lots to do! making this quick, again so I dont forget.
well it all went okay. she was nervous, and I was super stressed. its never easy for me. I love the vet we saw, she is very knowledgeable and Im glad to have even more definitive answers about her pain & problem areas, and a treatment plan in place. but......she isnt a behaviorist. they were VERY respectful of my wishes & concerns with Alki, but Im sure they think Im over-reacting about her behavior. but, I know my dog, very well. I know she is the type of dog that looks like she is fine & dandy and she is NOT. body language they commented on as proof of her being "happy", was anything but (tail wag, taking treats, etc). and I know how quickly & severely she can go from a tad nervous to full blown panic. she did great for the exam though, I had her muzzled & held her head. the first few mins she was VERY tense and white-eyed, but after a few mins she became very relaxed and seemed to really enjoy the exam and chiro adjustment. I did have them sedate her for xrays though since I was unable to be present for them (I have no x-ray training).
after the exam & adjustment and before the xrays, the tech was feeding her treats through the muzzle. it was fine but Alki was getting very close, and I knew one wrong move from the tech & Alki would spook, and sure enough, as soon as the tech moved to stand up Alki flew backward and then snapped. after seeing that I just instantly started to cry. (Im sure at that point they thought I was totally insane!!!! LOL) I knew it wasnt THAT big of a deal, and she was muzzled, and no one was hurt, but she has only ever snapped at anyone 2 other times in her life: once a few months after I got her, and once about a yeah and a half ago, and after that snap was when it really hit me just how severely affected she was from the dog attack; she hadnt been that fearful with people since the very beginning. I work SO hard to keep her comfortable and under threshold and when I get glimpses like that of how affected she is by her fears it's just too much. Plus it feels like a failure. That is not the dog she used to be 2 yrs ago. it is also the reason I get so stressed at the vet with her. I cannot control the vet & tech, I cannot constantly be telling them what to do & what not to do. that makes people upset & defensive, plus they have to do their jobs and part of that is pushing her past her comfort level, unfortunately. I cant just say "sorry, this exam room is too small. sorry, you cant stand up right now. sorry, you cant touch her. sorry, I need to be the one to restrain her." it just doesnt work that way. it is just the nature of things, and that is what the muzzle is for. but its very overwhelming for me to be that far out of control.
oh and they didnt do acupuncture, the vet wants to do more chiropractic adjustments & hydrotherapy (underwater treadmill). Im going to start the hydrotherapy in 2 wks, and her next adjustment & recheck are in 2 wks as well. they did find all the same problem areas as the vet I saw last week did, plus a few more specific areas, and gave me reasons for the problems she is having & explained how it is all linked.
so, she has:
- mild arthritis in both knees (not a surprise, her knees are shaped funny, they turn out), as well as her left elbow
- a partial acl tear on the left side (!)
- lumbo-sacral (lower back) spondylosis starting
- slow reflexes in the left foot, and "spastic" reflexes in part of the left knee
- and general stiffness in many areas--the lower back, a couple other areas along her spine, and of course the right neck & shoulder. her pelvis is also rotated, which is causing the knees to turn out. Im not sure how much of it is just her normal confirmation or how much can be lessened with chiro & other therapy. we will see, but the vet seemed to think it was extreme enough & hopes to readjust it.
So, lots of stuff. All consistent with her lifetime of HARD physical activity. No big surprises, other than the fact that she hasnt shown more pain in the past!!!--A lot of this has been present for a while.
IMMEDIATELY after the adjustment the vet noted many improvements in flexibility and some of the reflexes. Im excited to see how she is in 2 wks and after the 2nd adjustment.
She also wants me to start her on injectable glucosamine (adequan), and keep her on this long term, for the arthritis (she is already on a joint supplement but the adequan is a lot stronger). She is also having me put her on fish oil (she is on a salmon based diet for the fish oil but the vet wants her to have more), also for the arthritis. And also a supplement called SOD (superoxide dismutase), for the arthritis and spondylosis. It is kind of an unproven thing, but she said there are very convincing studies from Europe that shows improvement, and even reversal, of spondylosis with it, so that is encouraging.
Also, she was sedated with dexdomitor & hydromorphone for the xrays, & did not do well afterward. She was acting REALLY WEIRD and totally freaking me out. she had wild eyes, stayed sedated & out of it all night long (she was sedated around 3pm), her hackles were up and she seemed painful (probably from the nausea)...it was just bizarre. she also evacuated her bowels immediately upon waking up, and for the half hour following until she was empty.. unfortunately half of it was all over her crate in the car. :( we use domitor at work but not the hydromorphone, and she has been sedated with dom before & was fine afterward, even on a full stomach. the vet also said she only gave 3/4 of the reversal because it can cause diarrhea so she likes to go a little light on it, so she may have been acting more sleepy than Id seen with her before because of that, but I think it was probably the morphine. And by the next morning she was 100% normal!
So now her medicine regime is:
2 fish oil caps once a day
2 joint supplements twice a day
1 Prozac once a day
and when it comes in, adequan injections, and SOD once a day.
plus, for the next 2 weeks:
2 gabapentin twice a day
1.5 tramadol 2-3 times a day
and 2 rimadyl twice a day
She gets lots of cheese whiz these days! ;9
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2 comments:
I know how you feel, in both situations. Haha I have the same instinctual crying reaction but to being attacked by a dog, even though if consciously I know why the dog did it and nothing bad will happen to it (I've lied quite a few times to doctors LOL) I still panic thinking the dog will be put down or something because I accidentally went over their threshold (not that someone else wouldn't, but still). And also about the behavior thing. I always know when there has been a change, but my vet, as good as she is, just doesn't get it or see it until it becomes more serious. Like when Balf had lyme disease, it took quite the convincing that it WASN'T mild allergies and he needed tests. He has such a high pain tolerance. Poor girl, she's just all over the map with pains and aches! I didn't know fish oil also helped joints, good! I give it to my dogs too but for their coats and hearts (especially Shiloh now, eek..), but Balf has started needing some extra joint care recently.
Kinda a novel up there... Haha hope Alki gets better soon!
Hrmm, I am going to have to check out the SOD info. My mothers pit (age 8) was recently diagnosed with spondylosis and they are working through an acute inflammation issue and now starting to test maintenance meds. Trying to get them to also try out acupuncture or chiro.
Hopefully Alki gets to feeling better soon!
I think the fish oil is a definite good idea by the way. We inherited an 11 yr old dog with an arthritic knee back in Sept. I immediately dropped the grains, trimmed his weight a bit, and added a high dose of joint supps. Some improvement, but still lingering issues. I then switched to a salmon based grain free food, and I doubled up the fish oil amount I was giving. Within about a month I noticed even more improvement. Its been about 2 months now and things are going great. He would lick at his knee off and on (created a granuloma), and that has totally healed and he hasn't messed with it in 2 months.
Good luck, keep us updated!
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