Is my dog in pain?

[NewHopePoultry]

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Nike is my 11 year old min pin. He means everything to me.
Last year he started walking funny and falling over sometimes. We took him to the vet,they ran some test and said that he has poor blood flow in his rear legs. They gave him some meds and they seemed to help for awhile. A few months later,they stoppep working.
Not only cant he walk right,he also cant control when he goes to the bathroom now. He tries to hold it,but he cant. Afterwards he always gets a sad look on his face and he thinks he is in trouble,which he isnt. We know its not his fault.

I am moving soon, and I dont know if it would be fair to move him to a new house, and once we get there I'mnot sure what to do with him. At this house,the dogs have their onw room, so its not a big deal when he goes the bathroom inside, I just clean it up,but the new house is smaller, so he cant go the bathroom in the house.
I take him outside very often,but he still goes inside. When he poops he acts like it hurts him. He runs around all crunched over, he doesnt stay in one spot like he used to. He cant left his leg to pee, so he always ends up peeing on himself.
I told the vet last year,that once Nike stops playing with his toys, I"ll have him put down. Right now he still plays with his toys and is a very active dog when he can be,but I dont want him to suffer if he is in pain.
What should I do?

 

[chickenranchwife]

Have you ever tried 1/2 an aspirin tablet? Try that, maybe he has artheritis. Just a thought.

 

[NewHopePoultry]

I have doggie Aspirin for him,but they dont always help.
His rear legs always feel cold as ice and he really cant feel them,which is why he always falls.

 

[d.k]

*i would try giving him some cranberry capsules: Have to do that for my cat sometimes since the darn petfood mess. Does it seem to hurt if you massage a little? Did they say anything about giving him fish oil? Did they say anything about a spinal tumor? Ours had that.

 

[Dodgegal79]

I take it his muscles are wasting away. He is still young for a minpin, try some herbal stuff to try and get the blood flowing again. Massage and actually working his leg for him to build the muscle up a few times a day may help too. I'm wondering if there is something putting pressure on the artery that feeds the back in, or a nerve. Depend if you want to spend more money on testing. There are also wheelchairs for dogs that can't use their backlegs. The fact that he is loosing bowel control points towards nerve problems.

 

[hoosierhen]

Did they say why he has bad circulation? It sounds like he also has some spinal nerve compression. I don't know if he is a surgical candidate, but you might want to take him to another vet for a 2nd opinion. If they could relieve the pressure, his symptoms (peeing and pooping without control) might clear up-provided there is no permanent damage to the spinal cord.

 

[helmstead]

Have you considered acupuncture and massage?

 

[MissPrissy]

Our dog had a very similar problem. We were faced with a similar decision to make. She could not run, could not scooch much, could do nothing that dogs do to have any kind of quality of life. It was just aweful and stressful to watch her day after day not understanding what had happened to her.

We made an appointment and we followed through with it.

Simply to make ourselves feel better was no good reason to keep that dog in the shape she was in.

Sometimes we already have the correct answer to our own questions before we voice them. Often times the hardest thing to do it to put aside our human feelings and attachments and do the right thing for the animal in question.

I am sorry you are going through this. I don't want to have to do it again.

 

[jjthink]

Are there any holistic vets near you? I have seen dogs that could no longer walk and that have been given up on by conventional vets prance about again with the care of a great holistic doc. Not to say yours could, because I don't know the reason for his problem, but I would try to find a great holistic doc to see what's wrong and what can be done. If it's arthritis, there are natural supplements that can help a lot (glucosamine sulfate/chondroiten). I hope things improve.

JJ

 

[Moonwalker]

I know you might not want to hear this, but in my opinion, if an animal gets to the point where they cannot move around without pain and cannot control their bodily functions, they should be put to sleep. If it is a temporary thing that can be fixed with meds or treatment, by all means take it to the limit. But ....SET the limits to which you are going to go.
I have spent many nights with sick and injured animals and gone to extreme measures to save their lives countless times, but there comes a time when we have to step back and truthfully see what is happening and make the decision to let go.
A human can understand why they pee their pants due to illness, all a dog knows is that he is doing something that he has been trained NOT to do all his life and that displeases his owners. A human knows that if they rest or go through treatments, it will get better, all an animal knows is that they can't move the way they used to, but they will try, even though they will injure themselves more in the process.
If you are making a move, this will add stress to the mix, when he sees paking, during the trip, being in a new situation, etc.
By all means, get a second opinion and see if there is something that can be done to make his quality of life better.
One of the saddest things to see is an animal being kept alive, on heavy pain meds, having to be carried outside, where they pee on themselves and have to be treated like a baby, just because their owner cannot face the pain of losing their beloved pet.