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Xan

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    Happy's X-rays

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Melissa, did it affect Buddy like that? Lameness on one side, worse in the rear? The vet mentioned Wobbler's, and I looked it up (here and elsewhere), but didn't feel like it was a good fit for her symptoms. She doesn't look confused about how to walk, or knuckling under at all. She doesn't WANT to put full weight on that back foot, and is careful how she turns, etc.. The front foot, she only limps on it after she has a tear around, and only occasionally, then. I've only actually seen her pull that foot up maybe twice, and DH once. Like you would if you pulled a muscle, and just had to walk it off for a bit.

    Carrier's Progress

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    *It was just a sneeze-print. It was just a sneeze-print. It was just a sneeze-print!* :)

     

    Note to Carrier: Carpe diem, kiddo! Dig those holes, run ahead of your mom and grin back at her, feel the breeze flapping your lips, and the ground changing under your feet. You and your mom are living examples of "a life well-lived".

     

    :bighug

    Happy's X-rays

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    :blink:

    Well, mixed bag of possibilities.

    Let's start with the Cheerio. Radiologist (hereafter referred to as R :P ) says s/he's not too interested in it. Could be a "normal variation for a greyhound." I want to ask more about that, but we moved on... In the mean time, let's call that a cautiously excited yeay. :)

     

    R noticed her heart looked a bit large, but she was a racer: not worried there, either. :)

     

    The shoulder joint calcification also wasn't interesting to the R. No further thoughts there. :)

     

    The fusion in the tarsal joint: R thought it looked "relatively quiescent", meaning shouldn't be a source of pain or lameness. The vet disagreed to the extent that he observed that there was a distinct temperature difference there, and she clearly turns that foot out, and doesn't want to put full weight on it. So, a controversy, there. :blink:

     

    So, the big question comes last. R was "suspicious of a narrowing" in the C4-5 cervical gap, meaning there might be some pressure on the spinal cord there. The obvious risk is that it might rupture at some point, if there is a significant and degenerative issue there. Symptoms could include lameness on the same side, a degree worse in the rear, which does approximate her problem. :/

     

    We're to try a 10 day trial of a low dose of Rimadyl twice a day. If she shows improvement, it's probably the hock bothering her, because the neck problem would take much more to affect it.

     

    Histopathology was not in on the rash, so we're still waiting to hear about that. Poor old gal!

     

    Well, at least the Cheerio chant seems to have worked! :D

    Kia

    in Remembrance

    Posted

    Oh Nancy! :bighug :bighug

    You are definitely in my thoughts and heart. Your family's loss is much bigger than one-dog-size. :(

     

    I'm going to sit here for a moment, and picture her running like in the picture, on the Beach over the Bridge. ....

    :bighug

    Penny - Ea's Shadow

    in Remembrance

    Posted

    Oh .... :( I've got tears just streaming down my face.

    What a sweet farewell to a sweet darling gal.

     

    Huge hugs to you and the rest of her family and friends. She'll obviously be sorely missed.

    :bighug :bighug :bighug

    Happy's X-rays

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Yeah, who needs fencing or Master Bathrooms, right? That's what leashes and outhouses are for! :rolleyes:

     

    Thanks, y'all, for keeping up the chanting, etc!!

     

    She has two tiny stitches from the punch biopsy they did, and I didn't even notice them 'til last night! :blink: They must smart, but she hasn't made a peep or paid them any attention, so maybe not too bad. And, her appetite has NOT been affected! :D:lol

     

    I have to work in a noisy gym this afternoon, so if they call with the good news ;) I hope I can at least feel my phone vibrate!

    Happy's X-rays

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Sorry Xan! All the little "miseries" add up. :( Keep us posted.

     

    I am about to learn a lot more on that joint fusing surgery. It would be the last ditch effort, and I was told it tends to have complications. It will be a couple weeks before I start the information digging on that. But if you would like, I will let you know what I find out when I find something out.

     

    We will think positive thoughts for Happy!

    Thanks. Sorry you're having to look into that at all! :( I can't see us doing this with Happy, though. After the vet described a bit of what would be involved, I kept thinking about Wabi, who gets along fine on basically three legs. {There isn't an emoticon to put the right spin on that statement - something like :eek + :rolleyes: + :unsure + :P +:( } When I said as much to the vet, he agreed that dogs "really do come with three and a spare."

    If you do go through with it, I wish you all the very most peaceful and medically uninteresting recovery and post-op life! :bighug :bighug

    Happy's X-rays

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    In my earlier thread, I described Happy's long list of possible old-lady issues (in brief: limping on both right legs, but especially the hind right, which had a broken hock some years ago; a skin rash on her sternum; a lump which turned out to be a fatty lipoma also on her sternum; corns on both left feet; and little pimple-like bumps coming and going here and there).

     

    Today, she went in to our wonderful new vet for x-rays and a biopsy on the rash. I figured he'd just do the two legs, but when I went to pick her up, he called me into an exam room and showed me something like a dozen radiographs! :eek He didn't want to get too specific before the radiologist had a chance to go over them, but he showed me several things, at least one of which he wouldn't have seen if he'd done the 2 I had imagined.

     

    She has some kind of over-growth or extra structure in BOTH scapulas that he thinks might be some calcification, and might explain the front leg limp (although the limp is only on the side with the smaller growth - maybe still active/more painful?). There was a "fuzziness" in the little spur bone that sticks out behind the "wrist" which might also explain that limp, possibly from a chronic tendon injury.

     

    The back leg is interesting in that several of the tarsal bones are fusing themselves! There's some inflammation you can see in the bones, too. He says, it will hurt 'til the fusing is complete, which could be a long time. Fusing them surgically is an operation fraught with complications in dogs, and he doesn't like to consider it unless it's a last-ditch effort to save the leg.

     

    Now for the third thing. He went looking at the spine, considering there might be some spinal complication to explain both limps, and found a mystery-thing on/in her lung.

     

    A thing in her lung.

     

    A non-lung thing in her lung.

     

    :(

     

    He said, it has what looks like "an air hole" in it, as if it might be something inflaming one air passage, and "that's better than a solid thing." He wouldn't say more until after the radiologist looked at it.

     

    We won't know more 'til Wednesday. *CHANTING CALMLY: Eh, it's just a cheerio! She'll cough it up and be fine! Legs are just a bit stiff, nothing a little extra glucosamine won't fix! Eh, it's just a cheerio! She'll cough it up and be fine! Legs are just a bit stiff, nothing a little extra glucosamine won't fix! Eh, it's just a cheerio! She'll cough it up and be fine! Legs are just a bit stiff, nothing a little extra glucosamine won't fix! Eh, it's just a cheerio! She'll cough it up and be fine! Legs are just a bit stiff, nothing a little extra glucosamine won't fix! Eh, it's just a cheerio! She'll cough it up and be fine! Legs are just a bit stiff, nothing a little extra glucosamine won't fix! .....*

    Getting Pills Into A Smart Little Spitfire?

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    I've been pretty lucky with getting mine to take pills by just tossing them in when they were excited about a whole string of treats-for-tricks games. Especially with more than one dog (competition is our friend!), they are just grabbing the treat so fast they don't even know what it is until it's gone. You might see a funny look on her face for a second as it registers, "Hey ... that wasn't a bikky/kitty kibble/popcorn!" but then she'll be vying to get the next one in the series. ;)

     

    Alternatively, again, just stuff, clamp, wait for the swallow, and follow with something yummy.

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