Dog with hypothyroidism and back problems
Our 9 year old beagle had been in good health, but had been getting fat and lazy in her older years. We took her to the vet for routine checkup and mentioned that she slept most of the day so the vet did some blood work and determined that her thyroid level was way low (0.1%). The vet started her on a medication of thyroxine, 0.4mg a day. At first the dog was much more alert and seemed to have much more energy than she had before. She also lost a fair amount of weight very fast, from 37.5 pounds down to 31.5 pounds. Then, on Saturday of Labor Day weekend, she got really sick.... all of the sudden she could hardly stand. She couldn't hold her bladder, her stomach seemed bloated and she was panting hard. We took her to an emergency hospital and they basically said she had a stomach ache, that she was OK and sent us home. She appeared to get better, and the next day we were out of town (the dog was with us) and she got a lot worse. We found a new emergency vet and he took xrays and said that she had back problems, basically a compressed disk. He gave us something for her pain, Rimadyl - 25mg. We started off giving her one pill a day, and it seemed to help. But a few days later she was bad again. Our regular vet recommended increasing the dosage to twice a day, for both the Thyroxine and Rimadyl. She has been on the twice a day rate for a little over a week now, and she has her good days and bad days. My concern is that overall she seems to be getting worse, and I don't understand how the symptoms match the diagnosis. Even when she is feeling bad I can pet/scratch her back, including the area of this compressed disk and she doesn't indicate any signs of tenderness. Her stomach, however, gets very tender. I have noticed that she will usually get worse right after she eats, like within 1/2 an hour of eating. Before she eats, she is bouncing around a little begging for food, 1/2 hour later she is walking like a drunken sailor. She has been sensitive to being picked up for a number of years, which we have attributed to arthritus. She has always been the most sensitive to being picked up from under her rib cage. Conversely, she loves a good vigourous back scratch. So, my questions is: should I accept what the vets have told me, or should I continue to investigate? |
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Dog with problems walking
When I came home from work yesterday, Sparrow(6yo female neutered mix breed), who stays in my basement with access to the crawl space under the house, was having trouble going up the stairs. She seemed sick - hot nose & depressed. She has a knot midway up her tail about the size of a quarter. Her hindquarters are slightly swollen and tender. Her behind was dirty with dust, some fecal matter, and little black dots that looked like flea eggs (she doesn't have fleas - she's on med from the vet.) It seemed she had been dragging her bottom on the ground. My gut feeling is that she may have been bitten by a spider or god forbid a snake (in my basement?!!) but I'm also worried that she's hurt her back. She can still walk - even jump on the bed - but she is not moving correctly. She is still eating and drinking. She's not any worse this morning, but no better. She's not limping, but she acts stiff - is not moving her hind legs with ease, but I don't see where they look out of whack. For example, when she goes up steps, she just goes one step at a time, very slowly and carefully when she usually bounds & skips steps. It doesn't look like she's knuckling over, and her feet and legs look normal. Another thought after babying her this morning - she has had trouble in the past with her anal glands being blocked. Usually I try to massage & expel them when I bathe her. I haven't noticed her dragging her butt, which usually happens when her glands are filled and need expelling, but is it possible this could be the problem? Or constipation?
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