Hello,
Please dont beat yourself up over doing the best you could in a very difficult time. I really hope things work out. Stay in touch with your veterinary team and I’m sending hugs to you both. You are doing the best you can. Give your dog some time. It’s always really hard the first few days. Hang in there.
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my 7 year old dog, we aren’t sure of breed, but we think a lab/beagle mix of some sort experienced extreme pain and loss of the use of his back legs 2 days ago. I immediately took him to the emergency vet. They told us med management and cage rest. They brought him to the car with the use of a sling for his hind legs stating he still had some movement of his hind limbs intact. 2 hours later I believed he had declined and had no use. I called back to the vet who made me feel guilty for asking for further evaluation stating she would not put a dog through an MRI and surgery that still exhibited neurological function. He cried all night long and every time I moved him to potty was in excruciating pain. he wouldn’t eat and no longer could void. I took him back to the vet the next morning where he received an MRI and underwent surgery for a ruptured disc. at that point he no longer had deep pain sensation. My question is did that delay diminish his chances of recovery? and what are the odds now? I’m just heartbroken for him and do not want him to suffer. I am a nurse practitioner and very willing to provide the care he needs however I don’t want him to be in long term pain or have a poor quality of life.
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Hi Dr. Krista,
My name is Yana and I have beagle mix Charlie who injured his neck on 07/08/20 last week. We took him 10 flights of stairs for exercise and 30 min later he started crying in the dog park then yelping in the car and screaming at night. We took him to the ER and he was diagnosed with neck disc injury and prescribed Methocarbamol, Gabapentin, Tramadol and Caprofen. He seemed to be fine, not paralyzed but screaming 1-2 times a day usually on potty brakes. Then he started having episodes when he became more stiff and lifted his front paws…usually in the morning after sleep. We took him to a neurologist on 07/13/20 but he said he is 1 from 6 and not that bad. He stopped Caprofen and prescribed Prednisone, Fentanyl Patch and Acepromazine with other medications from the ER. So we were spacing out medications because we were afraid to give too much. He did not seem to be improving and we started all meds. He seems better after he screams like pressure relieved and he can lift his head and move more free.
Long story short, we placed him in a boarding hospital due to us living in a studio in highrise on the 10th floor, working from home and being 7 month pregnant. We are planning to visit another neurologist on monday and hopefully get x rays or mri.
Questions:
In your video with Hank he was paralysed and recovered in 17 days. So far I don’t see much positive progress in our dog and he is not paralized. How much chance do we have or what we should do moving forward?
October 2019 he had a similar episod and I took him to the vet, no x-rays were performed. Two reasons indicated neck or teeth. More towards teeth inflammation which I was focusing on by brushing and adding supplements. Medications prescribed Cephalexin and Carprofen. He got better in 3 days but his screams were not that severe. Should we try Cephalexin?
Any help, suggestion on advice will be highly appreciated! If we can bring him to your facility for boarding and recovery at least till he doesn’t have those screams we would like to do that! Please let us know how much it costs since it adds up quickly and I know that surgery is very expensive.
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My 11yr old Lab/Mastiff mix was diagnosed with a mass on her spleen. It’s currently not bleeding, but we are trying to figure if we should go ahead with the surgery or not. I feel in my heart she has still more life in her, but I also know that if it’s cancerous she won’t have long. I know in the long run it’s my decision, but I just need to hear what others think.
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My dog is paralyzed from the waist down. My dog is a 4 year old, 10 pound Shi-poo mix. He suffered from some trauma yesterday (Friday) after getting his paws stuck in some metal grating he seemed ok but then his symptoms exacerbated after running around the park and playing with another dog. At around 5pm on Friday, he was able to poop and urinate and ran around at the dog park but by the evening he couldn’t put any weight on his hind legs. At 8pm, my dog was still able to wag his tail. We went to a doctor this morning and that doctor says he still has sensation in his hind legs (even though they he cannot move them). We have been given the option of MRI followed immediately by surgery but we are not sure if we want to put his body through that much trauma with the risk that he could die on the operating table. We have taken him to a “holistic” vet who has treated him with acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and cortisone. The acupuncturist Vet said he would need 4 weeks with 1 session a week to see if that method could help but also told us we could very well have “missed” his critical cure time if it doesn’t. Nevertheless the acupuncturist said he is very confident as his method has seen much success in IVDD in older dogs. My dog is in a lot of pain and has not urinated or passed stool since yesterday I do not believe he has control over his bowel movements And he is constantly holding his head back and he is constantly propping himself up on his two front legs. I would love a second opinion and an honest opinion of what his chances of regaining full motor function and bowel control are with OR without surgery.
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Hello… i was hoping for some advice… so i have a 7 y/o lab/rotti mix whom ive had since he was 4 weeks old… he’s very good EXCEPT for when i try to mess with his ears or go passed his chest area… he has chronic ear infections and now has growths popping up in a few spots… he’s miserable n he won’t let me help him… Im out of work n can’t afford much. Just had 3 disc replaced in my neck n the covid situations had everything messed up so i don’t know what to do to help him n it’s breaking my heart… I’ve tried to muzzle him n sedated him a little with benadryl but he gets very aggressive when i try… he’s 100lbs n I’m only 140 and have been injured so i can’t really do much. When my husband left in 2018 he left me with all these fur babies n being out of work since dec 2019 im desperate at this point ???? but i refuse to give up on him ever… can someone give me some advice/ help
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my chihuahua terrier mix takes Phenobarbital for seizures. I am looking for an alternative natural medicine to replace the Phenobarbital. any advice on this.
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My dog Sampson is a 15 year old boxer/pittie mix(50 pounds). Has had diabetes for 7 years. Been on arthritis pain meds the last year.. Has become very sluggish the past 2-3 weeks. Vet diagnosed him with a early stage heart murmur and slight anemia. Changed his arthritis pain meds to Gabapentin. It made him so drowsy that he fell asleep while eating. Became unable to walk without assistance. We weaned him off the Gabapentin and back on the old pain meds. His walking has improved a little but still is wobbly. Yesterday he refused to eat, which is highly unusual for him. Still drinking, but not eating today. He sleeps a lot but also has 30-60 minute spells of restless/repetitive behavior. I’m thinking he may have dementia. Any suggestions on how to help him?
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Charley is a 9 year old lab mix female, approx 70 lbs. She has always been an incredibly active dog. Over the last year or so we have noticed her slowing down and assumed it was wear and tear of her joints after being so athletic and active. We started her on anti inflammatories (ostimax) after speaking with our vet, and used it as needed. It seemed to help. Within the last 3 months things worsened and we began giving her the anti inflammatory daily, as well as gabapentin. Things worsened again, and we finally requested that xrays be taken. They found a partial tear in one back acl and a fully torn acl in the other, we aren’t sure when this happened. She is receiving an injectable (adequan) 2 x a week for a month, and is taking the anti inflammatory, a cbd chew and gabapentin. This regimen is new this week and she looks a little better but still prefers to be laying down, has a hard time standing up/sitting down. We try to walk a block and she stops to lie down (we never push her). She sleeps most of the day, assuming from the meds. She is a different dog, it’s heartbreaking. She still eats and drinks but we put her food in front of her now, and mix it with wet (to hide the pills), otherwise I don’t know how often she would eat on her own. Thoughts on how surgery will help? Recovery? Our consult with the surgeon referred by our vet isn’t until July 31st (there is a backup with Covid) so we are looking for other options and might have a spot with a local vet- we are hoping to not have to wait that long because she’s just not our Charley, and we don’t want to see her in pain any longer.
some notes from vet: Ambulates tender hind legs R+L . thickened stifles- toe touching both and small stride on gait . Sits
slowly and swings legs out to avoid flexing too much . Crepitous on flex/ ext R side- patellar groove . Rlat- chip prox tibia- thickened JC and irregular lat collateral. L side – joitn mouse caudal joint – thickened JC irrgular medial collateral lig mild drawer both
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Hi there. My dog Ruby had sudden onset Mast Cell Tumors present about 3 weeks ago. She’s an energetic 4 year old pit/great dane mix (I know because I spent a billion dollars on a DNA kit). I noticed about 7 subcutaneous lumps on her left side while she was outside playing. They felt like little oblong marbles under her skin. Our vet is an hour away. We had moved a few months back and kept our vet because we love him so much. We still see him for routine care. There is a vet very close to our home and I have read good reviews and have had email conversation previously when I was deciding whether or not to switch vets. I was concerned Ruby would have cancer, I just felt it, and didn’t want her to have to make several long trips to our vet if she were to require surgery, etc. So I decided to take her to the new close to home vet. As it is Covid-19 season, I did not get to go inside the vet’s office with her. They aspirated one of the lumps and were concerned. She was scheduled for surgery in the following week. I talked to my other vet about this, and he was not pleased to hear they aspirated her, because he was worried that the histamines from the tumor would cause it to spread. I was alarmed and researched Dr. Google for 2 days. It seemed to me after my research that the aspiration was standard course of care. Ruby had her surgery and had 2 large masses removed. They could not take all of them because there would have been too many incision sites. Directions for care included keeping her inactive for 10-14 days, not an easy dear with an anxious 65 lb lap dog. On day 7 of recovery, I noticed a fluid buildup around the incision site. Back to Dr. Google, I decided she had a seroma. I called the vet the next morning and we took her over and my suspicion was confirmed. They told us to call if it got worse. We still haven’t received the pathology back on the two masses that were removed. This morning I decided I needed to do more research, as two new masses have cropped up (the tumors, not seroma). Ruby is in good spirits and just wants to play and run with our other dogs. She’s mad at me, I’m sure of it, for making her lay around all day. Is it normal to have a seroma after surgery? Why do these tumors pop up all of a sudden?
Your kitten is adorable. Please see your vet ASAP to insure he stays healthy.
It’s impossible to tell, particularly with a very dark photo. Unless you bought this kitten from a Bengal breeder, or can confirm one of the parents was a Bengal, there’s literally no way to know.
Enjoy your kitten! And as Dr. M said, get it to the vet asap to get on a good care routine.