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Weight Loss And Knuckling


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Myboy Levi, nearly 9 has had difficulty keeping the weight on for about a year. Recently it is almost impossible and he has lost a lot of weight. Blood work all clear and xrays. He has also started knuckling on both righ t feet and worn the nails down.

Vet has him on tramadol and steroids. He had a bad reaction to the anaethetic for the xray - up all night with him.

Any advice?

We have decided against putting him out again because he is so stressed by it and is now vet / car phobic. His is a whiney dog at the best of times so it is so hard to work out if he is really in pain or just upset. either way it's not nice for him or us. Started on low dose steriods.

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Magic has the problem with knuckling in his right-rear leg only. I think that it's a symptom of LS which from what I understand is diagnosed with an MRI. Magic's vet feels he may have some kind of neurological problem, possibly LS. As the vet puts it: "Magic's brain is telling his back end what to do but his back end isn't getting the message."

 

I hope Levi feels better soon. As someone here has said to me and others "aging isn't for the faint of heart."


Carol, missing Magic (1/5/01 - 4/15/15) but welcoming Fuzzy's Joy Behar (Joy) into my life on 5/31/15.

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I would get a neurology consult asap.

 

FYI, not advising you change meds without further medical advice, but Gabapentin has proven to be very helpful with neurological issues, which is what you're seeing with the knuckling under. I also personally wouldn't want to put a dog who is already having trouble maintaining weight on steroids without a definitive diagnosis indicating their usefulness. Steriods are known to cause muscle wasting and weight loss for a lot of dogs.

 

Hope you can get it sorted out. The weight loss is concerning to me - it makes me wonder about an underlying issue like a tumor somewhere that is now pressing on a nerve and causing that knuckling under. Where did your vet x-ray? FYI, unless it's something that requires some very unusual positioning, you should be able to get x-rays without anesthesia. That's yet another reason to seek out a specialist. Between Zuri and Neyla, they've been x-rayed almost everywhere, including spinal x-rays for Zuri and my vets have never used anesthesia.

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Jen, CPDT-KA with Zuri, lab in a greyhound suit, Violet, formerly known as Faith, Skye, the permanent puppy, Cisco, resident cat, and my baby girl Neyla, forever in my heart

"The great thing about science is that you're free to disagree with it, but you'll be wrong."

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So sorry to hear that. It's tough when they start to age badly. It's particularly tough when they start to do it early, and nine years is really so young to be thinking about LS.

 

It's unusual for them to knuckle on one side, I would have thought, unless it's a CNS thing, like a stroke? Even maybe something like an FCE (fibro-cartilagenous embolism). I think - even though he stresses badly - I'd want it investigated, especially in such a relatively young dog.

 

We've just had Jeffie in for investigation because he's been coughing, but also to discuss his near skeletal status and wobbly back end. He's losing muscle fast. He is twelve, so I suppose we should expect it .. he doesn't appear to be in pain, but the vet thinks it's worth putting him on an NSAID to see if there's any response.

 

He's always been a bit unsure where his back feet are, and what do do with them, but it's getting worse, bless him. He has no trouble jumping into the car (shoots in like a rocket and nearly ends up in the front seat, except that there's a dog guard in the way), but he's suddenly looking old and walking like a little old man. So he went in for x-rays, bloods, look down his throat/bronchoscopy, and (since he was going to be under) his remaining five teeth were cleaned. He looked in very poor shape when he came home, very wobbly and wouldn't settle, let alone eat or drink or go and pee.

 

He does stress badly, not as bad as Levi, but he gets really thrown and upset, but today he's perked up and is eating, drinking, peeing etc. and I'm really glad we did it. The way we looked at it was that we might not want to do it now, but what if he got worse and needed it a year or two down the road when he's older and more fragile?

Edited by silverfish

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The plural of anecdote is not data

Brambleberry Greyhounds My Etsy Shop

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I'd really want to know what was going on. Is there any way to get a specialist consult? They may be able to tell you quite a lot without anaesthetising him, but if they wanted to do it, I'd let them, stress or no stress. JMHO, and won't judge whatever decision you make.

 

It's never easy. I just know from experience - losing not one, but two dogs from wrong dxs followed by dxs that came too late to help - that I need to know what I'm dealing with in cases like this because the guilt in hindsight can be extremely painful.

GTAvatar-2015_zpsb0oqcimj.jpg

The plural of anecdote is not data

Brambleberry Greyhounds My Etsy Shop

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