- Joined
- May 6, 2021
- Messages
- 16
Cooper is a male Pomeranian, his color is sable. He is 13 years old and will be turning 14 this May. He is neutered and weighs 12 pounds. He maintains this weight.
For about year now, cooper has slowed down. His days consist of either resting in a deep sleep or he is restless, panting, having a hard time relaxing. His back legs shake, he has tics in his legs, (they jump), he also has gone through two episodes where I believe they are seizure like. All of a sudden he can’t move even when he tries, it seems to be very painful and lasts for about a few minutes before he comes out of it and he is able to move. I noticed this when he first started getting his vaccines as a puppy; I was walking him one night and all of a sudden he just lost his ability to walk, his body went stiff and I just held onto him using my instincts to let it pass. And it did. This didn’t become an ongoing thing throughout his life, but he has had episodes like this here and there. He goes a couple of years without them and then it happens again. Like it did, this year again. I remember the last episodes he had was back in 2019. He has been diagnosed with an enlargement of the liver, but the doctors don’t know why unless they took invasive action to look inside which I do not want to do. He has also been diagnosed with what is considered a throat tightening. I don’t remember what the doctor exactly called it. But I will attach his last work up. You can get a better understanding of what is going on with the diagnostic.
Cooper still has a very good appetite, eats 3 times a day. I feed him honest kitchen and also whitefish with sweet potato (from another organic company) he gets sweet potatoes and apple mix in the afternoon or bananas with his sweet potato (he looks forward to this and is a must have for him). Poops are very good, goes about 3 times a day. Pee is good. Doesn’t have a hard time pooping.
Main concern about cooper is now he is experiencing the tics more often, shaking back legs. He does this thing where when he gets up it almost looks like he is on a ship losing his balance and sometimes it looks like he will lose his ability to hold himself up. He does this a lot when he gets up. He drinks a lot of water. I never know what the day will bring, sometimes like I said he is still in a deep, peaceful sleep, and on another day he can’t stay still or get comfortable and pants heavy. And he looks exhausted on these days where you can tell he wants to sleep but can’t. I mention this to the doctor but he doesn’t know. I tried carprofen which I’m not sure if it helps or not. He hasn’t been on it for long, just within this past month, and not all the time. I’ve more experimented with it, then actually give it to him consistently. He is not on any other medication. Some mornings he will want to walk long walks and other mornings he will take a short one. At night he seems to have a harder time relaxing after he goes for a short walk, sometimes I pick him up and walk him that way cause I know his legs must ache and are tired. I do know his joints hurt and ache. Is there anything out there that I can use to help relax him and help him go through whatever this is?
I have trouble bathing him to a point where I haven’t been able to bath him for almost a year and a half. He use to love how he felt after his baths, but now it becomes a whole episode, doesn’t sit still, starts panting and he almost acts like it hurts him. It got to a point where it takes a couple of days to just do one thing at a time but even that doesn’t seem to work anymore. So I don’t know what to do about this. He really needs a bath, but I don’t want to upset him or feel as if I’m hurting him. He gets so uncomfortable. Is there anything I can do about this?
Also, my last concern is his teeth. They need to be done too. But he needs to go under in order to get it done and I’m not sure if it’s the right decision with his age and what he is going through, however, when the doctor last checked one of his back teeth is starting to turn into an infection. But the rest of his teeth were surprisingly good, the doctor was shocked. Is it safe to get his teeth done?
Thank you for all and any advice.
@Dr. Christina @Dr. Jeff
For about year now, cooper has slowed down. His days consist of either resting in a deep sleep or he is restless, panting, having a hard time relaxing. His back legs shake, he has tics in his legs, (they jump), he also has gone through two episodes where I believe they are seizure like. All of a sudden he can’t move even when he tries, it seems to be very painful and lasts for about a few minutes before he comes out of it and he is able to move. I noticed this when he first started getting his vaccines as a puppy; I was walking him one night and all of a sudden he just lost his ability to walk, his body went stiff and I just held onto him using my instincts to let it pass. And it did. This didn’t become an ongoing thing throughout his life, but he has had episodes like this here and there. He goes a couple of years without them and then it happens again. Like it did, this year again. I remember the last episodes he had was back in 2019. He has been diagnosed with an enlargement of the liver, but the doctors don’t know why unless they took invasive action to look inside which I do not want to do. He has also been diagnosed with what is considered a throat tightening. I don’t remember what the doctor exactly called it. But I will attach his last work up. You can get a better understanding of what is going on with the diagnostic.
Cooper still has a very good appetite, eats 3 times a day. I feed him honest kitchen and also whitefish with sweet potato (from another organic company) he gets sweet potatoes and apple mix in the afternoon or bananas with his sweet potato (he looks forward to this and is a must have for him). Poops are very good, goes about 3 times a day. Pee is good. Doesn’t have a hard time pooping.
Main concern about cooper is now he is experiencing the tics more often, shaking back legs. He does this thing where when he gets up it almost looks like he is on a ship losing his balance and sometimes it looks like he will lose his ability to hold himself up. He does this a lot when he gets up. He drinks a lot of water. I never know what the day will bring, sometimes like I said he is still in a deep, peaceful sleep, and on another day he can’t stay still or get comfortable and pants heavy. And he looks exhausted on these days where you can tell he wants to sleep but can’t. I mention this to the doctor but he doesn’t know. I tried carprofen which I’m not sure if it helps or not. He hasn’t been on it for long, just within this past month, and not all the time. I’ve more experimented with it, then actually give it to him consistently. He is not on any other medication. Some mornings he will want to walk long walks and other mornings he will take a short one. At night he seems to have a harder time relaxing after he goes for a short walk, sometimes I pick him up and walk him that way cause I know his legs must ache and are tired. I do know his joints hurt and ache. Is there anything out there that I can use to help relax him and help him go through whatever this is?
I have trouble bathing him to a point where I haven’t been able to bath him for almost a year and a half. He use to love how he felt after his baths, but now it becomes a whole episode, doesn’t sit still, starts panting and he almost acts like it hurts him. It got to a point where it takes a couple of days to just do one thing at a time but even that doesn’t seem to work anymore. So I don’t know what to do about this. He really needs a bath, but I don’t want to upset him or feel as if I’m hurting him. He gets so uncomfortable. Is there anything I can do about this?
Also, my last concern is his teeth. They need to be done too. But he needs to go under in order to get it done and I’m not sure if it’s the right decision with his age and what he is going through, however, when the doctor last checked one of his back teeth is starting to turn into an infection. But the rest of his teeth were surprisingly good, the doctor was shocked. Is it safe to get his teeth done?
Thank you for all and any advice.
@Dr. Christina @Dr. Jeff
