Skip or not?

Discussion dedicated to promoting the well-being of your dog through diet, exercise and general health tips.

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Lotsaquestions
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Re: Skip or not?

Post by Lotsaquestions »

Well that sounds worse. :cry:

He is booked in at Willows for monday so hopefully they can find out the exact problem Merlin has. I am assuming they'll keep him for an MRI, but apparently the specialist seems quite certain that he just has a tick in his walk with no pain attached since he does the same on painkillers and off and displays no skip off lead. 45 minute appointment though, not sure how Merlin is going to cope with that. Hopefully he'll just try and sleep but I am imagining he'll walk around the vet office trying to steal things. I've let them know he was quite worried about the vets last time so if he has to stay in Merlin will get the VIP treatment of his own ward to keep him settled.
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Nettle
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Re: Skip or not?

Post by Nettle »

It's not worse. I was just explaining what the term meant. It's used a lot in medicine.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

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Lotsaquestions
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Re: Skip or not?

Post by Lotsaquestions »

Ah ok, phew!

All our insurance is up and ready for monday now. The vets can't see how it can be pain related since he acts the same on and off painkillers, which I hope is good news. He does bite his legs quite alot (like there is an inch) when he's excited but is being ignored. Not enough for us to worry about it, but now we're watching for anything to do with his legs I will tell the specialist that. He's also always snapped at his backside / tail when he needed a poo, but the vets already know about that.

I know his dad would rub his eye when he was being ignored because he learnt his owners would come running to 'see whats wrong.' And I know in the past whenever Merlin has done anything even looking like pain I have rushed over to check him. I tried to ignore his random sitting down on the walk today where before I thought it was pain and just waited until he got back up, just incase the other symptoms are just him trying to get attention. He did get back up and seemed fine. Who knows, I'll mention it all just incase its relevant. I know he definately stretched his ligament before so he definately had an injury, so maybe he's learnt that whenever he skipped he got me to check him out and just kept doing it.

Maybe I am just being hopeful.
Lotsaquestions
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Re: Skip or not?

Post by Lotsaquestions »

Merlin has developed a stomach ulcer. We took him in to the emergency vets, and he's been given an injection to tide him over for the night since we're going to Willows anyway in the morning. The NSAIDs did it :(. If any dog deserves just to have a break it is Merlin. He's had an infection from his neuter due to a reaction to the stiches. He stretched his cruciate ligament. And now this.
Shalista
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Re: Skip or not?

Post by Shalista »

be thankful its just a stomach ulcer. NSAIDS are most famous for causing internal bleeding =(
Baxter (AKA Bax, Chuckles, Chuckster) Rat Terrier, born 01/16/13
Lotsaquestions
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Re: Skip or not?

Post by Lotsaquestions »

His stool had blood in it, but luckily not lots. Need to watch him during the night to see if he deteriorates. He is so tired he wobbles when he stands at the moment, when just yesterday it was hard to keep him still.
ZaraD
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Re: Skip or not?

Post by ZaraD »

I'd watch him carefully as blood in stool is not good. I hope merlin feels better soon, I do feel for him and you , I know how he feels iv had to take codiene that the GP prescribed for me and if just finished the course helped get rid. Of my pain but I'm now having side affects and feel worser than before taking them.
JudyN
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Re: Skip or not?

Post by JudyN »

Oh poor Merlin, and poor you :( It's horrible when they're not well because you just can't just wrap them up and read them a book or stick them in front of the telly and tell them they'll be better soon.

Codeine makes me feel horrible too.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
ZaraD
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Re: Skip or not?

Post by ZaraD »

Excatly Judy I'd be in bits if Sampson was ill as I would hate for him to be in pain or unwell and I'd just want to make it all better and you can't always do this and I definitely think they cope better than we do even though there the ones not well.
Lotsaquestions
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Re: Skip or not?

Post by Lotsaquestions »

The vet said that he will poo out more blood through the night, and although it looks bad (his poo is like ketchup...) it is not a huge amount of blood. Luckily its bright red and not black. All he said to look out for is if he 'can't be rowsed' or if he vomits alot.
Lotsaquestions
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Re: Skip or not?

Post by Lotsaquestions »

He's still bleeding, but is stable and is eating very small amounts. He didn't go to his consultancy since he can't walk and just seems in a daze so he's going on Thursday. My local vets checked him over instead for free! They think it was the NSAIDs making his intestines thinner and giving him an ulcer mixed with something he ate (he ate something really quickly two nights ago from behind a bin... and he was licking that drunk man's hands so who knows what was on them!)

No more medications now, only scrambled eggs and tlc. :)
Lotsaquestions
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Re: Skip or not?

Post by Lotsaquestions »

Just got back from the specialist, Merlin probably has low grade patella luxation. It is normally controlled by his muscles since he's so active, but due to the bed rest from his neuter & from the stretching cruciate it has revealed itself. Basically he needs to go back to his normal exercise and we need to monitor it if it gets worse, but the specialist was confident it shouldn't cause him any issues & he can even do agility. Nothing is confirmed but hip dysplasia, spinal injuries, tendon injuries and his cruciate have all been ruled out. He couldn't manipulate Merlin's kneecap whilst examining him because Merlin decided to tense every muscle he owns, so in theory his examination was completley normal. I think its one of the better outcomes!

As for his colitis he's slowly getting over that, enough that he was back to running around and trying to steal items from the vets office. He's yet to eat anything more than a quarter of a chicken breast a day, but he's getting there. :)
ZaraD
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Re: Skip or not?

Post by ZaraD »

Lotsaquestions wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2018 7:08 am Just got back from the specialist, Merlin probably has low grade patella luxation. It is normally controlled by his muscles since he's so active, but due to the bed rest from his neuter & from the stretching cruciate it has revealed itself. Basically he needs to go back to his normal exercise and we need to monitor it if it gets worse, but the specialist was confident it shouldn't cause him any issues & he can even do agility. Nothing is confirmed but hip dysplasia, spinal injuries, tendon injuries and his cruciate have all been ruled out. He couldn't manipulate Merlin's kneecap whilst examining him because Merlin decided to tense every muscle he owns, so in theory his examination was completley normal. I think its one of the better outcomes!

As for his colitis he's slowly getting over that, enough that he was back to running around and trying to steal items from the vets office. He's yet to eat anything more than a quarter of a chicken breast a day, but he's getting there. :)
I'm glad you have found out what's wrong with him and I hope this means he can now start his journey to getting back to being him :D
Lotsaquestions
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Re: Skip or not?

Post by Lotsaquestions »

Thank you, I hope so!
ZaraD
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Re: Skip or not?

Post by ZaraD »

Lotsaquestions wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2018 12:28 pm Thank you, I hope so!
I will mention him in my prayers.
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