vet visit

want to make this quick cause I have a lot to do today! but dont want to forget anything.

went to vet with Alki yesterday at 5. she did really well. she did growl at the vet initially while she was sitting on the ground, kind of backed into a corner, and the vet was touching the top of her head. I suggested we move her up onto a table which she has done well with in the past and that way I could more easily hold her head. we did this and she was great the rest of the time. she did stop taking treats through the muzzle when she was being examined. may have been from stress, or she just couldve been full (she'd had probably 3 cups of food already that day--1.5 cups at breakfast and 1.5 cups in the afternoon for a long training session) and/or bored of the treats I had. or a combination.

I am so happy I took her to this vet, the exam she did was 10 times more thorough than the regular vet we'd seen at Davis a year ago. this is why I wanted to see someone who specializes in this kind of thing. I did play a short fetch session with Alki in the afternoon that day, so she would be slightly calmer and would indeed show pain during the exam, and she definitely did. I actually feel bad I did though because she was in quite a bit of pain last night. :(

but anyway, so the vet confirmed what I'd suspected: she was very restricted in movement in her neck & shoulder on the right side, and she found definite low back (lumbosacral she said) pain. and her reflexes on the left rear foot were slow (when they do the thing where they turn the foot so the dog is standing on its toes and they are supposed to reposition the foot pretty much immediately, she didnt reposition it on that foot at all).

so the plan now is: STRICT restriction of activity, back on rimadyl at the full dose, as well as tramadol (pain killed) and nurotin (nerve med) for 3 full weeks. as well as acupuncture and if necessary she can do hydrotherapy/swimming for exercise but the less exercise the better.

so I gotta order the meds on Monday (we have rimadyl & tramadol) and set up an appt with an acupuncturist. the acupuncturist this clinic used to have has moved to a clinic closer to me, so I'll probably just go there.