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Old September 6th, 2011, 03:26 AM
elenaforever elenaforever is offline
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Location: Moscow< Russia
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How to choose orthopedic bed for dog, advise pls!

Hello! Please help me choose good orthopedic bed for my dog.
My dog ​​has problems with back ( 8 y.o.golden retriever- spondylosis spinal and dysplasia and osteoarthritis of the elbow),
the doctor advised to buy orthopedic bed for him .
But it`s so difficult to choose ... a lot of options.
Who faced a similar problem - advise, please, what bed is better?
Thanks in advance!
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  #2  
Old September 6th, 2011, 06:13 AM
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Melinda Melinda is offline
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I have a 6 1/2 yr old lab/shepherd, she had to have knee surgery in January past, just before her surgery I bought her a Kuranda bed...,she loves it, when she raises she steps "down" from the bed, it keeps her off the cold hard floor and is sooo easy to clean.
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Old September 6th, 2011, 08:02 AM
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renegaderuby renegaderuby is offline
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Yes, there are certianly alot of options. Some of which are extremely pricey.
Being that I have a bed shredder, I have seen the "insides" of many orthopedic beds, and I get miffed at how much they charge for whats basically a large peice of foam.
I finally decided that enough was enough and I purchased a ROLL of the foam (has indintations like an egg carton), from walmart, Cut it into the appropriate size, thickness (i use two peices on top of one another because ruby has a bad back)....and put them inside two zippered pillow cases.
Roll of foam : ten bucks.
Pillow case : dollar store purchase.

Wha la!

Has helped her tremendously..and when the bed shredder attacks...I just make her a new one.

PS: being that you have a big dog, I'd do the same above steps, except for instead of pillow case (which wouldnt be large enough)...get some cute print (or solid if you prefer) material off the sale rack at your local store, and just make a cover. It's fairly easy. If you cannot do it yourself...loads of seniors would "love" projects to keep them busy at assisted living facility. Just give them the measurments, and they'd likely enjoy themselves. Your pup would have a "custom" bed. and it would STILL cost half a much less than in stores.
As for washing. I just take the cases off, take it outside, poor some dish liquid on it, rinse it out with the hose, let it dry in the sun, and put the covers in the wash. Then put it back together.
It comes clean, holds no odor , and is so far durrable.

Last edited by renegaderuby; September 6th, 2011 at 05:21 PM.
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Old September 6th, 2011, 08:24 AM
Longblades Longblades is offline
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Honestly, I think the term "orthopedic" connected to dog beds is a scam. Dogs lie every which way on their beds so those extra support zones that go into our beds mean nothing. If it was me I'd look for a bed that provides some cushioning for her yet is not so soft she has a hard time getting up off it. High enough off the floor to protect from chill in winter yet low enough to get on and off easily. Big enough to really stretch out on. Easily removed and washed cover.

In our bedroon we have a big "drop and flop" the kind filled with styrofoam beads. It's on the third dog and they all find it much too hot in summer and won't lie on it. It does nicely conform to their shape for coziness in colder weather. Both the cover and the beads can be washed but the beads shrink. You can buy new beads. Our ESS, the dog I bought it for, had incontinence so it needed to be washed often.

Our other bed is a hunk of foam rubber out of an old camper bed. It's about 30" by 40" by 4" thick and our 67 lb Lab fills it when he lies on his side. He finds it too hot in summer too. It is quite firm. I made a washable cover for it and usually drape a towel over that as well.

Both these beds were fine for our Lab girl with spinal spondylosis and invertebral disk disease and the foam rubber was free.
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Old September 7th, 2011, 02:51 AM
elenaforever elenaforever is offline
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thanks for your answer! I looked on the internet a lot of beds, at first I liked the bed of "integrity dog bedding" -
I thought that the bed is high enough and the foam is good, but then I read reviews and decided to look further.
I found the article where it mentioned Orvis bed. I looked Orvis bed - I think they are very good, although they are quite expensive(!!!). That's why I decided to ask here - what bed is better...
--------------

Longblades!

I would like to ask you! - how you treated your dog?
My dog ​​has spondylosis spine too .
When I heard the diagnosis I was terribly upset((((, so I would like to ask you - how you help your dog? what are the prospects of such a disease?

We visited five of the best doctors in our city,
all the doctors said the same reason - age (although he is only 8 years old), and metabolism.
Spondylosis can not be cured, will continue to only get worse - the pain, fusion of the vertebrae (the vertebrae are already several grown together),
will become paralyzed legs (this has been a time in the spring).
Treatment - Rimadyl (to relieve pain and inflammation) and vitamins for joints.

I gave vitamins for joints Anivital Kaniagil, now I give Animal Naturals K9 Joint Strong, the more I give the antioxidant -selenium and I do homeopathic injections (German homeopathic Heel).
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  #6  
Old September 7th, 2011, 07:40 AM
Longblades Longblades is offline
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Our girl, a Lab, had an acute episode at age 12.5. Her vertebrae were not fused, but almost. Vet decided to treat pain and inflammation, which took a good two weeks. Surgery was an option but Vet preferred, at her age, to maintain as best we could with pain meds. Jet took Dexamethasone as well as glucosamine/Chondroitin/MSM. We had her on the G/C/MSM prior to her acute episode and if we missed a tablet in the morning it was evident that we had. In later life we had to increase the Dextabs and eventually go to something much stronger.

I had to very careful not to jar her back and stayed away from other dogs. One more acute episode and it would be surgery or PTS. In the meantime it was critical to maintain muscle support. We took shorter walks at a slower pace. No more skiing 10 km in little over an hour, which we had been doing at age 12. I cut her outing time in half to an hour. Then progressively shorter and shorter walks but more of them in a day. Key, for her I think, was walks in new places which perked her right up.

Jet became faecal incontinent. We are not sure if from neurological damage or from the pain meds. This was not too hard in the house, just pick the poopers up and throw them out. Urinary incontinence is much harder to deal with and messier for the house and the dog.

Jet was also increasingly deaf. I honestly think the deafness was the hardest on her. She could not hear me talking, she could only tell someone was approaching her by vibrations. I think her time of near silence was harder on her than the pain and lack of mobility caused by her back.

On her last walk Jet grabbed a stick, threw it up in the air, jumped to catch it and her face changed. I'm sure she twisted her back, I could see the hurt on her face. I had her PTS with me holding her two days after that. She was 14.5.

Good luck with your pup, he is so much younger. I hope that makes the possibilities better for you.
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Old September 11th, 2011, 06:50 PM
MaxaLisa MaxaLisa is offline
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My boy likes his air mattress, I don't recall who makes it or where I got it though. It's similar idea to the "bead bed" I also have a memory foam bed for him, but he only lays on that in the winter - too hot for him otherwise I think?

Supplements, acupuncture, and chiropractic can help with these issues, and also things like adequan or cartrophen, which are disease modifying. In addition to the supplements that LongBlade mentioned, cetyl myristoleate is also good, and make sure that there are no tick diseases that require something like doxycycline treatment. Swimming is very good too, if available, weather permitting!
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  #8  
Old September 12th, 2011, 11:37 AM
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flipgirl4 flipgirl4 is offline
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My sister-in-law bought crib mattresses for her dogs. She looked for orthopedic mattresses but didn't like the ones in the stores. She didn't like paying a ton of money for that stuff that looks like egg cartons. So she bought the baby mattresses. It was cute seeing two labs lying on these.mattresses. much more supportive than the dog beds.

Raspberries and cherries are good for inflammation as well. Obviously not as strong as medication but some natural support never hurts. They also contain antioxidants.
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