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brynnyks

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Hi Everyone! My name is Brynn, I'm from Saskatchewan, Canada and my 'fur baby' is a 6 year old american cocker named Ben, known as Benny since my niece named him that when she was 2 and pissed that he stole her doll. Benny and I have been together for nearly 6 years and I can't believe how time has flown by! I'll be honest...I was 23, looking to fill a void, and completely unprepared when I fell in love with my boy and adopted him almost completely on impulse. We've had our rough times (to say the least!), learning curves and adjustments, but he's been the consistent and unwavering "man" in my life through it all, taking care of me as much as I take care of him. Benny and I have been raising each other on a trial and error basis for the past 6 years and we've managed to work out the kinks pretty well! I truly feel like we've been through it all! He's become the piece of my life I just can't imagine living without; he's taught me more about myself and life in general than I ever could have learned without him. He's getting older though...developing arthritis in his hips, getting tired more easily, getting just a touch more snippy, and just last night he had a seizure:( It's become quite clear that trial and error isn't going to cut it on the 'back 9' of Benny's life, and dragging him to the vet every time a new/concerning behavior arises is less than ideal, so I came looking for re-inforcements! I look forward to learning from you all and hope to be able to offer some perspective of my own based on my personal experiences with Benny.
 
Welcome Brynn and Benny. Your posts will be moderated at first so they might take a little while to appear.

My name is Karen and I live in CA with my husband Keith and two cocker spaniels Farley and Ki.
 
Welcome to you and your boy Bennie. I'm Polly and I also live in CA with my husband and our 3 cockers. You will find a lot of very useful information here, please feel free to look around. Unfortunately, seizures are not uncommon in any breed of dog. A check up might be in order. I would want to have the vet check his back and hips anyway. I think 6 years old is kind of young
to experience back pain due to aging.. might he have had an injury? My dogs are 14 (ish) 9 1/2 and 7 months old. My 14 year old (guessing his age since we adopted him as an adult) is on joint suppliments and they do help. But again, he's twice your dogs age..

Welcome!
 
Welcome! I'm Paige from MI and I have two cockers: Apollo and Artemis who are 4/2yrs, respectively.

I hope you enjoy this forum as much as we do, and I look froward to pictures of Benny.
 
Hi, Brynn and Benny! I'm Deborah, and my cocker is Cordelia. We're in Seattle. Please let us know what the vet says about last night's seizure. Also, pictures always welcome!
 
Thank you for the feedback everyone! Polly, the vet described him last check-up (a year ago in April) as "pre-arthritic", since I was noticing that his back/hip area seemed to crack a bit (sounds like when my own bones crack or pop) when he got up after laying/sitting for a period of time. It's never appeared to slow him down at all, and he doesn't seem to be in pain, but the noises have been happening for close to 18 months now. The vet did x-rays and determined that his back hips seem to 'pop' in and out of place much more easily than normal, hence the cracking. She suggested I start him on a glucosamine/chondroitin (sp?) supplement, which he's been on for nearly a year now. I've noticed alot less cracking/popping though it does still occur occasionally. The only thing I can think of that's happened with his back hips is when he's wiped out on ice or slippery floors...sometimes his feet go completely opposite directions from under him and he does what I can only describe as the 'splits'...he's never appeared to be injured afterwards, no whining or limping, but it does take him an extra beat to get up from that. He's always been quite a clutzy, rough and tumble kind of dog so it's happened quite a few times. Is there other preventitive supplements/treatments you would recommend?
 
Brynn maybe talk to your vet when you take him in about a amino acid suppliment.. fish oil or coconut oil. Mine have been on fish oil for a long time, the last time I took my puppy in for a check up my Vet said his coat was still a little dry so I added coconut oil.. several on the board use it and love it. Nicole has hers on fish also I think and just added another, I forget what it is. Robin, who is my Pups breeder has hers on coconut and fish oil.. her show dogs are on a raw combo diet.. I homecook for my crew.

My dogs take a chewable multi, and fish oil, my old guy takes a joint suppliment and olive leaf for his immune system, he has bad skin and it has been helping him. Then I have been adding one teaspoon coconut oil to their food 2 x a day.
 
Experiment with the dosages too. Start adding a tiny bit of the oil and up it slowly. Mine can only have about 1 tsp total of the cocoanut oil or they get the runs.
 
My late old man, Nicholas, was on a Glucosamine/Condrotin/MSM supplement. I'd just put a little cream cheese on a small dog treat, stick the pill into that, and he'd be so happy about the tear that he's swallowed the whole thing before he knew what hit him. He had trouble with his hips and two places in his back. The vet and I convinced the supplement added years to his life. He was at least 15 when he passed away in 2012.
 
Welcome Brynn and Benny! You will get some great information here, everyone is so helpful!
 
Welcome, my name is Nicole. I live in So cal with my two, Fenway my 8.5 year old black boy and Amelia my 2.5 year old buff girl. I do give mine coconut oil, the usual dosage is 1 tspper 10-20 lbs of body weight. I also give sardine/anchovy oil, this one is liquid and the dose to that is 2 pumps a day for their weight. I always start slow, ease on the supplements, want to make sure that nothing upsets their system. I think there might be other natural supplements to help with the joints.
 
Hi Brynn, a great name, my oldest great grnd daughter is Brynn :)
six is a little young for that much arthritis problem. The fish or coconut oil and chrondroitin ? Is a good idea, as others have said go slow some get the runs, mine do.
One of mine has degenerative disc disease in a couple of places and spondylosis in another we try to manage it with natural treatments as much as possible. She gets a holistic anti-inflammatory 2x a day called Traumeel . You can get it at health food stores. It is a people medicine but my vet prescribed it, it doesn't have side effects. My vet uses it when she is in competition skiing. We also uses accupuncture which helps arthritis also and laser therapy. We try to manage it without steroids but a few times it has been so bad we had to resort to it and crate rest to get the inflammation under control.

what do you feed ? Grains are considered an inflammatory food , a grain free quality food, raw even better and some here cook. This might help.

as for seizures, usually a first seizure at that age is for a reason, there is a website with a ton of information about seizures that may help you. I can't copy the web address on my iPad but if you search the epi guardian angels , or canine seizures and look for epilepsy guardian angels you should find it.
Good luck, I somehow managed to get a dog with joint problems and one with seizures !
 
Forgot to mention last night. I also give Ester C to my dogs as well. I get a powder specially for dogs and I add to the food. Ester c is good for over all health and for inflammation. It is not hard on the stomach either.
 
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