Carrie-girl's Neck/shoulder Bothering Her

[dmswartzfager]

Brian told me that Carrie was very restless this morning - he stayed home a little later than I so he could take Blitz to his eye check-up (BTW, seems to be healing okay) - and then she was restless again when we got home this evening. She also wasn't following us around and demanding to be petted or scratched. She was carrying her head low and also didn't want to put weight on her right front leg. I called Dr. Patty, who said she would suggest neck and leg X-rays for her.

 

Well, Dr. Patty is house-call-only right now and doesn't have an X-ray machine, so I took Carrie down to our former place of employment. Dr. Jim didn't want to do X-rays because it was about an hour after closing, but he did give Carrie a shot of torb and dispensed tramadol and told us to increase her dosage of Deramaxx. We're also scheduled to drop her off on Wednesday for X-rays so they can knock her out if they have to.

 

It's unknown what might've caused her pain. Right now, she's sacked out on a bed - Brian just brought her some bread. Mmm. She just got up - clearly still uncomfortable (and/or whacked out from the torb). Guess I'll see if she would like some dinner, and then I'll tuck her into bed.

[RobinM]

Do you know how this happened or is it out of the blue?

 

Hope it's nothing but a sore muscle.

[CaliforniaGreys]

I hope she feels better! I know Torb knocks my guys out. I remember Tanner waking me in the middle of the night crying and pacing holding his head so low he was almost touching the floor. He had really hurt his neck and after 10 days of Torb, and Metacam the vet suggested acupuncture which really helped him. I also used to masage his neck and back with Traumeel gel and that really helped as well.

[dmswartzfager]

Do you know how this happened or is it out of the blue?

 

Hope it's nothing but a sore muscle.

 

Out of the blue.

 

Yeah, Dr. Patty and I are thinking about "it" as a possibility, which is why we want the radiographs done. But I'm hopeful that it is just a pinched nerve or something.

 

Carrie's sort of under the care of an acupuncture vet - she gets herbals, but we haven't poked her more than once or twice because the herbals do a pretty good job by themselves, and now that I'm a grad student, I'm poor. But if we need to start poking her again, we can do so.

[iluvgreys]

Hopefully the x-rays will be negative for "it" and her discomfort will resolve quickly. Sending lots of good thoughts and healing energy to your Carrie girl.

[Lilysmom]

Hope you're feeling better sweetie.

 

Deanna, give her some lovins from Auntie Karen please.

[RobinM]

keep us posted. We are sending our continued prayers.

[dmswartzfager]

She seemed to feel a little better this morning. Still not following us around like she normally does, but her ears were up, and her head was up a little, though she still looks hunched over. She did have a little bit of an eargasm, which she wasn't doing last night. She ate some bread, turned her nose up at the first canned food I offered her, ate a couple bites of kibble, and then finally ate a different can. (I keep different varieties of canned food around for just this reason - pickiness.)

 

I'm going to *try* to go home as soon as I can to keep an eye on her, but I need to meet with my lab supervisor to talk about my proposal first. Cell Bio II starts today 4-6, but I think I will ask someone to take notes for me so I can head home.

[dmswartzfager]

Radiographs appear to show a compression between C6 and C7 (cervical vertebrae - right in her shoulder blade area). I took the X-rays with me and I'll have Dr. Patty take a look at them this evening to get her thoughts as well. Bloodwork looks great (they did it in case they had to sedate her for the radiographs, which they did not).

 

Carrie is feeling more like herself. We're to continue the higher Deramaxx dosage for the rest of the week (she's on a maintenance dose for arthritic issues) and will also give her Tramadol for about a month. When I spoke on the phone to Patty earlier, she suggested a harness; I'll chat with her more about that when she sees the radiographs.

 

So, breathing a huge sigh of relief here.

 

Carrie says, thank you all, now where's my breakfast?

 

 

[ozgirl2]

Sounds good so far... hopefully you can find things that help... and the acu probably would too... Maybe us MDers can do a mini-auction for Carrie-girl's acupuncture!!

[crazygang]

She's such a pretty girl. Get well very soon Carrie....

[CaliforniaGreys]

She's such a pretty girl, glad she's feeling at least a little better. I had to switch to a harness as well. Lots of continued good thoughts for Carrie

[Lilysmom]

Sounds good so far... hopefully you can find things that help... and the acu probably would too... Maybe us MDers can do a mini-auction for Carrie-girl's acupuncture!!

 

 

count me in!!!!!!

 

 

glad Carrie is doing better.

[Batmom]

Fingers crossed that the meds help her!

 

She is such a beautiful girl.

[dmswartzfager]

She's back to her normal feisty self. Patty does not agree with Dr Jim's assessment and thinks it was more of a soft tissue/neck tweaking thing. Patty did spot some vertebrae starting to fuse further down her spine and suggested I talk to the acupuncture vet to see if that might change the herbals Carrie is taking. I forgot to ask more about the harness thing, but Patty is coming over on Saturday to do Carrie's rabies vaccine and some other things for Symbra and Blitz - I'll ask her then.