Lame left rear leg

[Bizzymammabee]

Good luck and I hope the meds work. About a month or so ago Raven slipped on the steps, she is like a beast running around the house. She had some lameness in the left back leg and when I took her to the vet the little heffalump walked around like she was fine. On the way out she finally stopped pretending to be ok and the vet saw the limp. He put her on some pain meds and total bed rest for a few days and all was well. Sorry this wasn't the case for you. I had high hopes when I first started reading the thread. It's really hard to keep a bully still. Sending prayers that with some rest it can heal so you can avoid surgery.

 

[Maximus]

Maximus has the same problem with the same leg ---- I took him to the VET and he had to be referred to an Orthopedic specialist. Unfortunately, Maximus tore his ACL and requires surgery.

 

[Rural mystic]

Maximus has the same problem with the same leg ---- I took him to the VET and he had to be referred to an Orthopedic specialist. Unfortunately, Maximus tore his ACL and requires surgery.

Surgery hasn't been ruled out yet for Ace, I hope it doesn't come to that but the Vet wants to check his leg under sedation in a few days after Ace has been on a NSAID in the interim. I have had some that suggested that I not opt for surgery regardless the diagnosis and go the conservative treatment route. I am still weighing the pros and cons and it may be a moot point depending on a more definite diagnosis.

 

[Rural mystic]

It's been a week since initial visit to the Vet with this injury. The vet wanted to do a reexamine under sedation but was waiting for a few days on the medication [carprofen] and his xray machine was down. I called a few days ago and the xray machine is still not up though they have had a tech by each day but as of yet its not fixed. They said they had me down to call as soon as the machine was ready. I haven't given any more carprofen to Ace since yesterday, he usually eats like a horse and was still doing so after the injury but a few days after medication and he has just about quit eating. Also his face has become a mess with tear staining and scratching so much its almost raw. I attribute it to the medication as nothing else has changed. His shedding is worse and coat is more brittle and his stools are darker as well, so all in all I suspect the medication and ceased giving it. The medication didn't appear to be doing that much for him anyway, he doesn't favor or limp any worse with or without the medication. In the meantime I have become a bit obsessed by all this, scouring the internet for some magic elixir or help. There is none. I have become much more knowledgeable about this condition than I ever wanted to be.

 

[Texas Carol]

Tim, my dear friend, this just hurts reading it. I shall increase my prayers
for Ace and hoping they get that danged machine up & running! Can they
give a different med and also, can they not refer you to another clinic to
get the x-rays done and then have your vet read them?

 

[Rural mystic]

Tim, my dear friend, this just hurts reading it. I shall increase my prayers
for Ace and hoping they get that danged machine up & running! Can they
give a different med and also, can they not refer you to another clinic to
get the x-rays done and then have your vet read them?

I haven't considered another clinic doing the x-rays until you suggested it but I don't think they would mind. I will call them again before I have to go back to work if I haven't heard from them before then that the machine is up and running. Thanks for the concern and reply. I could hardly begin with how much this dang dog means to me. I had/have all these ideas and emotions of this dog being the dog of my retirement years even to the point of thinking perhaps he could out live me but one never knows. That's why I decided to go ahead and get my dog before I retired because no one knows the day or the hour. I have put so much energy, time and devotion into Ace more so than I have shared in this forum and I don't regret it. I give him everything I've got. Getting home after 12 hour days and tending to my dogs before all else and letting things I need to do for myself slide. Perhaps I became a bit obsessed, actually I know I have but its sort of the way I do things, all in or all out. No regrets. I will keep on keeping on.

 

[Texas Carol]

I haven't considered another clinic doing the x-rays until you suggested it but I don't think they would mind. I will call them again before I have to go back to work if I haven't heard from them before then that the machine is up and running. Thanks for the concern and reply. I could hardly begin with how much this dang dog means to me. I had/have all these ideas and emotions of this dog being the dog of my retirement years even to the point of thinking perhaps he could out live me but one never knows. That's why I decided to go ahead and get my dog before I retired because no one knows the day or the hour. I have put so much energy, time and devotion into Ace more so than I have shared in this forum and I don't regret it. I give him everything I've got. Getting home after 12 hour days and tending to my dogs before all else and letting things I need to do for myself slide. Perhaps I became a bit obsessed, actually I know I have but its sort of the way I do things, all in or all out. No regrets. I will keep on keeping on.

We can read between the lines, Tim. Trust me on this, we know how much you live
for Ace and love him before all else...we know. I love EBN members because it's the
same with all of us and these animals, total, unconditional, devoted, crazed, 1000%
LOVE. Understood, accepted and couldn't be in other way for any of us.

So...when our babies are hurt, ill, injured or god forbid, we lose one...total devastation.

We are with you and behind you, Tim & Ace, praying over your situation. Not just me but
so many here, hoping you gather strength & encouragement knowing we know what you
are feeling for your Ace. GOD bless your efforts & guide your Vets on Ace's behalf.

 

[2BullyMama]

Tim, my dear friend, this just hurts reading it. I shall increase my prayers
for Ace and hoping they get that danged machine up & running! Can they
give a different med and also, can they not refer you to another clinic to
get the x-rays done and then have your vet read them?

i agree with Carol, get to another clinic and see what other options their might be

 

[Manydogs]

Tim,
Carol has said it well, as always.
You did the right thing, as none of us know if we have "tomorrows". We all pray that you can get answers for your boy-and that all turns out well. Praying for Ace-and you.

 

[bullmama]

Sorry I missed this thread, I sure hope he gets his X rays done soon and I'll be sending prayers


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[Texas Carol]

I haven't given any more carprofen to Ace since yesterday, he usually eats like a horse and was still doing so after the injury but a few days after medication and he has just about quit eating. Also his face has become a mess with tear staining and scratching so much its almost raw. I attribute it to the medication as nothing else has changed. His shedding is worse and coat is more brittle and his stools are darker as well, so all in all I suspect the medication and ceased giving it. The medication didn't appear to be doing that much for him anyway, he doesn't favor or limp any worse with or without the medication.

Tim, have you talked to your Vet about this med not being effective as well as the itching?
Maybe giving another med to counteract such itching (I know we hate giving MORE meds)
but short term it may be needed so infections don't develop. I know that virgin coconut oil
(you can find in Walmart) is good to warm in hand (it's in solid form) than apply to skin. It
helps heal as well as being anti microbial, anti viral, anti fungal, etc and will help w/itch altho
sounds like this is extreme itch. Get the cold pressed, organic and can give this internally as
well, start out with 1 tsp daily (Nature's Way, EfaGold Coconut Oil). Use as a topper, it may
encourage appetite, they love the taste. It will promote all the above from internally use.
Good luck, Tim & Ace! Let us know what happens w/x-rays.

 

[Rural mystic]

Update and a bit of a rant as well. So I went through my medicine cabinet to see if I had any NSAID's that might be helpful to Ace as he had what I believe was an allergic reaction to the carprofen, well I had some Meloxican 7.5 mg. that was prescribed for me a while back when I was injured on the job [concussion] and researched and found its also a veterinarian medication. So I quartered the tablet and gave a quarter of it to see how Ace would tolerate, it helped the pain and his appetite has returned as well, so next day went to about a half tablet roughly 3.5 mg. and Ace still seems to tolerate well. He felt so much better he was wanting to roughhouse and tug of war which I was not willing to do and was just holding on to the ball on the couch and he decided to swing his big butt around and jump off the couch while holding on to the ball and landed on his leg and immediately yelped which is unusual for him and immediately began to favor his leg and obviously in pain.
In the meantime I am still waiting on the Vet to get their x-ray machine back up, I called twice on different days and it was still not up and they reassured me they would call when it was ready. So now we are into the third week of his injury and into the second week of initial visit to the Vet for the injury. Yesterday I call again and the machine is still not up. So now I'm getting a bit pissed. How in the world can you go nearly 2 weeks without an x-ray machine at a Veterinarian hospital. What if a dog had been struck by a car or any number of issues and you can't x-ray?
So I bite the bullet and decide to eat crow and go back to our original Vet. I switched Vet's in the first place as some of you may recall, not because I didn't like the Vet, I did/do but because the office personnel had screwed up several times with records and medication. So I make an appointment with our previous Vet this morning and they took me right in. She examined the knee and agreed that Ace probably needed to be sedated and x-rayed as well. But low and behold she suggest we wait until Monday when she will have a complete staff on hand to monitor Ace under sedation and etc. and I was okay with that. I also of course told her I had switched his medication and why and she basically agreed and checked the proper dosage with the medication I have on hand and said to give one dose a day at about 3mg. Her initial diagnosis is most likely a partial tear. She said that even though I had medicated him this morning that in a dog his size if it is a complete rupture that we would see a more complete lameness and obvious movement in his knee. She also said that she suspected that under sedation she would find less movement or no more movement in his knee but still wants to do it and take x-ray to rule out any bone fragments in the knee and possible fractures. So her suggestions on options to take. She said the latest consensus for partial tears in a larger dogs like Ace is to go ahead with surgical repair even on partial tears but said she would not do it but refer to an orthopedic surgeon, she said because she didn't want to be the one who repaired a partial tear and then make the dog's knee worse by doing so. I am assuming by this that if it was an obvious rupture she would do the surgery but I didn't ask. The second option is to continue with the medication for inflammation and pain and Laser therapy. So they gave the first laser therapy this morning and will do the next session when he is in on Monday for the sedation and x-rays. Its 6 laser sessions over a course of several days. Of course she said limit his activity as much as is reasonable and she said there is no guarantee that he wouldn't completely rupture it in the future and then it would be obvious need for surgery. What we have opted for is of course less evasive and a decent chance of recovery if or when the knee stabilizes through regular healing and the treatment we are going with.
Also I took the initiative this morning to clear the air with the Vet. After the exam when the Tech had left the room to get the laser machine and the Vet was entering the data on the computer I said Dr Leslie I would like to clear the air on an issue and let you know why I left for another Vet in the first place. She stopped what she was doing and came and sat on the examination table in front of me and said by all means please do so I would like to know. So I told her the reason I left had nothing to do with her and that I would have never left her practice because I was completely satisfied with you as the Vet but the reason I left was because of the incompetence of some of your office personnel. And I outlined what had transpired and she was in complete agreement with me. She basically saying three strikes and your out and I had given them several opportunities to get it right. I told her when I initially decided to change Vet's that I told my wife [ who also takes her dog to this vet and she and my wife are friends on a business level as well, my wife being a banker] I told her that I had mentioned to my wife that someone should tell Dr Leslie about this issue because its going to hurt her practice having screw ups in the office. Anyway I did so today and one of the persons had already been fired for making inappropriate remarks to a client, the same thing that happened between that person and my wife over my wife's maltese.
Now wait and see what I bet may happen. I will get a call today or Monday from the Vet clinic who had the x-ray machine down and want to reschedule the appointment for monday to do the follow up exam. Ain't that about the way it goes? But it doesn't matter now I am going to stay with my original Vet through this issue and perhaps indefinitely.

 

[dolphin]

What a terrible set of circumstances. It's good to hear that you were able to clear the air with the original vet and I hope that works out for good. Poor Ace he's got my prayers for him.

 

[Petra]

Wow, what a mission you've been through with this Good that you could clear the air and that your vet took it well I'm thinking of you and Ace hoping he will feel better soon<3

 

[2BullyMama]

Holy wow what an ordeal... Prayers continued for Ace.... Best of luck with your vet and keep us posted


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