Big Dog, Pig Dog

The weather continues its ups, downs, and sidewayses here in Minnesota. And while I don’t care overmuch (I mean, I CARE, it’s some sort of Midwestern birthright to grouse about the winter but yet never leave for warmer climes), it does make Sampson’s recovery slower.

Last night, though it was a bit warmer–35 or so, with bright sun all day, so the formerly crusty snow and ice turned a bit softer and easier to navigate (well, relatively speaking. It was deep, slushy, and unwieldy, as opposed to deep, sharp, and slippery. :p). At any rate, I decided the marginally less perilous footing was a good time to take the dogs out to potty sans leash. Sam has been trying to sprint at random times, and it’s easier for him to do that than it is for me to (yeah, it pains me to say that. My geriatric, three-legged dog can out run me. 😀 Oh, how the mighty have fallen…). So…we went out, supervised still, and me hovering nearby, but off-lead.

Once he figured it out, he took off, straight for the wooded area of the yard where he pooped in privacy for the first time in a week 😀 We did two more trips outside last night–both supervised, but off lead. He seemed pretty happy with himself. 🙂 As my husband said, “Go let him be a dog. You’re not making him do ten flights of stairs or run five miles. He can handle this, and if he’s not ready, we get the leash out again.”

This AM we had freezing rain, always a lovely weather feature. 6 AM, freezing rain, darkness, a three-legged dog, and some artificial decking…HILARITY ENSUES! Not really. But it wasn’t too bad, actually. He squinted at it and balked a bit coming back in, but eventually I coaxed him up. And again, I’m pretty sure he navigated it better than I did. BUT HE HAS THREE LEGS AND GRIPPY CLAWS. I am just a pinky, hairless, helpless baby rat to him in that regard :p

Only other update:  We added Tramadol–not for the OSA pain or the amp pain, but more for the pain in his hips. We’ll see if it helps him sleep a bit better. If it does, great. If not, no harm done.

Also, I discussed the possibility of metronomics with my vet, since we are already on Piroxicam. And, after a long and winding conversation, we ended back where we had been. We’re going to just stick with the Piroxicam (and tramadol, maybe), the K9 Immunity Plus, and the glucosamine/chondroitin. The vet feels–and I agree, that any chance of gains we’d get would be offset by the possible risks and associated bloodwork/clinic visits, etc.

It’s hard, I think, in this era of modern medicine to know when to say when. There are options galore, and so many things you CAN do (or try, I guess, is the better choice. Sorry, Yoda, but sometimes, there IS no do or do not, only “try” ;-)). But that doesn’t mean you always SHOULD do them. Sometimes more is just…more, not better.

Every situation is different. And even though I know we’re doing the right thing…the good thing, the be happy, be loved, “be more dog,” thing…eh, some days, it’s hard to reconcile the on-paper right thing with the in-practice right thing.