Scheduled for knee replacement late October. For the party several weeks, the knee has been most problematic. Swelling is back, very stiff, painful behind knee, upper calf and lower hamstrings. Mostly relegated to sitting on my butt and rotting.

Welp. A little story. Several years ago, Ami was begginning to slow down, not climb up on the couch or bed. Vet suggested a product called Dasuquin. I was skeptical, in general not a fan of supplements. But. Tried to have an open mind, bought the very expensive bottle to give it a 2 month trial. Welp. After 2 doses, the big boy was zooming again, up on the couch, the bed. Bit the bullet and continued with it. Still a bit skeptical - coincidence?

Fast forward to last month. Josh asked what he could do for Archer - seems like his hips really bothering him. I gave him the end of a bottle since I had a spare and said give it a try. Several days later, Josh reports Archer is back to his old self.

Hmmm... Reproducible results?

There is a human form by same manufacturer: Cosamin ASU. My knee has been worse than ever past few weeks. Decided to gamble 30 bucks ( human is cheaper than dog)

Welp. After 24 hours, 3 capsules, I went out to wrestle with the water bags for pool closing. I was half way up the hill to the pool when i suddenly realized i was walking normally!!! Swelling way down ( i pee'd out 2 pounds of water in 24 hours.) most of the stiffness gone and pain in knee much reduced and mostly limited to just the joint line rather than calf, lower hamstrings.

Curious whether this will continue as i continue to take it.

So for anyone curious, Cosamin comes in a couple of formulations. From various research, i believe it is the ASU (avocado soybean unsaponifiable) that is responsible.

I've given Kye Dasuquin for years for his HD and had good luck with it. My mom actually used to take Cosamin until it got too expensive (this was before you could get it online for considerably cheaper) It seemed to help her hips. She should probably go back to taking it now that we can price shop a bit more.

I gave Sasha Dasuquin for a couple of years and it helped. In her case, it was a matter of just loosing muscle mass .... vet was no help.

I'm seeing something odd with Sasha where she'll stand at the top of the steps like she's afraid to go down ... it's much worse at night than during the day and I'm thinking it might just be failing vision. I have a vet appt for her and Avalanche next month so I think I'll be bringing it up then. (( Hand surgery this Friday and then recovery ... not something I'm anticipation! ))

Do that! I got it from Amazon with a subscribe and save with 4 other items, a bottle of 90 cost me 21 and change. I'm still improving by the day, so much so t that I'm suspicious there maybe some illicit steroid in there - the effect is that pronounced!

All - I've forgotten the name but there is an eye thing in dogs where night vision goes first. Then there is dementia - fairly certain Z'ev had dementia at the end. He was sweet though, not really a problem. The last month or two, we would sit at the kitchen window and watch as he repeatedly walked around the house, doing laps, frequently carrying a bone. Every 5 minutes or so, he'd come from the west, headed east and go through the eastern gate, bone in mouth, with his gimpy, weird things leg gait.

And yeah surgical recovery. My mouth went quite well, the worst first two days were migrated by the steroid they put in the IV, the next few were "didn't get behind on the Tylenol and a CBD gummy in the evening (i think the CBD works better on nerve pain than arthritis pain, just my experience)

Hope your hand goes well. Icing is a big help initially and after a few days, heat will be really helpful.

Sigh. Even though I'm walking normally, things are not perfect by any means. Went to the gym for the first time in a hundred years. Expecting to use a stationary bike. Not gonna happen. Trying to bring the peddle up on the upstroke excruciatingly painful. My screech got the attention of several in the gym, I'm sorry to say. Even tried the recumbent bike and just as bad. And i had the seat set so i could barely touch the pedal on the downstroke. Good news, though. I can use the elliptical. Which is weird cause years ago, no way could i use an elliptical machine - made me seasick🥰

I'm trying to get some things done between now and Friday (actually Thursday) I managed to get the recumbent bike together and got a mile into nowhere ... pulse was okay, breathing was okay (not sure about o2?) but legs were a little wobbly when I got off. And with no one else here, I'll stop at "a little wobbly" for the time being.

Started off on its lowest setting and didn't do much ... guess I need to work up to it (work up to what?!)

Yeah, Al. For us old folks, starting slowly is a good thing. Quite possibly, being wobbly means you did too much. The sore muscles from exercising won't even declare themselves for 2 or 3 days and then it takes forever for it to subside. Hope your legs recovery quickly. My knee was really sore when i got home but icing settled that down. Still not as comfortable as when i left the house for the gym but a whole lot better. Do you have to stay overnight by in the hospital for your hand or is it day surgery?

Kenzi doesn't like to go down the back steps anymore either. For her it's eyes, dementia, and weakness in the legs that make her think she's going to fall. I make her go anyway. At least I've gotten her to not launch herself like a dock diving dog now. She would stand at the top and whine and take one step, then back up to abort the mission, stare at it then take that one step again only to back out repeatedly until her legs were more tired from trying to back up than they would be if she had just gone down. And if you forced her then she would launch like she was jumping off a dock. Being a two-story flight of stairs I'm surprised she didn't break something the couple times she tried that.

@amymeme Strictly day surgery. Not sure I could afford it if it weren't. The least expensive room I see if $50 (stayed there one time, not again ... had to fight little critters for the bed!) but the one closest to the hospital is $277 for a night and that's way beyond my "beer pocketbook"

@TwisterII After dark Sky won't even try by herself. If I go out and guide her down she's okay but I've seen her miss a step even following my voice.

Silly puppy wants to play and the 'adults' are telling her something that resembles 'get bent!!'

@aljones sound like PRA progressive retina atrophy. Usually starts as either problems with tracking or depth perception then progresses to low light blindness and eventually turns to total blindness. Its a very known problem in husky and gsds and cattle dogs and dogs with the merle gene.

I still have shadow on the dasaquin from the vet. Worked great until it didnt do enough. Hes still on it just also on librela, carprophen, gabapentin and amantadine.

@lostmaniac you might be right. I'm running late for their annuals since I've been running me back and forth to the doctors but (literally) just scheduled them in and I'll have Zac check her eyes then.

And, since the subject is Dasuquin, I guess it's time to get these two started on a regimen ... don't like that, cause it was a year or so after I started Sasha on Dasuquin that I had to put her down ... I watched Sky get up from laying on the porch and it was slower than it has been.

Why can't we all just live until we decide that we've lived long enough and then just lay down and go to sleep ....??

I sent off for a jar of Dasuquin and it looks like I'm going to have to convince the old pups that it isn't going to kill them.  Two days and more of the pill ends up on the floor than in the dog.

Any suggestions?????

Ami won't take it unless i either break it into quarters and put it in his food dish or cover it in peanut butter. Attached just chores down on it out of hand.

Yeah for p-nut butter ... Jif had some bad batches that came here so I have plenty to get them going on it. I've tried the 'hide it in a food bowl' and that didn't work.

I put a blob of peanut butter on a butterknife, smoosh whatever pill into it and he licks it off the knife. Savors every bit, licking the knife clean, over and over.

Lostmaniac wrote:

@aljones sound like PRA progressive retina atrophy.

I still have shadow on the Dasuquin from the vet. Worked great until it didn't do enough. He's still on it just also on librela, carprophen, gabapentin and amantadine.

Back from the vets ... a couple hundred poorer ... according to Zac Sky's vision problems are nothing more than cataracts and they have an eye doctor who can fix that for about $5,000 per eye    ... I like my dogs, but I don't think so.

I just wiped out this paragraph, let's see if I can do it again.
He also mentioned that she's having issues with the nerves in her back end, I've been watching her have some difficulty getting up ... I'll just deal with that as time goes on.  I remember that the dogs had problems (dislike) of the Dasuquin when I had Sasha on it but tolerated the Synovi from Bayer ... but they also don't like the Synovi from Elanco. (( Bayer sold out to Elanco ...?? )) so I guess I'm just gonna have to work the p-nut butter topped with crushed Dasuquin into their diet.

Avalanche ... well, he was typically Avalanche.  He wasn't too impressed with the technician, which was odd - he likes everyone!  When Zac brought him back in from getting weighed and physical exam his tail was doing it's normal 90 mph!  

Both of them have lost some weight, Avalanche dropped from 52 to 49 ... and Sky went from 41 to 38<?> ... anyway, both lost a couple of pounds.  I have a problem in that neither of them are hearty eaters but if I leave their food out Belle will help them finish it off.

Enough for now, I'm getting

Squirt got sick about a week ago. Still dont know what the problem is other then she has teeth problems. Out of the blue stopped eating. And i mean anything. Finally got her eating chicken. Found 1 canned food she likes but it will cost $10 a day to feed her that. But she was walking stiff and was lethargic and having accidents and drinking crazy amounts of water. So far labs are normal her ua was off in a very dilute way but the bloodwork mostly eliminated diabetes. She will eat a few chicken based things but otherwise wont eat even table food she normally loves, like poptarts and a McDonald's hamburger. Her energy level is up but not what it normally is. Think im gonna bring her back monday. If anyone has any ideas... because her teeth do not explain why she will go nuts for chicken and turn down beef and duck. Had ocraw in 3 types and she ate the chicken one but sniffed and walked away from the other 2. Or the chicken weruva cans but not the beef one. Medical conundrums are usually bad when its a dog.

the only non-medical (physically anyway) reason I can think of for her to not want a dark meat protein all of a sudden is possibly a bad reaction to it that has stuck with her and she is mentally warry of it now. Most dogs wouldn't put two-and-two together like that. My kye is severely allergic to chicken and yet he still hasn't figured out if he pounces on a tiny scrap of shredded chicken that hits the floor he's miserable and all his hair falls out.

That said, if she's drinking tons of water that can mess up a urine screening and certain parts of a blood screening. Especially a diabetes screening because they will flush sugars out of their system if they are pounding water and peeing a lot. If you take her in for a rerun on blood you may want to withhold water for a while leading up to it just in case. When kenzi was diagnosed diabetic she was presenting a lot like she had a bad UTI and she was dropping weight fast. I didn't have a lot of food issues with her but sometimes would if her blood was high because it would give her indigestion really bad and I would have to give her a dose of pecid a bit before feeding and knock it down so she would feel like eating.

Went to the vet. It is not her teeth or her abdomen. Xray was very weird for our area. Ill post the xrays later and break it into a new post, but in summery it looks like she has a fungal infection in her lungs on the xray but we dont live in an area where anything but valley fever is seen and it didnt look like that. So we are hitting her with broad spec antibiotics and waiting for csu radiology to look at it and call with a diagnosis.