Need good thoughts and prayers for my dog....

[Mary Ann]

Poor Timmy. He has what I believe is a bad back injury. He got progressively worse in the last few days, and I took him to my friend the chiropractor on Friday. She helped him a lot, but he wasn't hugely better. Mornings are always worse than evenings, and this morning he couldn't walk.

So I scooped him up and took him to the vet.

He's been there all morning, and they're running a bunch of diagnostics on him. I'm to call at two to see what they're finding, and how they're doing.

He's eleven years old, so I don't know what they can do. Doc gave him some big stick pain killer right off, which is at least a beginning. I'm really scared it's the end of the trail for him.

Poor dog shakes with pain. I bumped his nose with the back of my heel the other day as he curled at my feet, and he screamed.

I'd be grateful for any good thoughts you could spare for Timmy. He's a tri-colored Pembroke Welsh Corgi, if that helps you picture him. He's such a gregarious, expressive dog, it's killing me to see him so subdued and hurting.

I'll keep you updated.

[Chrisnstar]

Oh, poor Timmy. I know what it's like to watch a dog suffer from back injury. My heart goes out to you and Timmy. Words aren't enough. I'll keep you in my prayers.

chris

[wildfire]

n/m

[trigger]

Aw, poor pup Prayers going out right away. Let us know what you find out.

[Frosty M]

to see your doggy friend hurting. (((HUGS)) Mary Ann.

[linda]

I hope Timmy is feeling better by now. When I was young, it seemed like dogs lived a long, long time. As I am now to where years fly by like hours used to, it seems that our four-legged friends get old right before our eyes. It was just yesterday that they were puppies.... Hugs--Linda

[Chrisnstar]

Mary Ann, any news on Timmy???

chris

[Mary Ann]

Well, here's the scoop.

Doc took him in and kept him for the bulk of the day for xrays, etc. When I came in, he had an armload of xrays for me to look at. Corgis, Daschunds, Bassets, etc, with these short front legs have a sort of dwarfism, and along with this they have a way of having unusually thin cartilage. He said he couldn't tell if the disc was blown, but the space was too thin. He asked me again how old Timmy is, and when I said eleven, he made a face.

So surgery doesn't seem to be much of an option.

In addition to the pain killers he injected this morning, Doc gave me more doggie NSAIDs to give to him for the next few weeks. He says he wants to try and stay away from corticosteroids for now. He also said some doggie Cosequin would be good, and said I could do that orally or some injectable Adequan. I told him if it was a horse, I'd be giving both, so Doc did.

We're going to try and see how he does for a few days, and if he doesn't seem much better, I'm to call Doc.

While I was coming out of the exam room, I looked across the waiting area and saw a vaguely familiar face streaked with tears. I knew she was a horse person acquaintance, so I pretended that I remembered her. She looked so sad. I said, "You look like you need a hug," and she just sort of collapsed against me and said "Yeah...." Turns out she was there to bring her eighteen year old Lab to be put down. She'd had him since he was a pup. I peeked over her shoulder at the release form she was signing and got her name, and that gave me context. She thanked me and asked for another before I left. She had to go to her car and get her old friend.

I feel lucky to have dodged that fate, at least for a while.

Thanks for all your good wishes and prayers. He's not out of the woods yet, so I'd be very grateful if you can keep them coming.

[lesfire]

Poor Timmy, prayers coming.

[Chrisnstar]

I'm going to keep Timmy in my prayers. If Bubba can come back from paralysis, I'm hoping Timmy can get better.

chris

[DorothyB]

I'll be praying for you and Timmy.

Angel (9 yr old lab cross) has been having a lot of pain problems, etc. She has pretty severe hip dysplaysia. Beginning in late November she has been on Cosequin and a pain med named Deramaxx. We had tried Rimidyl (sp?) and it didn't help. She is doing extremely well. She runs some, etc. The Deramaxx is just in the morning. She is sleeping a lot - usually goes to bed by 8PM, but that's OK with me.

While her problems are different than Timmy's, I just wanted to give you some encouragement that there can be hope. It did take a couple of weeks (or maybe almost a month?) to see a very definite, permanent improvement.

[denise]

I thought the chiro and acupuncture was helping what I thought was just a back injury and then she took a turn for the worse. She cried every time she moved. Her bloodwork and xrays didn't show anything more than a low thyroid and arthritis on two vertabrae, nothing to explain the pain. I had her scheduled for an MRI but when she went downhill she went fast and I decided I wasn't going to make her wait to find out what the problem was because in my heart of hearts I knew finding out what it was wasn't the problem. After she finally gave into the initial shot of muscle relaxant and pain killers I was shocked at how badly the back half of her had atrophied.

I did see a blurb on a dogshow about MRIs and dogs and how this one guy's GR took a horrible turn with unexplained backpain and an MRI showed that it was just a severe bone infection and after a major dose of antibiotics, the dog was fine and back to normal. Hopefully Timmy's problem is the same.

Keepings fingers, toes, etc. crossed for Timmy.

[Mary Ann]

Thanks so much for all your support. Timmy is laying on my feet right now. He's keeping my feet warm.

Dorothy, the NSAID Doc gave Timmy is the same as your dog's. It's helping a ton. He's not moving normally, but he's so much better. And he gets his Cosequin. I hope he continues to recover.

Thanks again for all your support, and the stories you've shared. They give me hope and perspective. You guys are the best!

[Newfygirl]

Prayers and hugs for Timmy (and you too, MaryAnn). Our German Shepherd is 12. He has arthritus in his spine and legs. I am beginning to see the muscle atrophy in his hindquarters. He can get up just fine on carpet, but if he lies on the hardwood, he has trouble (i wish he's stop that!) Its so hard to watch these guys grow old. I'll know that the day he stops being excited for his breakfast that its time...until then, each day is a blessing.

[DorothyB]

Newfygirl - don't say that!! Angel didn't want her breakfast this morning! She is on a diet (not really strict, but trying to get her weight down a little), so she often is very excited for dinner. Sometimes in the evening she will lie down for the night before I feed dinner and won't want to get up to eat.

However, this morning we went out in the cold, rainy yuck to feed the horses. When we came in she went and laid down in the bedroom. I put her food in the bedroom and closed the door so Duchess wouldn't eat it. After my bath she still hadn't eaten. I decided that even though it would be a long day, she could stay inside all day. However, when she heard me quietly opening the treat bag at the other end of the house to give Duchess her treats when she went outside, Angel got up and walked over to the door to go out so she could have treats too.