mareyeka

great news about the standing, good thoughts for the wound. Glad you got to speak to someone and get the straight news.

waiting for an update. I hope all goes well.

Well, he had to be anti-inflammatory free for 24 hours so Oscar got his first dose of prednisone this evening. Because of a car breakdown, I couldn't go to the pharmacy to get his meds but I happen to have the same dosage (50 mg) of prednisone on hand for my migraines, so, now we not only share pain killers (he's taking my tramacet now since he is off the rimadyl), he's taking my prednisone. He gets 25 mg morning and night for one week, and then 25 mg per day for a month. I wonder if this can cause personality changes in dogs like it can for humans? Prednisone is a nasty, nasty drug, albeit a life saver for many. He's also on pepcid for his stomach. He has lost a lot of weight, even my husband see it. We're hoping the prednisone will stimulate his appetite, yet another side effect of the drug. We'll see. He has an appointment to see his vet next week, although if things get worse, we can always bring him in earlier. Let's hope this works because he seems to be fading a bit. A little less happy, a little less bouncy, a little less everything.

wonderful news!

Thank you for posting this. I have emailed Dr. Couto to tell him that his group is receiving a portion of the proceeds from Oscar's book and posts like this really make me glad I made that choice. Lots of good thoughts being sent Bodie's way.

I spoke with the vet this morning, we're taking Oscar off the anti-inflammatories and starting him on a corticosteroid, but he has to be off the anti-inflammatories for 24 hours first. I do have the Tramadol for him to tide him over if he's in a lot of pain.

Thanks folks. I'm waiting for the vet to call me back. He's been in surgery all morning and I imagine he's pretty busy right now.

Thanks, I found one last Gas X but it took a lot of convincing before Oscar would take it. He's got no appetite. I'm calling the vet as soon as the office opens. We changed his food recently because he wasn't eating the other any more and he was vomiting a lot. He did well with the change. This doesn't appear to be food related, although that is possible, for sure. Yes, he has pepcid. My dog is becoming quite the pharmaceutical representative.

I know I joked about this in another post, but Oscar's gas is really really bad. Way worse than any I've ever smelled from a dog, and it's non-stop. He's farting every couple of minutes. It's nauseating and I don't know what to do about it short of locking him in another room and I can't/won't do that. Please, is there anything other than yogurt that I can give him?

I'm in tears right now because he's in so much pain. He's been doing really well for the past week and a half. We were doing short walks and he was picking up speed and really doing much, much better. He wasn't feeling very well today with his upset stomach but it is quite a bit cooler here today so since his harness arrived, I thought I'd take him for one of our ten minute walks. Half way around the block, he couldn't walk any farther. Of course, stupid me, I forgot my cell phone and couldn't call DH to come get us. *No one* was around to ask to call for me. I managed to get him to walk another half a block when he froze solid. Couldn't walk at all. I tried nudging him and you could just see that he was in agony. I sat on the curb and let him stand, figuring he'd get enough energy to move a bit, but after 20 minutes, nothing. No-one walked by, a few cars went by but that was it. I was on the corner of a house where I do know the people, the dad was the baseball coach who hit the line drive into my son's forehead a few years ago. But, I couldn't get oscar to even go that far. I finally took a chance, figuring he couldn't run and dropped his leash to run to the front door. Oscar didn't move. He did try to move one leg but stopped. The man called DH for me and offered to drive us home but DH came to get us. At one point, it looked like the man and DH would have to pick up Oscar to get him to the car, but he finally walked over. He had no trouble jumping in and, although he didn't look comfortable, he could jump out. I just gave him two of his tramadols but I'm so upset and discouraged that he had this happen. He was really looking like he was improving.

Thanks folks. Yes, he does pant a lot, more than most greys I've met. Never sure if it's pain or not. Silly pup.

I took Oscar for a very short walk this evening. He'd had his rimadyl about 3 hours before and a dose of tramacet a bit earlier. About 11 houses worth of distance (we were on our way back), he stopped to sniff some grass and then wouldn't move any more. His head was bent down a bit, scary looking if you didn't know him. I'm used to him stopping like that so I usually wait a moment and then say very cheerfully, "ok buddy! time to get moving," and start walking. Didn't work today as it didn't last week when I knew he was in pain. But what made me really worry was that he was standing stock still and his nose began to drip - a sure sign of stress. The only stress that he would have been under was pain. I called DH with my cell to come and get us but just as he answered the phone, Oscar began walking on his own and we made it home. Do you think that was pain or just something that he did/does?

bumped because of update in the original post.

Well, we're going back to the original greyhound-savvy vet tomorrow. It will be a tight fit timewise as I have to bring my dd to the airport to the north and then we have to go an hour to the south with Oscar. Ah, how nice it is to be needed. This vet is going to follow Dr. Couto's medication protocol suggestion of tramadol and a few other meds combined. On one hand, Oscar seems a lot happier and better (jumping, that one run in the back yard), but he still seems to be in pain and can't walk far. So, we'll see what this dr says as he saw Oscar at his worst two weeks ago. Thanks for all the good thoughts for the O-man. He's my sweetie, for sure. Saturday afternoon update: We went to see our new vet - what a nice man. Of course he's nice, he has two of his own greyhounds. He could see that Oscar still has a pronounced limp on the left side but he was significantly better from two weeks before. He still has difficulty turning the head completely to the left and resisted it but not as badly as before. In his opinion, it's very unlikely it's cancer, he said that it had crossed his mind but if it had been, it would have been the very fast moving one and Oscar would have gone downhill very quickly. It is more likely that this is a chronic disc injury that he may have had when he came to us. I have always said, from the very beginning, that Oscar had a bit of an odd walk with his front paws. Anyway, we have switched to Dr. Couto's recommended protocol for this type of injury, tramadol/anti-inflammatory/pepcid. We can to to a steroid if needed down the road. It's not going to be cheap for the medication, but we'll do what we have to do. Oh, and that day that Oscar was in such severe pain? That was the evening after he saw the vet and now the vet thinks that the pain was from the manipulation of his neck when he was checking him that morning. So, as soon as we came into the house, I gave Oscar one of my Tramacet, which is the same thing as Tramadol but with acetomeniphen and the dr okayed that. I didn't want Oscar to suffer like he did that night. So, now I'll order the harness, get him his meds and we'll get past this thing. Surgery will likely be in his future down the road if the disc deteriorates to the point that he is in too much pain or can't function, but for now, it looks like medical intervention is all we need. Fingers and paws crossed. Thanks so much every one. I pray that others with sick or hurting hounds that they get the same wonderful care that Oscar is now getting. (by the way, I had forwarded my email conversation with Dr. Couto to the vet and he was very happy to now have a contact for Dr. Couto. He said that he would be in touch with him for sure as he has about 45 greyhounds in his practice. Everything happens for a reason.)

That's what I was thinking but then I feel even more guilty because he's been doing that horking and retching for quite a while now. Oh boy...

Poor piper.

Oscar has been on the Rimadyl for a week now and there is a tremendous improvement. He's almost back to his old self although he still can't handle walks. What I have noticed though, and this is significant I think, is that since he has been on the Rimadyl, he has not vomitted, retched, gagged or horked once, when he did on a regular basis before. Interesting.

We're looking good. Oscar's been on the Rimadyl for four days now and there's a significant improvement. He bounces around the house just like before. He can't walk far and still cant go beyond the middle of our crescent without freezing and then his nose dripping. :-( But, he's a lot more comfortable, I think. I've been in contact with Dr. Couto and he gave me some suggestions, which I will present to the vet next week. We're holding off on the MRI right now because the cost vs benefit isn't there. Three vets have told me that the MRI might not show anything so I'd rather use the money to get him seen by an osteopath instead. I looked into the holistic and accupuncture, but there isn't anything available in my area, unfortunately. The closest is on Ottawa, which is over a 2 hour drive away. Not impossible, if it's needed though. In my opinion, the improvement with the anti-inflammatory lowers the possibility of this being a nerve sheath tumour. Thanks for all the positive thoughts.

oh dear.

thanks for the suggestions. I'm waiting for a call back from the specialist for a time. may be quite a wait though, especially since it's summer. I'll look into the holistic vets fromliz though. Thanks.

back from yet another vet visit. Last night after a very short walk, Oscar froze and could't move to get home. By the time we did get home, I'd say his pain level was a good 9/10, it was that bad. X-rays today showed nothing definitive and the vet said it could be anything from root compression to a nerve sheath tumor. MRI here is very expensive and might not show anything anyway. I have his rimadyl which seems to be helping as he is much more comfortable now. I'll just sit here and slowly go nuts....

Oh no. We're thinking about him.

Despite my many visits to my regular vet who kept assuring me that Oscar was just fine, Oscar is not just fine. We went to a new vet this morning and he took one look at Oscar and said "there's definitely something wrong." The front limp is stiffness being caused by a problem in his spine just below the shoulders. He's been in pain for quite some time. It appears that it *might* be a previous injury that flared up. I remember a year ago thinking there was something neurological going on and I took him in, but the vet said he was fine. Then he was fine, but this seemed to happen again a few weeks ago. Went away, and now it's bad. The dr didn't take x-rays because he wants me to go to an ortho specialist and he didn't feel that I should have to pay for his x-rays and then have the ortho do them again. He gave me three numbers to call so I could get Oscar in to the first available slot. Oscar got a shot of anti-inflammatory and a prescription for tablets for seven days. He's lost some weight, down to 80 from 83, but that could have been our major walks up to this past week. I am allowed to take him for short walks, but he's not allowed to run. He must hve been in quite a bit of pain since April, because that is the last time we remember him whipping around the back yard, but we didn't notice that he wasn't. It better just be a joint issue that can be taken care of and not the more serious alternative. Off to make the appointment now.

oh no. I'm so sorry.