No Surgery for Shiloh - Day 23

I'm way too cool for this place.


She loves to peek around this bench. Then she says, "I'm peeking at you!"

Chocolate chip cookie face.

Loves the swings.

Here is is watching Signing Time and signing "penguin", or as she says, "Quimmin!"


Well today Shiloh went to the special vet. He examined her and took x-rays. She does have elbow dysplasia and arthritis because of it, but he did not recommend surgery. He said surgery on dogs over about 1.5 to 2 years old generally does not accomplish much. So they would root around in her elbow and maybe get out some bone fragments but in the end the arthritis would still be there and she would have had a major surgery with a terrible recovery and not really have any pain improvement. He put her on an anti-inflammatory medication and for the next 2 weeks we are supposed to keep her very, very quiet. No running, no walks, no jumping, no playing, no getting on beds or sofas, stairs only once a day with strict supervision. This ought to be fun with a 3-year-old Golden Retriever. The purpose of this is to heal the irritation that was probably caused by her sudden increase in activity when we got here. Then in 2 weeks we go back to have her reevaluated. Then he will probably put her on dietary supplements like glucosomine, controitin (I am sure I spelled those wrong) that help with joint issues. We will sloooooowly increase her activity again and monitor how she does. He said we should be able to get her back to where she can run around and go for long walks. We will just have to watch her.

In addition we are to try to get her to lose a few pounds, and then we are going to have to strictly watch her weight for the rest of her life. He said 70% of her weight is on her front legs, so keeping her weight at a good level is important. No more people food for Shiloh! The big issue her is the 2-year-old. Shiloh had learned to closely monitor the toddler for signs of food, the stick to her like glue whenever eating is involved. LSP, for her part, has learned that feeding the dog is fun. So there will be a challenge there.

So the good news is no expensive surgery with a 2-month recovery process. We started tonight with the very low activity and diet. Shiloh is not going to be a fan of this.

LSP had her usually barrel of fun outside today, and inside as well, forcing Grampy to watch hours of Auntie L's animal videos and asking me to read books to her all afternoon. She especially enjoyed a cite little book about a manatee. Well, it was cute the first 4 or 5 or 20 times I read it. Now, not so much.