Katie, that EXACT thing happened to me as a child. some jerk was peeved about new deed restrictions and went around poisoning the neighborhood dogs. i remember being about 3 or 4 and my mother having to explain to me that some people are sick in their minds instead of their bodies. her name was Sheba.
flash forward about 15+ years, and i'm in the animal shelter, having a look-see because we've moved out of the dorm and into a house with a yard. there's a little sheltie, 3 cream-colored pups with her that she can't get a breather from. so i take her out to the exercise yard (i'd volunteered there before) to let her roam. she walked away a couple of steps, U-turned, and hopped right in my lap. it was all over, girl was going home with me. and the name on her card was the same as the dog that was taken from me when i was a wee one.
pacanis, i'm a vet, so it's pretty easy for me to obtain things to try out, and to be able to judge how well they're working. when the arthritis *first* showed up, cosequin (a glucosamine/chondroitin joint supplement) worked quite well for a year or so. then, things got worse, and i added meloxicam (brand name is metacam), which is a really top-notch NSAID (the class of drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen). i swear that stuff does amazing things, i've seen it cover some pretty significant post-op pain no trouble. it's done wonders for about 2 years now, but it's time to move up again. this last week, i added tramodol, which is a medium-weight opioid drug (same class as morphine, but not as powerful, doesn't make her sleepy). definite results so far, but not the same magic turn-around as the meloxicam originally produced.
that's the best pic i ever took of her, shot in the back yard about a year ago. she looks all noble there.
