AstasMinion

Oh, poor baby Lando! Asta had Giardia about a year and a half ago, and it took 2 rounds of meds. Hope your pup gets well FAST!

I am so very sorry.

Turns out the vet did have LS in mind during yesterday's exam (she just didn't mention it by name to me). Asta passed her neurological exam. And one of the things the radiologist might recommend after reading the X-rays could be a dye test with repeat X-rays. The additional meds have caused some improvement in Asta's mobility, so that is a relief, at least for right now. Will keep pursuing answers.

I agree w/the advice to get it checked out. Feel better, Lando!

Thanks much for the tip, Jan — to my knowledge, the vet did not check for that, but I'll definitely ask her about it. We're talking again on Saturday (assuming we get through tomorrow okay.) She added Methocarbamol and Tramadol to the Rimadyl Rx from yesterday. On the X-rays: The vet thought everything looked normal but that there was one spot where the space between vertebrae was narrower than the others. To me, they looked to be barely touching, but the vet thought it could also just be that Asta had moved. A radiologist will look at the X-rays in the next few days and offer his opinion. So will the vet we've been referred to for acupuncture. Meanwhile, I will be keeping Asta on strict rest.

Well, shoot. Asta's limp has gotten much more pronounced. It's the worst when she first gets up, and it really tones down after a bit of walking around, but then she just gets very, very wobbly. It's not just one-sided anymore — her whole back end seems affected. She couldn't even stand for her breakfast this morning, poor baby. Thankfully, though, she was hungry enough to eat some of it from her bed. Amazingly, she seems in good spirits and wanted to do her play-mouth thing when I was petting her earlier. So, as soon as I get out of my all-afternoon work thing, we're heading back to the clinic for X-rays. I blocked her doggy door and the stairs to the basement, although I don't think she would voluntarily use either one today. Trying to keep my worry in check.

Sending more good vibes for Sutra. Glad he is feeling better, and here's hoping that referral vet has called you by now!!!

Well, we're back, and by the time we went this afternoon, the limp was much less noticeable. The vet gave a thorough exam and found nothing unusual with the foot Asta had been protecting (meaning she couldn't see or feel anything wrong), but Asta was still not wanting that foot handled. The vet also found that Asta is experiencing pain at the base of her tailbone, which was news to me. She said that could trigger one-sided lameness — and so could a hairline fracture — so because I reported a marked improvement from yesterday to today, she sent us home with Rimadyl and strict rest orders, and we will watch what happens in the next few days . . .

What a precious-looking girl you have there. This must be so hard.

All kinds of great advice from those much more experienced than I, but I wanted to chime in to send hugs to your sweet brood girl!! Hoping you can get some answers that lead to a fix. And good luck w/the food games. Our girl is a food-fuss, and I second the stinky cat food suggestion.

Thanks for the good thoughts! The limp is still there but better this morning, and Asta is keeping herself down. Since breakfast, she's been holed up in her "alone room," aka our dark, quiet, and remote guest room, taking it very easy. (Normally she works with me in my office or cashes out in the family room right outside the office so she can keep an eye and ear on things.) The vet is fitting us in late this afternoon to take a good look. Hoping it's really nothing!

Okay, it's been another 15 minutes, and she has finally settled waaayyy down and stopped popping up to show me her bad limp. Will definitely follow up w/her vet in the morning, though.

Asta suffered a bad back sprain in November and has re-aggravated that twice since then. She's been doing very well since the last time 2 months ago on a much-reduced activity plan, no car rides (unless absolutely necessary), and so on. Well, tonight at 6 pm when I called her for dinner, she started whining from another part of the house (and not coming). When I got to her, she was limping and clearly having trouble with one paw. Her mobility looks very different from the problems she has with the back sprain, and a thorough check of her paws = the back left paw hurts but is free from scrapes, thorns/rocks, and any visible injury. By 7 pm her hobbling had gotten worse, and I gave her one of the spare Tramadol the vet gave us in case of after-hours bad back stuff. That worked immediately and quickly took away her limp, but now every time she gets up, it's clear she's having trouble moving around and the limp has returned. Wondering if I should take her in tonight to the emergency clinic . . . or if it's fine to wait for morning. She'll have to go outside one more time before bed, but I'm hoping she'll stay relatively calm/stay down for the night after that. The main thing worrying me, though, is that the limp came back — and worse — after the pain medication took effect. Does that sound normal, or not normal?

Oh no! Sending good thoughts for your baby.

Thanks, boondog. Sounds like acupuncture has been wonderful for your pup! I've actually used it myself (and loved it), so I'm looking forward to seeing how it works for Asta. I like the sound of keeping her off meds as much as possible and also that you're having success with not TOO frequent treatments.

Thanks for the thoughts, Robin! I'm not so sure I'd go for chiro either. The on-call vet mentioned that she'd seen some good results with it, but she and I mostly talked about acupuncture and massage as the most likely avenues to pursue. Good to know you saw improvement with acu!

Just sitting here with my cutie-pie Asta, who had to go to the e-vet in the wee hours this morning. This was her third trip for the same sprain since November. She'd made such great strides since her last visit just after the New Year. In the past 2 or 3 weeks especially, she's been clearly feeling stronger and spunkier. But something happened while I was out on errands and my husband was mowing the yard yesterday (no doubt because she felt so good!). It's impossible to know what triggered things, but we saw that she was hurting late in the afternoon and it got steadily worse through the night. I got up with her at 4:00, and she could barely move, so off to the vet's we went. She's back on a course of pain, anti-inflammatory, and muscle-relaxant meds --- and we'll do at least 30 days of restricted activity. She was SO brave at the vet's as they poked and prodded and twisted to figure out exactly where the pain is. Her legs were stable (though I reported that the back ones gave out on her right before I called to say we were coming), her neck was just fine, and the pain seems to all be in her spine, from about midway to her bottom. Anyway, I'll be calling a couple of local vets who do alternative therapies to see about acupuncture, massage (hoping for something I could do), etc., to help relieve pain and speed recovery . . . one that's more complete, we hope. Our vet doesn't think Asta is "down for the count," as far permanently restricting activity level goes. At almost 9, though, I'm guessing we won't get her back to quite where she was before the first sprain, though. Willing to try anything for the furbaby!! I'd love to hear any experiences with acupuncture, PT, or chiropractic care to treat a sprain.

My first thought was ingrown hair, too.

Sending more healing thoughts for your pup. Sounds like you're making good progress in getting the answers you need. Take care!

We often call Asta "Little Miss Marker" on walks. She really goes to town when we take a neighborhood route she hasn't been on in a while. Also, in the last couple of years, she seems to do more precise aiming, kinda like a boy.

Does he respond to "No" yet? That's what we used in Asta's earlier days when she was way too jumpy.

She has been checked out by the vet recently, and we talked about the collar thing. Should have mentioned that. I have never made her yelp or done anything to hurt her!! I feel certain it's a behavior thing, and so that's why I've been wondering about training for it.

Well, she has without doubt learned that we're taking that attitude on this point. It's so funny, though, because she typically wants to do whatever she thinks we want her to do. Not sure if this is her terrible twos phase (6 years late) or the onset of puberty. But we do know she's obviously "testing" and winning. Ha! Good question about the leash. If that goes on under normal circumstances, she responds right away. If it goes on because she's not responding to the collar, she will not respond to that either. I will definitely try moving her collar as you suggested, and will likely also try treating her if I'm able to pull her up right away for some odd reason! Thanks for the suggestions!

Thanks for sharing your experience, MyBoys!

Asta has zero interest in bananas, apples, carrots, or pumpkin. She likes occasional greens, though: brocolli, green beans, peas, spinach.