Worried about Rosie

Rosie is My 2year old ruby cavalier!! At a young age she developed a dislocated patella!! which was operated on!! But wasnt successful
She has now Got some artritis in her Leg!! and her other leg is weak!! She still gets her walkies!! Because she loves her walks she is not as fast as my other 2 cavaliers!! Rosie is on pain killers!! and is doing well
Rosie is also overweight we try best to get her weight down!! she cannot burn as much calories as the other 2
any advice

thanks

Poor Rosie! It is time for some tough love and a serious game plan if you want her to be around and to be comfortable for as long as possible. There is no other easier choice. Cut her food **in half** or at LEAST by a third, NO treats except veggies or small slices of fruit, and the whole family MUST stick with this. Every ounce she is overweight puts additional stress on those joints and adidtional stress on her heart and thus shortens the time she will be able to walk and may significantly shorten her life. The single best thing anyone can do for their cavalier's health is to get them down to a LEAN weight. That means a distinct waist when viewed from above. Nothing else is going to be of as much help to Rosie as getting this weight off permanently. Consider that NOT being tough on food keeps her in pain and limits her life -- it is really important to be very realistic and for everyone to understand this as there's often someone who keeps sneaking treats. That's why everyone needs to sit down and come to an agreed plan so everyone knows what is allowed.

Also consider walking her separately if the other dogs need more exercise (they surely do!). If she has bad joints she should only be getting very moderate exercise that doesn't put her in pain. You need to get her weight off by cutting her food and calorie intake, NOT from exercise with a dog like this.

Excellent manual on feeding inlcuding how to get a cavalier to lose weight:

http://roycroftcavaliers.com/manualfeeding.htm

Also: sometimes patellar surgery needs to be repeated. Did you get a second opinion from another vet? You should.

Oh thankyou very Much that was very helpful!! we will do the best possible to get her weight down!!!
she was given a second operation they said to take the bone from her leg, to the knee cap but they said there could be risks of losing her leg!!
so we didnt want to put her through more pain!!!

We are in a similar situation with Honey. She tore her cruciate ligament and had to have an operation to put in a replacement. She too has very bad arthritis and cannot walk for more than 5-10 minutes. Its heart breaking to leave her behind when I take the other two out for their walk but its the only way as Honey tries to "keep up" with the other two and ends up falling. Sometimes at the end of the walk I will take the three out around the block and walk VERY slowly and she feels a bit more included but mostly I walk her on her own.

Also, try filling a treat ball with some of her dinner. Honey loves it and it is great gentle excercise for them.

Hope Rosie feels better soon :flwr:

Have you considered a stroller of some sort for Honey? Also that might work for Rosie for longer walks as when she gets sore she could go for a ride instead. A couple people have strollers for their dogs on this site and you can buy them in the UK. There was a recent thread in the general section on them.

Ohhh, the stroller is a great idea for Rosie, because you often take your cavs to lovely parks, and this way Rosie could go too, without hurting her legs!

I think Rosie will feel much, much better when she is lean. It really makes a big difference! :flwr: :flwr: :flwr:

Poor Rosie. Karlin is completely on the mark...time for some tough love. Her poor little knee just can't tolerate the extra weight so getting some weight off of her would help tremendously.

Yep, can't praise the stroller enough. I just love mine. It would be great to use one for both Honey and Rosie. You get used to the goofy looks quickly enough

Thanks for the suggestion of the stroller. I never knew these existed until I saw a thread about it on this forum last week - how cool! I would definitely get some funny looks strolling my dog around Dublin :lol:

Not sure how she would take to a stroller - she likes to be amongst the action! Usually I just let her potter around and she likes to smell all the lamposts and every blade of grass that we pass roll - its really to get her out of the house more than for excercise.

I use her treat ball as her excercise routine - she flings it around the kitchen and is an expert at it now. Bella has realised how it works but instead of doing any of the work she follows Honey around the room and looks out for stray nuts. :roll:

The stroller might work for Rosie though?

I know this is a common sense tip but I will offer it anyway just incase it helps.

When my boys are playing hungry and I know they can not possibly be (they do this often). I distract them with some attention in a different way as I am convinced the most part of it is boredom. I may go and brush their teeth or just sit on the floor and groom or massage them. This does divert their attention if only for a while and it makes it easier on me as their emotional blackmail is not successful.

Also a tip when cutting back food in the early stages which again is common sense and probably already been mentioned is to gradually adjust the volume using fresh fruit/veg. A famous TV vet here says to keep the volume the same initially but do half normal food and half grated carrot, that sort of thing. Still appears the same amount but less calories then gradually cut back on the amount of each. Same for snacks if you have to give them, only give fruit or veg or ice cubes.



A big part of cutting back on diet is knowing the difference between hunger and playing. It is much easier to give tough love when you are sure of the difference. I achieved this with the boys by gradually cutting back on their food and weighing them each week to see how much they had lost. If they lost a lot that week I knew I had maybe gone too far but if they had not lost anything I could be a bit tougher. For me it is more of a battle to maintain their weight as they easily fluctuate. Harry seems to have a much faster metabolism than Digby thus needing more food. For a long time I fed them both the same but Digby was gaining and Harry staying the Same or losing and still begging, I thought he was being naughty and then it dawned on me :sl*p: that perhaps Harry burns more energy than Digby and needs abit more food and was actually hungry :yikes .

Talk to your vet about how much is safe to lose each week and weigh regularly so you can see your progress with Rosie. good on you for doing this it will definately help with the joints and make her a happier, healthier dog. I wish someone would do it for me :lol:

My Sophie is a big girl like Rosie. She has been on a diet for months - only 1/2 cup food daily (two small meals) with a little fruit mixed in. Sophie was started on Previcox for her leg arthritis, which I know is exacerbated by her weight. I've had a really hard time trying to get her weight down even with daily walks. She would rather sit on my bed vs. a walk!! How odd that Rosie and Sophie are both rubies too - maybe something in their genes leading to a bigger physique.

Sheri

Suzanne,

I know it sounds mean but you really do have to get Rosie's weight down. Maxx kept gaining weight even when he was eating the RD diet from the Vets :roll: He has two good walks a day and also at least an hours playtime with us as well as attention almost all day long.

Eventually, I put him on Burns dried food and now he has 30g twice a day. A tsp of organic fat free yogurt at teatime (to conceal his tablets!!!!) and his snacks are usually raw vegatables though he does have a James wellbeloved Mini Jack twice a day from his Daddy and the weekly pizzle stick to keep his teeth clean. He has lost his excess weight and now has so much more energy and is far healthier too :~)

If I can help you with support or anything then just email or PM me - I know what it's like to really struggle with them when you are doing everything you can. Oh yeah and make sure that Rosie hasn't got a 'secret feeder' as well!

Everyone denied feeding Maxx tidbits until we came back from the Vets one day and my youngest was really upset when the practice owner said that whoever was feeding Maxx on snacks was killing him! We got in the house and Geraint immediately started to shout at his Dad and older brother saying that they were murdering his dog....

Hubby then admitted to giving Maxx buttered toast in the mornings :roll: He'd been dnying it to me for months and I couldn't understand why Maxx just wasn't losing and I was looking an idiot everytime we went for a weigh in!

Maxx is now at a good weight, I'd like him to lose a bit more but my Vet says he's absolutely fine and healthy, so, not to. I don't think Maxx wants to lose any more either - he sits and stares at me when I weigh his food out and gives me extremely accusing looks :lol:

Anyway, as I said, if you need any help..... and Good luck :flwr:

I don't know much this, but purhaps some other members would be more useful...but have you ever considered hydro therapy? It is a great way for them to get a workout and also to strengthen their legs without putting stress on the joints. I believe that I have seen a few pics on this site that could be helpful. I don't know if it would work with a patella though...