demismom

Thanks for the suggestion on TBD. I will push for that at the next vet visit.

My 3 yr old new-ish adoptee male does not like to be touched in the butt/tail area and does not like to have joints touched. What I mean by this is that I have difficulty getting his front legs in the arm holes of winter sweaters -- it's like his joints don't bend properly. And the more pressure I apply to bend the more upset he gets with what I'm doing. He will nip at my hands and then when I'm done, he'll lick his ankles. With the tail, I once moved his tail out of the way so that his greyhound sister could sit next to him and he bit me. In the face. Drew blood. Scared me so much I thought I might have to give him back to greyhound group. (Literally thought that for about a day. I then decided that I was his and he was mine and we would work it out together.) His tail isn't very bendy, is usually sticking out straight and I realized recently that I had never seen him wag his tail. . . . Odd. My other grey has helicopter tail and is generally a joy. She's the sweetest thing. I love them to pieces. I've mentioned this to the vet a few times and he said that my boy has signs of arthritis but didn't recommend that I do anything differently. For the record, they both still have hooks from Palm Beach. It's been very frustrating. He doesn't have any issues running or playing. Or getting in and out of the SUV. No issues jumping in/out of bed. No other medical issues that I'm aware of. My boy gets CBD oil that helps to manage his anxiety and behavior. Both get Omega 3+6, glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM. We have not had any X-rays or other diagnostics yet at this point. Blood tests are all within normal range. As an aside, when I scratch his pelvic/croup area he does this crazy movement with his back legs that makes it look like he's dancing. I can't tell if it's painful or if it's itchy and he's enjoying a good scratch. We've come a long way and he trusts that I'm not trying to hurt him so he'll let me scratch his backside without issue now. I just don't want him to be in any pain. Has anyone had issues like this? What could it be? Arthritis at 3???

Thank you very much for your replies. I just got off the phone with Dr. Jenifer Barker in Wisconsin. She asked me to call her after she received my email asking for a consultation. She said it was a pathologic fracture, clean break, clear as day and obvious. She could not fathom how the vet didn't see it. Then, she told me the pain meds were not close to being properly dosed. Because of her age and her back issues Dr. Barker said there was nothing to do but keep Demi comfortable tonight and take her in tomorrow morning to be put to sleep. Thanks for your time.

I'm new here -- actually never even posted to any forum before -- but my heart is just aching and I'm just so desperate for answers that I thought I would reach out. There's just so much information out there but I can't find exactly what I'm looking for. My Demi is 10.5 yrs old and I've had her since she was 22 months old. She's had regular greyhound issues like SLO and corns, etc. but relatively healthy. When she turned 8, she started to have hind-leg weakness so we just adjusted our daily walks, started an anti-inflammatory diet, and added plenty of glucosamine/msm/chondroitin. In January she had a stroke and that about almost killed me. She was lame, non-communicative (eyes were just glazed over -- you know the look), and dead weight. For 3 days I waited on her hand and foot and did anything I could think of to get her back -- water therapy, PT, massage, aspirin, repetitive speech, etc. If it worked for humans I assumed it would work for her. She was back to tip top shape at the end of 5 days. This past Friday, I took her out to the yard for potties and I turned my back for a fraction of a second to pick up the cat who apparently wanted to join us and I heard the scream -- the scream you never want to hear. And I just knew. Vet confirmed osteo in right shoulder. Gave me tramadol, gabapentin and rimadyl to keep her comfortable until we can sort things out. She's not putting any pressure on it and has spent much of this weekend immobile and panting despite my exacting dose schedule. The problem is that her shoulder is huge -- swollen with fluid building. What fluid? I'm not sure. She's a fawn and has always bruised easily but I'm not sure if she's bleeding out into the joint or if this is just edema. The swelling has spread up and down -- up into her chest and down to her wrist. I'm at a loss. And the on-call vet this weekend said -- without seeing her or knowing me -- to euthanize. I'm not a selfish person but I don't intend to simply give up. She's been peeing/pooping (with lots of help), eating (4 scrambled eggs with chicken this morning for breakfast and 3 smaller protein-based meals since), and drinking (actually lots of water . . . ). In addition to the rx meds, I've been giving her rescue remedy and yucca intensive. I've also been rubbing arnica gel on her -- which as far as I can tell has done nothing except mat up her fur . . . I have been elevating the leg (within reason) to see if it will drain. I haven't done compression or an ice pack. I asked the on-call vet about that and he just sighed and said no. ... Does anyone have any thoughts? What is this swelling and how can I decrease it? This a link to photos:https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iMaWcs6l6n9qL-3QeIW1WtgiUt6SEJFw I thought it would be better than trying to figure out how to post media. Thanks in advance.