I have not been here for a while and Orlando has held his own. He has been on Vetoryl for 6 years now and his readings have been encouraging....but he will be 14 if he is still here on December 10. A few weeks ago his personal vet found a lump in one anal gland. We were referred to the Animal Specialty Group on LA where they did his melanoma treatment. We went and ran all preliminary testing which showed no metastases in any imaging or other testing but did reveal that the mass is very small and cannot be biopsied, so removal was suggested. As time has gone on, he has aged, certainly, and has been challenged with mobility. We added Tramadol and Rimadyl to his regimen and he seemed to feel so much better and was able to move a little easier, relatively to the fact that he is an old, heavy dog who has been affected by the missing toe.

I hesitated on the surgery, but never made a decision. Today I planned to decide what to do but last night he suddenly could not get up. One front leg is affected by the loss of the toe and the stress that has put on his shoulder, but suddenly he could not get his back legs to work. Since then, I have been lifting him with a harness and supporting him when he walks. He is very stiff, cannot squat, cries for me when he needs to get up if I have not gotten him up before that, can stand on the legs but will only walk a few feet. He could not step up on a curb this morning when I took him out. Is rear end limb failure or involvement a sign that the Cushings is running its course? We used Dasuquin and Cosequin for a long time until it seemed as if it had done nothing but failed to relieve the pain he was in. I have used Adequan on other dogs; is that a possibility. I hate to say it, but my GSD before him had degenerative myelopathy and despite having no use of his rear legs he was easier to manage and struggling less than Orlando is now. At this point I am not going to proceed with the surgery. He is very sensitive to pain and between that and the new mobility issue along with 2 hours of anesthesia I just don't think that he will be able to run the gauntlet.