Well Here We Go Again

[Time4ANap]

Glad to see that the x-rays showed nothing. Hang in there, Stewie (and your people).

[Remolacha]

Good news! If you have been through it before it is easy to jump to the worst conclusion, but not every limp is osteo

[Riverhound]

Wishing you all the best.

[ScootersMom]

Good news for you and Stewie. hope he gets better soon.

 

You are in our .

[GreyPoopon]

I'm relieved that your fears weren't confirmed. I hope Stewie recovers with rest and meds so you can stop worrying.

[Tracey]

Glad to hear Stewie's vet visit went well. Hope the meds do their job and he feels better soon.

[Charlies_Dad]

Kyle-that would be an unlikely area to see osteo-not impossible but, unlikely. With heat and diffuse swelling it sounds like a sprain/soft tissue injury.

;-)

Thanks Tracy. I really hope this is the case.

 

Stewie is not much different than yesterday. I think the swelling may have reduced some and his limp is still very pronounced with him putting a little bit of weight on it. Hopefully by tomorrow we'll see some better improvement. Again thank you everyone for the good thoughts.

[DesiRayMom]

Best wishes for a quick recovery for Stewie. My mind would have gone to exactly the same place yours did. Panic first, think it through later.

Did you drive back from Fla? Maybe he just got "stoved up" from riding in the car for a long trip.

[EllenEveBaz]

Good job, Stewie! Now you've got your peeps just where you want them -- time to milk them for every treat you can get!

[Charlies_Dad]

Just a quick update. Stewie seems to be improving and is limping less although he is on pain meds so that would happen logically. The swelling has reduced although it is still bigger than normal. We will continue him on his meds and I hope by EOW he is back to normal.

[tbhounds]

Takes baby steps with soft tissue injuries. I wouldnt expect swelling to reduce if it was something more sinister ;-)

[racindog]

Great news on Stewie! He's on the right road now. Give him a little time and he'll be good as new.

[Charlies_Dad]

Okay we are a week on and there had been some improvement but not as much as I would have thought. His hock is still swollen albeit it has reduced somewhat but a week on Metacam I would have thought it would have gone back to normal? I called my vet again and now he wants me to see a specialist, great they tell me that on Friday and of course the specialist is not available until April 12 but there is another specialist there that has an opening on the 4th. Problem is I am out of town starting Tuesday through Thursday in Minneapolis and then after getting home, I fly out to NYC Friday afternoon and won't be back until April 12th. I don't understand why they did not tell me this when I spoke to them Wednesday morning.

 

One thing I did ask for were the films and thought I would post them here for smarter people than me to look at. Also I am thinking of sending them to Dr. C but the quality of them makes me believe he will ask for new ones. These already cost $200 and of course Healthy Paws does not cover diagnostic stuff.

 

 

 

 

In the end I just have a bad feeling about all this. Without more improvement the evil C is staring right at me and no matter what I wish otherwise, it just seems like something is not right here. Time after time I have read others who go down a similar path only to find out weeks later it's some form of cancer.

Edited March 30, 2018 by Charlies_Dad

[Remolacha]

I am sure more knowledgeable people will chime in, but I agree, those aren’t very clear films, I can’t tell anything from them. I also understand your feelings, both about Stewie’s leg and the timing (why does it always happen on Friday?) I will offer one word of encouragement, tendons and soft tissue injures take forever to heal, a week is nothing, so it could still be not the Bad Thing.

 

[MP_the4pack]

Healthy paws doesn't cover diagnostics? Are you sure? They covered all of Tanzi's tests. They don't cover the office visit.

She had 2-3 sets of x-rays and a CT scan. All within 3 weeks. All covered.

[tbhounds]

Kyle-those are really bad images. I do think you need to consult with Dr Couto but, he will need to see better images-youll need two different angles.

Hoping for a torn ligament. FYI-Healthypaws cover every diagnostic test with my boy.

Can you pm me the images?

[Charlies_Dad]

Thanks Mary Pat I will confirm with them. I very well be mistaken.

 

Tracy, I don't see a way to send your the films via PM. They are a lot clearer in my email but Flickr seems to have changed the resolution after the upload.

[greytpups]

Just seeing this now- hoping for the best for Stewie

[racindog]

I am sure more knowledgeable people will chime in, but I agree, those aren’t very clear films, I can’t tell anything from them. I also understand your feelings, both about Stewie’s leg and the timing (why does it always happen on Friday?) I will offer one word of encouragement, tendons and soft tissue injures take forever to heal, a week is nothing, so it could still be not the Bad Thing.

 

"...tendons and soft tissue injures take forever to heal, a week is nothing, so it could still be not the Bad Thing.". Exactly what I was thinking. No way would I expect swelling on a significant soft tissue injury to necessarily be gone in only a week. In fact that area may always be slightly enlarged even after it heals and causes him no problems. Think of like a bowed tendon on a horse. While the animal may not be competitive as a racehorse any longer many heal up and live good useful lives painfree with it. There will ALWAYS be that enlarged area(the tendon) though to a greater or lesser extent. And it takes eons for the horse to recover from it too. A long time of rest.

Edited April 3, 2018 by racindog

[turbotaina]

Sending good thoughts for Stewie and just wanted to add that Healthy Paws absolutely pays for diagnostics (I can't tell you how many times Crow has had to have x-rays for ingesting random crap - all covered). They do not pay for office visits, so if you opt for a specialist, it'll still cost $200 (or whatever your specialist charges) but any treatment or tests will be covered.

[teri_d]

Morning Kyle — just checking for update on Stewie and sending many good vibes your way

[Charlies_Dad]

Sorry for not posting sooner Teri and thanks for asking. Well he seemed to be getting a bit better and we had a specialist appt for this coming Monday morning. We went away to NYC last weekend as I had a conference there this week, when Lynn returned home he was limping worse again and our dog sitter states she had kept him calm. I got back on Thursday and noticed he was limping worse again and the swelling also was getting worse. Hoping that maybe he just re-injured it while we were away and that Matecam would get him to the Monday appt but alas no. His hock swelled up worse than ever yesterday and at 10pm I was headed to the E-vet. After more x-rays, blood tests and a $500+ bill, we are no further ahead. The E-vet does not know what it and offered an ultra-sound this morning so we are doing that. He is now on Metacam, Gabapentin and Doxycycline (in the event it's a tick borne disease). We are also applying compresses but we have no idea what we are dealing with. New X-rays showed nothing but health bone however the E-vet only took one view which confuses me because one would think they would do multiple. This is the thing that irks me about vets who charge a lot but seem to be less inclined to do more aggressive diagnostics immediately and prefer you come back multiple times. Yes now I am venting but just want to know what is going on. Today I am going to be much more forward with the vet because last night I told them to do whatever it takes but they did not.

 

Here are my theories on what it is:

 

- bone fracture they cannot make out on the limited films they have taken (keeping the Monday appt with the surgeon for them to do every possible angle)

- infection of some kind but blood work came back fine twice now

- tick borne illness (that is why he is now on Doxy)

- ligament tear??? (Don't know if swelling would be evident for this type of injury)

- cancer as one can never rule this out (elsewhere than the leg causing this?)

 

The thought on it's an injury if some kind is that it occurred after we got back from FL, there was 8-10 inches of snow and it had a hard 1-2" crust. I watched him go out that time as I always do and he would be able to walk on top of the snow one moment and then break through the next so perhaps he fell through at one point and injured it by leaping/hopping like he does???

[EllenEveBaz]

Errrgh! We feel your frustration and worry. No expertise, but sending ear scritches to Stewieboy.

[NeylasMom]

Sorry you're having trouble finding answers. I've had a similar thing happen with x-rays. Really frustrating for me because I don't want to put Violet through the stress of a second set. So now anytime x-rays are involved I always ask what they're planning to x-ray, how many views, etc. so I can tell them to add more if necessary.

 

Hope you can find a simple solution for this!

Edited April 14, 2018 by NeylasMom

[BatterseaBrindl]