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Something is wrong with my dog. [Update: May possibly have to put her down]
billwill
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
She's fifteen years old, a cocker spaniel and golden retriever mix. She's roughly twenty pounds. Her name is Bud.
Now Bud has led a relatively healthy life. We have her checked up regularly and besides normal stuff (like losing hearing) she's doing great. All this is excluding a massive tumor that was removed from her jaw about four months ago. The surgery was quite an ordeal but she made it through.
The problem in question, however, started about a week ago. I picked her up my normal way (hand on her butt and one hand on her chest, sort of a scoop) and she let out a small yip when my hand lifted her chest. I backed off, checked the area, and even tried picking her up again but everything was fine so I assumed maybe I pinched her or something. Now about three days ago I notice she is walking with a limp. One of her front legs was hurting her and she was stumbling when got up and she was reluctant to jump down from couches and such. It was hard for me to determine the cause of the problem, however, because she already has a severe limp (when she was a puppy, before we got her, she broke her back left leg and it healed incorrectly).
I took her to the vet the same day I noticed the strange behavior but he couldn't find anything wrong with either of her front legs. He figured it might be arthritis, gave her a shot, and told me to call in a week to see if she had in improved.
She seemed fine for a few days but something happened this morning. She was laying next to a wall and after I fed her she perked up like she always does. However, as she perked up, she let out a yip like the motion hurt her. I watched her and saw that her right paw was being held off the ground and shaking a little. I flipped her over onto her back and examined her paw in my lap; I figured she maybe had cut it on something but I didn't discover anything. I felt the leg, moved it around a bit, but still no reaction from her. As I slid my hand down to her chest under her right front paw, she let out another yip right as I made contact. I visually inspected the area but did not see any bruising (it was a very quick inspection) and I took my hand off her chest, just supporting her head and butt in fear of hurting her again. She squirmed a little bit to the side and let out ANOTHER yip and I quickly put her back on the ground.
Right now my theory is that she maybe has a sprained or broken rib? I am taking her into the vet and getting her x-rayed, of course, but that won't be until Tuesday and I would like some possible theories/similar experiences in the mean time. What's weird is that she was obviously in pain this morning, but when I got off from work she was running around like her usual self.
Thanks in advance.
(I would post a picture but I'm not sure how to with this new forum).
EDIT: Here's a link to a picture of her that I uploaded to Tumblr a few weeks ago:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmcpoavREm1qenylio1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1311054311&Signature=R8GgNiL7CbVSY/wZetQbcwYeICU=
Now Bud has led a relatively healthy life. We have her checked up regularly and besides normal stuff (like losing hearing) she's doing great. All this is excluding a massive tumor that was removed from her jaw about four months ago. The surgery was quite an ordeal but she made it through.
The problem in question, however, started about a week ago. I picked her up my normal way (hand on her butt and one hand on her chest, sort of a scoop) and she let out a small yip when my hand lifted her chest. I backed off, checked the area, and even tried picking her up again but everything was fine so I assumed maybe I pinched her or something. Now about three days ago I notice she is walking with a limp. One of her front legs was hurting her and she was stumbling when got up and she was reluctant to jump down from couches and such. It was hard for me to determine the cause of the problem, however, because she already has a severe limp (when she was a puppy, before we got her, she broke her back left leg and it healed incorrectly).
I took her to the vet the same day I noticed the strange behavior but he couldn't find anything wrong with either of her front legs. He figured it might be arthritis, gave her a shot, and told me to call in a week to see if she had in improved.
She seemed fine for a few days but something happened this morning. She was laying next to a wall and after I fed her she perked up like she always does. However, as she perked up, she let out a yip like the motion hurt her. I watched her and saw that her right paw was being held off the ground and shaking a little. I flipped her over onto her back and examined her paw in my lap; I figured she maybe had cut it on something but I didn't discover anything. I felt the leg, moved it around a bit, but still no reaction from her. As I slid my hand down to her chest under her right front paw, she let out another yip right as I made contact. I visually inspected the area but did not see any bruising (it was a very quick inspection) and I took my hand off her chest, just supporting her head and butt in fear of hurting her again. She squirmed a little bit to the side and let out ANOTHER yip and I quickly put her back on the ground.
Right now my theory is that she maybe has a sprained or broken rib? I am taking her into the vet and getting her x-rayed, of course, but that won't be until Tuesday and I would like some possible theories/similar experiences in the mean time. What's weird is that she was obviously in pain this morning, but when I got off from work she was running around like her usual self.
Thanks in advance.
(I would post a picture but I'm not sure how to with this new forum).
EDIT: Here's a link to a picture of her that I uploaded to Tumblr a few weeks ago:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmcpoavREm1qenylio1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1311054311&Signature=R8GgNiL7CbVSY/wZetQbcwYeICU=
I hate you and you hate me.
billwill on
0
Posts
Stay calm, don't let her see you're upset, and see what the x-ray tells.
Unfortunately, he got a good look at the liver and he said it's way more dense than it should be. He said he hopes it is just clogged up and he gave me medication to flush it, but he said there is a chance that it is a tumor. He said if it's the latter then there is nothing he can do and that I should consider putting her down soon to lessen the pain.
This was obviously a huge shock to me. I've had her since I was five years old (I'm twenty now); I can't remember back to a time when I didn't have her. It's always just been me, my mom, and Bud throughout the years. As soon as I got in the car I started sobbing and I haven't cried in years. I'm dreading hearing the news after he does another check up to see if the medication worked this Friday. What do I do if the news is bad? How do I say goodbye to my dog of fifteen years? I know there are no clear answers to this but I'm so confused right now. Just one week ago everything was fine..
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/145029/my-cat.-lock-please#Item_20
Pet grief thread from a couple days ago. Spoil the fuck out of the dog in its final days.
EDIT: Like Ceres said, 15 years is REALLY old for that kind of dog. My mom's golden was that old when he finally needed to be put to sleep. That's a good long life for a dog of that nature.