Grey Matters

When you share your life with an animal companion, planning for your loved one’s short- and long-term care is imperative. They are counting on you to assure their care no matter what. The older your pet is, the more they need a plan for future care. 

If we at Thulani ever forget why we do what we do, it only takes a message like this to remind and reinvigorate us. And to remember to thank all of you generous donors who make this work possible.

Since this entire blog series has been all about pain in dogs, our last discussion needs to be about what drugs are available to manage pain. Most of these you may be familiar with, but there are two important concepts that I want you to take away.

We have owned dogs for more than 46 years, and for 36 years we’ve had more than one at a time. Every dog owner knows the deep grief and mourning that takes place after a beloved pet passes away, a loss that often takes place when a tough decision is made for compassionate euthanasia. 

My grandmother’s dog Mickey, a whippet-chihuahua mix, has the personality of a bouncer and the plump, muscular build of a chicken breast with legs. My grandmother Binkie has a fragile build—knobby joints and slender wrists—suited to her 90 years. They are an unusual and somehow perfectly suited pair. 

This blog series began with a discussion of signs of joint pain in your dog and the concept of a “The Pain Trial.” Now we’re going to focus on what we can do to help our dogs. The first thing most people think about when they want to help their dog’s joints is glucosamine. Why is this? 

In my first two blog post here on the Grey Matters Blog we discussed simple signs for you to look for to potentially identify if your dog has joint pain or not. We then introduced the concept of “The Pain Trial,” which all dog owners should know about and be able to discuss with their veterinarian. I have listed these posts for easy reference, in case you missed them.

In my last post here on the Grey Matters Blog, I described the “Silent Signs” dogs show us that they are potentially dealing with chronic pain specifically related to their joints or spine. We discussed that it is critical for us, as pet parents, to change our perception of pain when it comes to our dogs and actually LEARN HOW TO LISTEN to them differently than we do now. The truth is that most dogs don’t cry, whine, or whimper when dealing with chronic pain. 

As pet parents we’ve all most likely been in situations where our dogs have gotten hurt.  Whether you accidentally tripped over your dog or stepped on their paw carelessly, you’ve probably heard your dog let out a quick yelp or cry and run off. Was it pain or fear? Either way how did you feel in that moment? Does the word horrible come to mind! 

Foster Pet Outreach is a Peoria, Illinois-based rescue focused on promoting the well-being of animals in their community. In their grant application to Grey Muzzle, they wrote, “Our problem is that we don’t adopt out enough senior dogs!” A grant from Grey Muzzle will change that. With Grey Muzzle’s support, Foster Pet Outreach has created a Senior Dog Program dedicated to finding forever homes for a greater number of senior dogs.