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Rennie, that is a pretty pup.... makes me think of our Maggie Mae... pictured in my avatar.... she was a real lover. When Dianne had her first hip replacement and later open heart surgery, Maggie would get on the couch with her and lay her head in Dianne's lap.... she knew Momma was not feeling well and stayed close to her. We had her for 13+ years, but she got cancer in a back leg that swell and reached a point where she had trouble walking... she reached a point where I couldn't let her suffer any more.
Hope you get as much love and years with your pup as we got with Maggie.

And can you believe some heartless soulless person dumped her and a brother on the side of the road as a puppy.
 
Some things are meant to be.

Early on we thought we might have made an error in judgement choosing a border collie as a pet for a couple of old farts like us. He was a bundle of energy and everything we read told us to expect a dog who needed a lot of running, chasing, and other activity to satisfy his needs. We wondered just what we had gotten ourselves into.

A couple of weeks ago we began to notice a change in eating habits as in little interest in food. Walks became a struggle as he would go a few feet and want to sit. Getting him up off the floor to go out at the end of the day often required my lifting him up and setting him on his feet. He seemed bored all the time.

We went to the vet and had him tested for parvo and lymes - negative. We had also noticed his hind end always looked like he was walking on tip toes. Off to the x-ray!

Turns out the little guy has hip dysplasia. Not a terribly bad case, but significant. A decade or two ago something like this might have a dog put down, but there are lots of new treatments and surgery's now. He's on a pain/anti-inflammatory medication that seems to help a good deal. He also takes a chewable that is supposed to help build cartilage. We go back to the vet in a few weeks to assess progress. Once he is a year old he may be eligible for a once a year shot directly into the joint to ease pain and cushion the joint. If not, surgery may be an option, though it is beyond me how we would be able to swing that.

So, all in all, given the need for him to not over exert himself so not to stress the hip joints, perhaps it is fate that brought him to a home with no children and two old farts that are also walking a little slower these days.

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Awww, Poor little dude.

Starbuck had blown out her cruciate ligaments in both hind legs when she was a pup. We electect to have the surgery to fix it and she came back as rambunctious as ever. Here's hoping he can get some relief in some way.
 
Very sorry to hear about your pup's condition. Hopefully, those meds will help give him some relatively pain free years and ease your minds. Pets become family and we hate to see them suffer. Back when I was working we spent a few thousand trying to save a family pet that had been attacked by loose dogs...to no avail. Vets have gotten way expensive. We haven't added a new pet for fear we would not outlive it and leave it stranded, but we sure would like one.
 
Ted Calver said:
...Vets have gotten way expensive. We haven't added a new pet for fear we would not outlive it and leave it stranded, but we sure would like one.
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Yeah, I spent over $500.00 yesterday to have our Standard Poodle tested and medicated for an E. Coli infection. We go back in two weeks, and that'll likely be another 350 ~ 500.

As for age, yeah, I hear you. Izzy is ten now, and hopefully will live another 3~5 years. By that time we'll both be well into our 80s, and we have the same feelings as you about potentially having the dog outlive us.
 
Our standard Poodle "blew" her knee out a month or so ago.. Use to be the most vets knew how and did surgery to repair it, but ya no more, only "specialist" do it now. The cheapest quote we have gotten is around $6K and that is a vet 230 miles away. Most are close to $10K. We love the dog, but I wouldn't even get my own knee fixed it it was going to cost me that much. I am not too proud to limp. And that is a "may " fix but she also has arthritis in her hips, no cure for that only pain meds. But they still encourage us to get the knee fixed.. even though the Arthritis will cripple her anyway. Ya right. She is 9 years old, Love her, a great dog, but still a dog, a pet, I say we keep her as comfortable as possible with pain meds. I will walk her on a leash, keep her from running and go until that is not enough. I have to do the walking, my wife is tethered to an oxygen machine.

I read this concern of outliving our pets. I use to worry that but no more. That is our kids problem and they owe us to do right by them and I know they well. We did right for our parents pets. So if ours go, even though I am reaching our at 80 I will be going to the shelter and getting a senior dog that most would pass over, to have and care for. I just have never been without a dog, except when I was in the service, and I do not plan on being without one as long as I live and care for one. One of Gods greatest gifts to man kind.
 
@Jim DeLaney , we have lost touch on the standard poodle thing. Didn't we get our poodles around the same time and kinda keep in touch with progress reports? I did that with someone one on here. Pretty sure it was your Izzy and out Abbey. I still think the Standard poodles are a great choice for a family dog. We has really enjoyed Abbey, had hoped she would stay healthy longer, but she is really deteriorating the past year. Very sad, but she has been a great member of the family. She just took it for granted that everyone loved her. That was a given because she knew she was beautiful and we were very lucky to have her stay with us. But note, she was the one incharge!
 
Sorry to see Fletcher is having hip issues this young. Here's hoping you can make things better without having to spent too much.

Our shepherd/golden retriever cross Sunny is around 13 years old (we're not sure because we adopted him as a young adult) and so far he has shown only minor hip issues. (Sort of surprising for an 85 pound dog his age.) He's started having neurological issues in his hind legs though, so sometimes he doesn't lift his hind feet high enough and he either drags the top of them on the ground or he trips and stumbles a bit. It's to the point where LOML has stopped taking him on walks, so he doesn't skin up the tops of his hind feet. Not looking forward to watching his decline, but we're in no financial position to go to heroic efforts to prolong things. I'm pretty pragmatic about dogs and their quality of life, but my wife is just about the opposite.
 
Paul Douglass said:
@Jim DeLaney , we have lost touch on the standard poodle thing. Didn't we get our poodles around the same time and kinda keep in touch with progress reports? I did that with someone one on here. Pretty sure it was your Izzy and out Abbey. I still think the Standard poodles are a great choice for a family dog. We has really enjoyed Abbey, had hoped she would stay healthy longer, but she is really deteriorating the past year. Very sad, but she has been a great member of the family. She just took it for granted that everyone loved her. That was a given because she knew she was beautiful and we were very lucky to have her stay with us. But note, she was the one incharge!
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Yeah Paul, you're right. We did get them around the same time. Izzy will be ten years old in a couple weeks. She's been pretty healthy overall. Had some hip problems at about 6 months, but grew out of them, thankfully. She's hardly slowed down at all - still runs around crazily, chases squirrels, rabbits, and deer. Great personality - loves everyone and craves attention. Typical poodle traits.
Healthwise, we give her Glucosamine and Chondroitin chews to hopefully keep her joints and bones healthy. She's been getting them ever since the hip problems as a puppy. Our vet thinks they're beneficial, so we've gept giving them to her.

Hopefully your Abby will heal and be able to be more active again.
 
Dogs are a great family member. You love them like your own kin. When they suffer or get ill we really feel there pain as our own kids. Over the years we have had a lot of pets and have had most of them put down due to suffering and no possible cure. It still brings back good memories of each one of them. Now we don't want another pet as yes we would not like to abandon the critter due to our passing. Just enjoy the memories of the past.
David
 
Jim DeLaney said:
Healthwise, we give her Glucosamine and Chondroitin chews to hopefully keep her joints and bones healthy. She's been getting them ever since the hip problems as a puppy. Our vet thinks they're beneficial, so we've gept giving them to her.
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We have started this treatment and expect it will be a lifelong practice. Very disturbing walk with Fletcher this morning. We walked along the side of a field where it was very quiet and l could hear his joints pop with each step. I could feel it placing my hand on his rump as he walked. This kind of thing just tears my heart out.
 
My Harley is a little Silky, a cousin to the Yorkie... he stands about 15 to 18 inches high and at 11 is still pretty active and bossy. We lost Maggie our Jack Russel mix to cancer a couple of years back... she was the sweet heart of the whole neighborhood. I still miss her a lot.... Harley waits until I get settled in my confy chair before he decides he needs to go out or wants a bacon treat or just wants something.

In my first marriage we had two dogs, one a poodle mix that my daughter named Shuffy and a minature poodle named Cody... he showed up one day when Shuffy was in heat and every time we returned him to his owner, he would be back next morning, so after 3 or 4 days of that the lady just said keep him.
Don't know how old he was, but a couple of years after we got him and had moved to another house, he was sleeping under the wife's chair when she moved the chair, he jumped and threw his back out. We took him to vet, who said he needed surgery, but we you have to take up to UC Davis (California) and the surgery would run about $6K..... that was in the early 70s.... opted to wait a bit before we spent the money and he did get better and healed completely, but before that when his backend was still kinda flopping around we missed him one morning, saw where he had dug out under the front gate, so I went looking for him in the neighbor hood...found him 4 blocks away chasing after a standard poodle that must have been in heat... Randy little sort.
 
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