Posted on 04/10/2011 8:21:56 PM PDT by Hildy
I'm hoping for some advice. I have a 12 year old dog. She's a maltese poodle mix, 17 pounds. About two months ago she had some sort of injury to her left hind leg. She couldn't walk on it. We took her to the vet and the X-ray showed nothing. I was sent home with an anti-inflammatory and instruction to keep her off of it. We did the best we could. Well, two months later she can walk on it but she still limps and it shakes. I don't quite know what to do. I'd say it was arthritis, but since there was some kind of injury that set it off, I don't think we can chalk it up to just arthritis.
Is there anything we can give her to help? I feel so helpless. She's the first dog I ever had, so I don't have any experience with older dogs. Any advice?
Thank you so much.
>>> “About two months ago she had some sort of injury to her left hind leg.”
Do you know for sure that she suffered an injury, as opposed to sudden onset of something else?
I can’t improve on the advice already posted, but will tell of my experience.
I’d grown up with a Pomeranian who very early showed hip dysplasia. It took next to nothing either hip to pop out of joint. Yet easy out meant easy in: No biggie making him lie down quietly, and the hip would eventually ease back into place. Fast fwd to one of my current large dogs. From puppyhood, it took little rough-housing with the other dog to collapse her rear end. Great. Another dog with hip dysplasia. I mentioned it to one of the vets, she xrayed & didn’t find anything yet expressed no concern that I recall.
A few years after that, I had the dog in front of one of the other vets in the same practice. She asked about the toes of one hind leg only tapping the floor, really glared daggers at me for having let that go untreated. Palpating those knobby knees turned up that the patella was out of its groove, & now too late to fix it. I should have pressed the first vet for a definitive answer, but I just assumed it was Benji the Pom all over again.
What I mean to say, I guess, is that vets are no more infallible than the rest of us.
Best of luck to you & your doggie. I hope she heals soon with no more problems.
I so agree.
Hildy, if you are anywhere near University of California at Davis, they are good. Also there is a person in AZ who gives some kind of swimming therapy to dogs who have problems like your baby. I heard they have had success.
A friend had a similar experience with her dog - thought it was a leg injury that kept being re-injured & it was treated as such. After long months, it was finally diagnosed as bone cancer. Vets are like people docs - you have to be proactive, do your homework, ask a lot of questions & advocate for your pet.
Depending on where you live, Lymes is not the only tick disease dogs can get, and all can cause limping as a symptom. Just something to toss out. Erlichia is another one, and actually maybe more common.
Oh gosh, my condolences. Cancer is such a scourge. I didn’t want to mention that, but it’s always a possibility.
So you’re saying that when you need a walker, you’d rather your kids take you out back and shoot you, because you can’t run and jump like you used to, and your lumbago is acting up, the sciatica is flaring, and you just can’t get it up anymore.
After all, it’s compassionate, right?
There is pain, and then there is PAIN. The description I read showed the dog had some discomfort, but wasn’t suffering. You’re already taking it to the back 40 when it sneezes.
My 11 year old little dog slipped a disc in his neck a few days ago, and all he could do was lay on the bed and shiver. I suppose I should have had him put down too, since he was in severe pain for a while. That’s the compassionate thing, right?
Funny thing, though: I took him to the vet, we discussed some options, and I got him some medicine that has cleared up the majority of the problem already, only 3 days later.
But following your posted reasoning processes, I should have put him down because he was in severe pain, and couldn’t do anything.
Your version of compassion is far different from mine.
When I accept the responsibility of another living creature’s life, I promise that creature that no matter what happens, I will never hurt it, abandon it, or cause it any unnecessary suffering, and they KNOW when to tell me “It is time for me to go.”
I actually listen to what the creatures “tell” me in their own inimitable fashion.
I’ve had to put down one young (7 yrs) dog recently, and my GF lost her favourite Foo-foo dog just before that, so I’m just a bit testy when it comes to strangers coldly telling others to “put it down”. The littermate of the one I had put down has now been diagnosed with lymphoma, and has 2-6 months to live before we make yet another last sad trip to the vet.
If you can’t be gentle and compassionate to the people involved, how on G_d’s green earth do you think your advice about their pet “is compassionate”? This person is in a quandary, asking for suggestions, and rather than explore options you tell them to KILL their pet.
Yeah, that’s some kind of empathy you got going there, FRiend. Wow.
The advice for using a doggy chiropractor is very good, and another option is acupuncture. I was a skeptic myself, until I saw how it helps my dad. My brother has no luck with chiropractors, but I do, so there you go.
Checking every square millimeter of the dogs paws, legs and shoulders is very important, too. Shaving between the toes might help, too.
Good luck, and let us know what you find if you can.
I do hope this is not directed at me. I do not agree with the offender. I have taken in a lot of pound puppies in my day and have paid for many surgeries in full for doggies that have lost their legs that I don’t even know. Everyone of them were deeply loved to the end.
Postman, do you have any additional info about the Red Bank Vet Hospital? I just had a not-so-good veterinarian experience with my 10-year-old cat.
To make a long story short: they took x-rays and did an abdominal ultrasound last Friday and I'm wondering if the Red Bank VH can give me a second opinion or explanation of the results of those tests. I'd be very grateful to know why you recommend that particular veterinary hospital.
How terrible for you. You have my sympathy.
OH NO. I am so sorry. Your post made me cry, but I will do what you suggest for my little girl.
Ya know, I don’t think she’s in pain. She’s kind of a baby when she has pain..yaps if you even go near where the pain is, but she doesn’t with this. So I take some comfort in that. Thanks!
No, the wee diatribe was aimed at “Mr.Compassionate”. I only included you as a courtesy since I was referencing part of your reply in mine.
Sorry for any confusion.
Sorry I took so long to reply.
My grandmother is permanently bedridden in a nursing home and was probably suffering I so went down and took a sledgehammer to her.
She’s “in a better place, now.”
[but boy, was she ever ticked when I turned off the cooking show she was watching and ate her chocolate pudding, first!]
I’m not quite sure how I’m going to “just get another one”.
[Any older gals here looking for a very talented, multipurpose granddaughter?]
Jesus.
Some people are either cold and lazy or have no loyalty at all.
My fault. I thought about that when I hit the send button.
If you can, find an orthopedic specialist to examine your dog. One of the more common injuries is a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). I don’t think it shows up on x-rays.
Good luck and I hope she gets better.
To make my long story short, our vet referred us to RBVH which diagnosed the nature and severity of our 13 y.o. dog’s cardiac condition, prescribed the necessary medications and gave her an active and happy six more months of life with us. They are open 24/7 and have excellent medical boarding facilities nearby.
My feeling now for any future pet we may get is that a general vet is fine for day to day stuff but if there is even a hint of anything more long term serious, it’s off to RBVH.
I hope everything turns out well for you and for your cat.
If you think I can be of any further help, please send me a private FR mail.
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