George

I've been meaning to write a little update about George - for those of you

who found the last "George story" a little gross this will not be the same thing=) It's actually a bit sad....

We've been noticing, over the last several weeks, that George's hips/legs have started to bother him quite a bit. In the past he'd have problems here and there, limp for a few days, and then seem totally back to normal. But, the first big clue that something was more seriously wrong this time, was a few weeks ago when I headed out the door in the morning for my walk. George is always eager, annoyingly so for that matter, to go with me or anyone taking a walk. But as I left the yard and headed down the road he just looked at me....I told him to stay and he looked like he wanted to go but just wasn't up for it. It was soooo sad! My poor puppy!

Well, when we went on our camping trip a couple weekends ago we realized he'd gotten to the point of needing to go to the vet's. He had to be helped into the truck and up some rock cliffs on a hike that Matthew and the oldest 2 kids went on. So, once we got back we made an appointment, which led to X-rays, which led to some bad news. (Thankfully it was all at a reasonable cost!) During the X-ray they extended his back legs fully, which they had a hard time doing even under anesthesia because they are so bad, that way they are able to get a clear look at his hips. One side is worse than the other but they both show degenerative arthritis. The more affected hip showed the head of the femur slipping out of the socket - meaning that with every step it's grinding bone against bone and making it pretty painful. The other side has been trying to compensate and now has a muscle mass while the bad side has atrophied.

The ideal course of treatment for George is a total hip replacement. He's not a really old dog, 7 years, so the rest of his body should last for a while yet, however that is a very expensive procedure and therefore not an option. What will probably happen is that we will try to manage the pain and keep him around as long as he seems to be comfortable. I know he's just a pet but we got George as a puppy and are pretty used to having him as part of the family. He's been far from the perfect dog but he loves us=) Anyway, all this means that in the future - near or far, we're not sure - we're going to have to make some decisions as to what to do with him....Since I was in high school I have wanted to get a German Shepherd and, thankfully, my husband let me=) Before long we'll be writing the final chapter of George's story but in the meantime I think we'll spoil him!