the Khakster....

We just got back from the vet and she is very happy with how his knee is healing. After another week, we can slowly start him back on our walking regime. We will all like that!

His hip dysplasia is considered moderate. For a dog of 5, this probably is a bit severe altho not the worst that she's seen. Maintenance and comfort are our goals.
We will be switching him over to the senior dog food formula and giving him injectable gloucosamine & chondroitin. (don't ask me how to spell those!) The reason for the shots is that it gets right to the joint quickly and you can tell right away how successful it is. Also, there are some new theories that they also help with pain management. There are some long term pain meds like humans use for dogs but they have the same side effects so we will wait to use those when he is uncomfortable or down the road when there is a constant, uncontrollable pain.

Of course, the Ester C & Vitamin E studies that I saw have not had long term studies done but our vet seems to think that some antioxidant therapy wouldn't be all that bad either, so we may look at some of that at some point down the road.

The red bandage is for the hot spot on his arm where they gave him an IV when they put him out for the X-Rays. I tried to rebandage it to keep him from licking it but I think it had an adverse effect so we won't be doing that again! The spray that the Vet gave me yesterday seems to be drying it out, which is a good thing.

So, our sicky is going to live another day....
YEAH~