomen). I would not rush into to putting him to sleep but I would have a complete work up done, see what can or cant be done and go from there.
Sorry if I sound blunt, Im just being realistic.

 

having an elderly dog myself who does have some health problems I agree w/everyone else - a complete blood panel and go from there.
Also if he's having trouble eating dry food due to his teeth why not switch to canned food?
My dog has liver disease hypoactive thyroide and arthritis but does very very well. She takes only one prescribed medication for her thyroid and the rest is vitamins.

 

I'm thinking arthritis doesn't sound quite right for what you are describing, but it sounds like thyroid is a very likely possibility. Get ye to the vet!

 

well, I have to agree with everyone else, and have the vet check him out, it may be with a good daignosis and meds he would be a very diiferent dog and live long and more healthy life

 

I think it could possibly be arthritis that's affecting his legs, but I would also get his hips and spine checked out. I don't have any experience with HD, but considering he's a large breed, I think it's worth looking into. I mention the spine because my own dog has a slipped spinal disc -- it makes his legs wobbly (sometimes they give out, too) and there's definitely been a decrease the muscles of his hindquarters.

Hopefully, if it's just a low thyroid, it will resolve with thyroid supplementation; but I would definitely bring up the other possibilities to discuss with your vet.

 

wow, thank you so much for all of your replies. I am not going to have put down until he at least sees a vet. Let me say a couple of thigns about his leg condition.

We are pretty sure that the place where we bought Lightning told us that there was a condition with his breed that caused these problems in his legs, I'm sure a vet could give us the specifics. His entire back end is just weak. He has lost allot of muscule mass in that area and it is noticabley skinnier than the rest of him. However, his legs are no skinnier than they were before he had these walking problems, so I am thinking it is somthing in his hip. I am not sure, but I don't think it is arthritis that he has, because there seems to be no pain, even when I touch of rub his leg.

 

my dog lost a lot of muscle mass w/her liver disease. Her legs don't look thin but her midsection does. She gets bloaty and that makes her look fat yet I can put the span of my hand right across her back - rest of the palm of my hand on her spine and have my fingers on one side and the rest of my hand on the other. She's a german shepherd.
That can be detected with a complete blood panel.
Sadie stumbles and a lot of it is due to the loss of muscle mass. Lately, since her liver disease is under control, we've been walking her more to help rebuild the muscles.
She's 11