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well….
the specialist suspected dorain had 2 different problems, one causing front leg lameness and one causing back leg lameness. he thought it was all spinal, so dorain had an mri of his spine. the good news was that the specialist was wondering about a possible wobblers lesion at the base of his neck – and his spine there was fine. the bad news… he has three bulging discs in the lumbar region of his back – which the specialist isn’t too worried about, he said, to be expected in a middle aged dog (can’t call him middle aged :'( :'( :'( :'( ), but where his spondylosis is there is also disc material protruding – on both sides – which is almost completely blocking the nerve exits in that area (lumbosacral) from the spinal cord and pressing on the nerves – hence the pain, limping and scuffing claws. and there is not much that can be done. there are three surgical techniques – one involves going in from the top and taking disc material out from the top – but the problem isn’t at the top it’s at the sides. another involves removing part of pelvis to get at sides and take disc material out, then repairing pelvis with pins etc – very bi op, and not very good outlook, as often destabilises again. the third i can’t remember the name of has only been done on 10 dogs ever and is therefore experimental – and dorain aint experimental. on that basis i don’t want surgery – and the specialist doesn’t recommend syrgery either – he’s very straight up – but it is not going to get better. :'( his pain hasn’t responded to any sort of treatment so far – the specialist has said PLT and tramadol. plan is just to try the tramadol first and see as i don’t want anything steroidy unless i have to. anythign sort of herbally that might help? :-\
he said it is relatively common in pointers and seems to be froma mechanical instability. i just keep remembering all his knocks – like the two times the pratt decided to try and jump a cattle grid instead of coming through the gate, and the time he tried to run up a 20 foot vertical bank and fell at the top and landed on his right hip on a rock – he was on 3 legs then and i thought he had broken something…. and just hoping they didn’t have anything to do with it and battering myself round the head metaphorically speaking for letting it happrn…. :'( :'(
and front legs he isn’t sure. since there was nothing on xray or mri he did joint taps – he said there was a higher volume of joint fluid with a lower viscosity than he would expect in both elbows and both carpi – and said itcould be soft tissue or degenerative, but either way there probably wasn’t much point doing much as his back end was the bigger problem… and to see if it responded to the meds for that… h’s sending the joint fluid to the lab so need to wait for results of that…. :'(
and the beastie got very growly when he was baing examined – vet said ‘do e need to muzzle him?’ i said no… collar in one hand nose in other you aint going anywhere…. think he is getting utterly fed up of being prodded and poked. and he is very peed off now, though he was slightly mollified by getting cod and potatos cooked for his dinner…..
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