Mystery illness/injury.

[jaegervulpes 0]

My 7 yr old half cross collie/greyhound is currently spaced out on tramadol following a trip to the emergency vets.

 

All started last night, he got up halfway through the night and gave a blood curdling scream, I assumed a bad cramp as he does get them on occasion.

 

Managed to go for a short walk this morning, although he did not break beyond a leisurely wander. Took him out on the buggy to check livestock, every now and then he would scream out when shifting his balance.

 

Got back to the farm about an hour later and he has stiffened right up and can barely walk or stand with out screaming the world down.

 

Got him in doors to lay down, checked an hour later, can't even stand up without constant murder screams.

 

He's absolutely fine laying down, just cannot get to all fours with out apparent insane agony.

 

Got him off to vets via wrapping in blanket and transporting horizontally.

 

All joints and bones intact. All legs manipulated to full extension with no pain, neck also.

 

Prostate fine, temp fine.

 

Only vague suspicions of tissue damage/trapped nerve/bone lesions. No idea essentially.

 

Have no idea how he's going to do his business when its imminent as he can't stand up, hoping it will be involuntary in his drugged up state, however horrible the thought of that is.

 

Been dosed initially with injection, with tramadol to follow to keep him sedated till morning when its back to the vets to be knocked out for xrays and further investigation.

 

I am fearing all sorts of things and just looking for some hope that it can be sorted out.

 

Only optimistic replys please, just some rays of positivity, anything else I would rather remain in ignorance to until told by the vet.

[paulus 26]

sounds abit like a strained back muscle my old dog did it the other season screamed like hell everytime he moved even had to make him a bed on the floor as he couldnt even jump onto the bedboard it took ages to heal everytime he seemed to be getting over it, it would flare up again. happy to say he made a full recovery. hope it all works out aswell for you and yours mate.

[jaegervulpes 0]

sounds abit like a strained back muscle my old dog did it the other season screamed like hell everytime he moved even had to make him a bed on the floor as he couldnt even jump onto the bedboard it took ages to heal everytime he seemed to be getting over it, it would flare up again. happy to say he made a full recovery. hope it all works out aswell for you and yours mate.

 

Thankyou mate, I really hope it is a simple thing like that.

[paulus 26]

any news on the dog mate?

[jaegervulpes 0]

any news on the dog mate?

 

It is still very much a mystery it seems.

 

Managed to get him to his feet late last night to go to the toilet and he was seemingly fine walking about on the lawn.

 

Come morning he got up on his own and went to the door to go out, a little stiff but fully able.

 

Had to leave him on his own till lunch. Tried to get him up at lunch and once more he could not bare it and had to lie down to avoid agony.

 

Chucked some tramadol down his throat and had to get back to work. Did not want to leave him on his own but no way out of it.

 

Got back around half 5, opened the door and he come trotting to the door. So the drugs work which is good to know!

 

Just back from the vets now. He has got to still have the xrays. Muscle biopsy's. Some blood tests and carry on a course of tramadol and metacam till more light is shed on what it could be.

 

There are so many possibilities, many of which I cannot even remember. Things to do with arthritis, blood deficiency's, nerves, muscle wastage, tissue damage. The list goes on.

 

The vet fully admits she doesn't know and that it is a very unique case due to the various symptoms contradicting each other.

 

So pending further testing, we shall see.

 

The majority of potential diagnosis are manageable if not treatable.

 

At least he's not in pain whilst on the drugs, still not quite himself on them but its the best option for the time being.

 

Thanks for asking either way, will update you if there is any progress.

[Tyla 3,179]

Shit mate, sounds like its got worse since we spoke in the pub. I'll PM you the number of that bone man i told you about, its worth a shot. It sounds like a back problem to me, my backs shot to bits and its absolute agony when it plays up so i've got alot of sympathy for him. Let me know how he gets on.

 

ATB

[paulus 26]

be carefull with the painkillers mate the problem is pain is there for a reason normally to stop further damage being done until the injury heals. take your mates advice and try a bone man sounds muscular to me could save you a packet in vets bills.

[doris 6]

be carefull with the painkillers mate the problem is pain is there for a reason normally to stop further damage being done until the injury heals. take your mates advice and try a bone man sounds muscular to me could save you a packet in vets bills.

Agree with the above.

 

Out of interest what was he doing the day before all this happened?

[chook1 184]

I wouldnt try a bone man till you at least have a vague idea of whats going on.

 

If there is a problem in the spinal area, a bone man could make it worse if they manuplated it,

couple of years ago i had to have one of mine pts, as she was paralised on her back end,

she had - had problems for months with her tail paralising, no cause for them problems

then one day i just touched her on her back and that was it, the screaming was horible

and with in 5 mins she couldnt move - even tramadol didnt make a differance, so i ended her suffering,

when ever she had gone in before nothing ever came up on examination, she showed no pain in her spine - nothing.

 

You may find that x-rays might not show anything, x-rays only realy show problems with bone, filled pockets (air, blood etc) or shadows

if the spine is out of place a little, it may show - but theres no garentee, if you have her insured your best bet is a cat scan type thing

as them will show everything.

[jaegervulpes 0]

Shit mate, sounds like its got worse since we spoke in the pub. I'll PM you the number of that bone man i told you about, its worth a shot. It sounds like a back problem to me, my backs shot to bits and its absolute agony when it plays up so i've got alot of sympathy for him. Let me know how he gets on.

 

ATB

 

Yeah, it was just minor cramps that I was aware of when I spoke to you. Next day was the start of it all, just difficult to see him in so much pain and you can't tell him it will be ok. Coincidentally, whilst in the vets tonight, someone from the 'huntsmans kennels' gave me a leaflet as she has an osteopath there and also does hydrotherapy. But would be worth looking at your contact as you can personally recommend it. Would rather him have a cut foot or any flesh wound compared to this, its just the not knowing what it is that makes you fear the worst. The vet also detected one haunch is considerably less muscular than the other, could be due to muscle wasting disease of some sort, or linked to trapped nerve endings apparently. Really not having a good time of it at the moment, worst time of year for it also.I shall keep you informed mate.

 

be carefull with the painkillers mate the problem is pain is there for a reason normally to stop further damage being done until the injury heals. take your mates advice and try a bone man sounds muscular to me could save you a packet in vets bills.

 

I hear you on the painkiller thing, I'm keeping him to minimum exercise, just really a shuffle around a patch of lawn till he 'evacuates' number 1 and 2 chambers! Without the meds he cannot even stand of walk, so he would end up being desperate until he disgraced him self indoors - not even nice for him. I'll be careful. Luckily he is insured, thought I would never use it, nearly cancelled a few times, glad I have got it, this is the second claim in a month, would be out of pocket by at least a grand by now and thats before the scheduled testing gets under way, to include general anaesthetic. Will await results etc till I look into other forms of treatment, all good advice though, cheers.

[jaegervulpes 0]

 

Agree with the above.

 

Out of interest what was he doing the day before all this happened?

 

Thats the odd thing, of late he has rarely been exerting himself, he's spent a lot of time indoors on his bed. otherwise its been leisurely walks or riding on the UTV about the farm. I don't run him any more either.

[paulus 26]

hows the dog? did the vet find anything?

[oddser 79]

if you have muscle wastage you have injury in that area it sounds like its been there some time if you can see the muscle is smaller very rare to have trapped nerve 9 out of 10 its inflamation that is causing pain good luck

[spookster1 24]

Ask your vet to do joint taps. Something similar happened to one of my salukis, like you it came out of the blue. She was referred to a specialist and it turned out to be an autoimmune disease callled Imune mediated polyarthritis. Worth checking for.

[mintstick999 485]

Had similar in my old dog,(about 7 yrs old) sounds similar, his was spondylitis in his back, vet had him on meta-cam at the time and he seemed better, but he suffered with it for years to come, on and off until he died age 11 of liver cancer,.. not saying thats whats wrong with your dog but it could be a possibility, hope your vet finds the root of the problem mate., good luck.