abused rescue

[gasperooch]

I have a slew of questions but I'll jus throw them out a few at a time. I rescued a older male boxer who is displaying some classic hip displacia and maybe even arthritis. he has only two teeth in his whole mouth and his eyes are very blood shot and swolen he is dangerously thin, so bad in fact that you can see his ribs well.
questions
1) what do you feed a dog with no teeth that can put some weight back on him?
2)Whats good for his hips and arthritis? I've heard of a product called flavocin and was wondering of anyone has used it and if it is worth it.
3)How can you, if at all, exercise an arthritic dog?
4) Anyone have any ides about how to clear his eyes up?

 

[dafzichu]

I don't mean to sound so obvious, but has he seen a vet yet?

I have a dog with only four teeth and she eats dry and wet food (the dry is soften with warm water). I am not sure how thin he is, but I would suggest more then two meals a day, maybe three or four if you can do that. If he is skinny from not eating, you may also want to start him on hamburger and rice instead of on kibble. Unless you know for sure he was starved, it might be worth getting him wormed (maybe you already did) and if he doesn't seem to gain weight, I would take him back to the vet, as something medical could be wrong, especially since he is older.

I am not very knowledgable about supplements, but glucosamine and chondrotin (sp?) are common for arthritis and joint pain. There are also some medications that you can get from a vet, one of our dogs takes Rimydal (sp?) for arthritis, the other takes Metacam for pain.

Thanks for rescuing this guy, I am sure he is very grateful to you! Let us know how he does.

 

[AdamsBunch]

After a visit from the vet the best thing to do is to start him on an asprin therapy to help with the stiffness and arthiritis. My BF and I fostered an older boxer, 12 years old who was found wandering the streets and had even been hit by a car, for a while until we could get him to the local rescue. They started him on asprin therapy and would feed him dry food that was moistened by a little water and a little wet food, very important not to over feed him! After a few weeks he really started coming alive and would play just like every other boxer, maybe not as long, but he still got his play in. You'll see a big difference in his stamina after the right food and a little asprin therapy. Good luck, keep us posted.

 

[TossBranAbi]

First of all, i would get him to a vet if you haven't already. As for feeding him, just like the others said, dry food moistened with water but make sure the food is not preserved with citric acid as it swells up more and can cause bloat. If he was starved, do many small meals a day instead of large meals.

I would start a glucosamine and chondroitin supplement and then talk to the vet about any further help he may need if he is too painful. There are various arthritis medications available.

He does need to be exercised, in fact, the arthritis would be worse without exercise. They are just like people and if they don't get moving around they get worse. I would start out with low impact walks at his own pace. Don't force him, no running and short distances. Slowly (and at his pace) work his stamina up and keep him active. Do a search and will find more information about exercising an arthritic dog. Water therapy is another good option.

His eyes, I think the vet can only help out with that. It sounds as though he might have an infection where the vet would be able to prescribe medicine.

Get some weight on this fella and give him lots of love and affection and I am sure he will be so appreciative. Keep us posted on how he is doing.

 

[gasperooch]

I have not had him long enough to get him into the vet since most vet's offices were closed over the holoidays and had stacked schedules for the days they were open and since he did not have anything that appeared to be pressing enough to go to the ER for I elected to wait. I have gotten him in some kibble softened by a little beef or chicked broth and he seems to be getting better every day I do appreciate the feedback all. I hope to be telling you how great he is doing in the near future.

 

[dafzichu]

I am glad he is progressing, I will definitely be looking for updates on this guy!!

 

[angleheart]

Where did you get him? Was it from a shelter or rescue, or basically off the street? I would say that if you don't know his history and if he didn't come from someplace that would have given him some kind of medical evaluation, that you shouldn't wait too long to get him some medical attention. He may be in need of emergecy care if he has had no recent medical attention at all ya know? Loss of most all his teeth could possibly be from prolonged malnutrition alone and no tellin what else may be lurking. I hope you are able to bring him back to good health. It sounds like he was lucky you found him. Keep us posted

 

[dbetz]

Poor Baby - thank you for taking him in and trying to help him. Until you can get him in to the Vet - try giving him a regular aspirin to help with pain. I look forward to seeing updates on his progress. Good Luck.

 

[gasperooch]

Cool, sounds like the aspirin is a good place to start for his arthritis and hip disp. I will get that going with his next feeding and I might even have some glucosamin (sp) lieing around from my own knee problems. I actually found him knocking over trash cans in the neighborhood for food and followed him to a neighbors yard. I knocked on the neighbors door and he stated that he did not own the dog and that the dog (still nameless) jumped in his yard 2 weeks ago and has been coming and going ever since. I checked around and no one knows who he belongs to or where he came from but the neighbor said I could take him. I've been fascinated be him ever since. I'll get him into the vet soon, but like I said he has already shown tremendous improvement.

 

[angleheart]

I would say that you need to be very careful before you start treating a dog that you know nothing about for conditions that you don't know he has. I'm glad to hear that he is showing improvement, but be careful...you don't want to make things worse ya know? (He's really cute by the way )