eternal_dream
Member
I will first start off by saying, I've kinda been a lurker for the Doberman pictures and info how to post leading up to getting my red girl. So I haven't really posted much, or at all really, but I have been here for awhile.
So yes, I finally own a Doberman girl, but I also own two small chi mixes that were rescued from kill shelters in TN. I have no clue of their backgrounds, genetic details, ect, other than they are small little mutts and that's that. Well, one of our little guys started having issues one night and I'm at a loss on what it could be or what to do.
Before anyone says, this isn't the place to be asking medical advice, go to the vet! Yes, you are correct! And let me say that we have taken him to vet clinics, yes, clinicS. And he is getting adjustments from a chiropractor (animal certified) every other day. Yes, professional medical care is already on board. But everyone is at a loss, or every time we get a different diagnosis. Luckily we are close with our vet so she is open to tossing ideas at her and she'll either tell us, No. Or maybe, let's try treatment for that and see. Thus why I'm here tonight.
So, onto the details.
Harley is our little 7.5 year old chi mix. About 12 pounds. One day he went out to go to the bathroom all fine and dandy like normal. We left for work and when we returned he would not come when called like normal. When we found him he was laying in an area he normally wouldn't be and shaking. Really reluctant to move. I thought he ate something so we rushed him to the emergency clinic. Once there, they gave him the look over and said it was his back that was causing the issues. He was in pain, thus the shaking. Figuring, being a little dog, jumping off the bed might have done it. But swore up and down it was not the doberman who did it. Just a little dog getting up there in age and shouldn't be doing the things he was doing. So he gave him some heavy duty pain killers, a shot, and some steroids to last the weekend until we could get him to a vet if it didn't get better. He got an adjustment and confirmed his back was really out of place. He seemed to get better. The pain killers were making him really loopy, and we weaned him off the steroids like we were told to.
Then we suddenly we back to just laying in the middle of the floor now shivering. Refused to move. Pretty much worse than before. At this point I shipped him up to my parents house because I was afraid the doberman jumping around may have been the cause and I like their vets better. Plus they are home more and over all it was a better place for him to be medically. Off to the vets again, this time they said he had 2 vertebrae in his neck that were fused together (so 3 involved total) and that's what was the issue. She gave him more pain meds and steriods and said to just give him 1-2 months of rest, but we'd see improvement within a couple of days. Again she said it was not caused by the other dogs, but possibly a degenerative thing due to age. Can never wear a collar again and needs to stop jumping on the bed, ect. Can't go down stairs, all these restrictions.
First couple of days he continued to get worse. He went from refusing to put a lot of pressure on his back legs. Then he was favoring his front legs. But then about a week into it, he was back to himself. Trying to run around their house. Still not as active as he used to be, but he was perky I guess you could say. Then being a small dog, he liked to wrap himself in a blanket and I guess fell off the couch? He wasn't jumping up there anymore, he would ask to come up, so they would put him up there to prevent him from jumping on. but I guess one night he fell. He got an adjustment but he started going down hill again after that. And continued to go downhill.
The 2 month resting period is almost over. And it went from staggering around, if he made any sudden movement he's fall over. To the point where the other day he couldn't use his back legs and he would be dragging himself across the floor. Not eating much at all during this whole thing. Not really having bowl movement much because it's hard for him to go. Even though they carry him outside and help hold him up to go.
So they took him to the vets the other day with the thought they were going to put him down. They said we can put him down now or try one more round of steroids and see if that helps since he had a lot of inflammation in his neck. They weren't sure if that what was causing a nerve to be pinched or if it's something neurological and in which case they said there isn't much that will help him. So they gave him another shot of I forgot what they told me, and the upped the dosage of steroids. This was Tuesday night. And tonight she said while he is still really out of it and his back legs aren't all that great, he was able to walk across the room before he fell over. So it sounds like he is getting some functions back, but they don't feel like it was enough of an improvement yet to justify keeping him around because the quality of life isn't there. Which I understand that and I don't want to keep him around for my sake if he is suffering. But I don't want to put him down if it's something that an extra week or two more of this and he will be ok. Anything I come up with on the internet says, it's one of those things you need to wait it out and while it appears horrible to us, it's just a shocking thing to go through as an owner. And the other half says it's only going to get worse and there is little to no treatment other than make their life comfortable until they need to be put down.
We've asked her about MD, which she said wasn't the case because his lameness in his legs wouldn't switch from back to front to back again. I asked her about wobblers. She said that didn't make sense either. He hasn't had a tick on him in, gosh, 7 years? So I don't think it would be anything tick related. They did say he now has a heart murmur which I don't remember him having before. And he has a bit of arthritis. Dietary he was on Acana, then a bit of California Natural. Treats, he'd get Greenies or the hip and joint treats from Zukes. And sometimes wellness canned food. Although now that he's been at my parents he won't eat much so it's one of those what he eats is what he gets. For awhile he was getting eggs in the morning and they made him his own meatloaf. Then he was getting shaved beef from the deli. Then he was getting cooked chicken, ect. He's an indoor dog other than to go potty, walks, ect.
I just don't know what else it could be, or if we should wait it out. Has anyone else seen something like this?
So yes, I finally own a Doberman girl, but I also own two small chi mixes that were rescued from kill shelters in TN. I have no clue of their backgrounds, genetic details, ect, other than they are small little mutts and that's that. Well, one of our little guys started having issues one night and I'm at a loss on what it could be or what to do.
Before anyone says, this isn't the place to be asking medical advice, go to the vet! Yes, you are correct! And let me say that we have taken him to vet clinics, yes, clinicS. And he is getting adjustments from a chiropractor (animal certified) every other day. Yes, professional medical care is already on board. But everyone is at a loss, or every time we get a different diagnosis. Luckily we are close with our vet so she is open to tossing ideas at her and she'll either tell us, No. Or maybe, let's try treatment for that and see. Thus why I'm here tonight.
So, onto the details.
Harley is our little 7.5 year old chi mix. About 12 pounds. One day he went out to go to the bathroom all fine and dandy like normal. We left for work and when we returned he would not come when called like normal. When we found him he was laying in an area he normally wouldn't be and shaking. Really reluctant to move. I thought he ate something so we rushed him to the emergency clinic. Once there, they gave him the look over and said it was his back that was causing the issues. He was in pain, thus the shaking. Figuring, being a little dog, jumping off the bed might have done it. But swore up and down it was not the doberman who did it. Just a little dog getting up there in age and shouldn't be doing the things he was doing. So he gave him some heavy duty pain killers, a shot, and some steroids to last the weekend until we could get him to a vet if it didn't get better. He got an adjustment and confirmed his back was really out of place. He seemed to get better. The pain killers were making him really loopy, and we weaned him off the steroids like we were told to.
Then we suddenly we back to just laying in the middle of the floor now shivering. Refused to move. Pretty much worse than before. At this point I shipped him up to my parents house because I was afraid the doberman jumping around may have been the cause and I like their vets better. Plus they are home more and over all it was a better place for him to be medically. Off to the vets again, this time they said he had 2 vertebrae in his neck that were fused together (so 3 involved total) and that's what was the issue. She gave him more pain meds and steriods and said to just give him 1-2 months of rest, but we'd see improvement within a couple of days. Again she said it was not caused by the other dogs, but possibly a degenerative thing due to age. Can never wear a collar again and needs to stop jumping on the bed, ect. Can't go down stairs, all these restrictions.
First couple of days he continued to get worse. He went from refusing to put a lot of pressure on his back legs. Then he was favoring his front legs. But then about a week into it, he was back to himself. Trying to run around their house. Still not as active as he used to be, but he was perky I guess you could say. Then being a small dog, he liked to wrap himself in a blanket and I guess fell off the couch? He wasn't jumping up there anymore, he would ask to come up, so they would put him up there to prevent him from jumping on. but I guess one night he fell. He got an adjustment but he started going down hill again after that. And continued to go downhill.
The 2 month resting period is almost over. And it went from staggering around, if he made any sudden movement he's fall over. To the point where the other day he couldn't use his back legs and he would be dragging himself across the floor. Not eating much at all during this whole thing. Not really having bowl movement much because it's hard for him to go. Even though they carry him outside and help hold him up to go.
So they took him to the vets the other day with the thought they were going to put him down. They said we can put him down now or try one more round of steroids and see if that helps since he had a lot of inflammation in his neck. They weren't sure if that what was causing a nerve to be pinched or if it's something neurological and in which case they said there isn't much that will help him. So they gave him another shot of I forgot what they told me, and the upped the dosage of steroids. This was Tuesday night. And tonight she said while he is still really out of it and his back legs aren't all that great, he was able to walk across the room before he fell over. So it sounds like he is getting some functions back, but they don't feel like it was enough of an improvement yet to justify keeping him around because the quality of life isn't there. Which I understand that and I don't want to keep him around for my sake if he is suffering. But I don't want to put him down if it's something that an extra week or two more of this and he will be ok. Anything I come up with on the internet says, it's one of those things you need to wait it out and while it appears horrible to us, it's just a shocking thing to go through as an owner. And the other half says it's only going to get worse and there is little to no treatment other than make their life comfortable until they need to be put down.
We've asked her about MD, which she said wasn't the case because his lameness in his legs wouldn't switch from back to front to back again. I asked her about wobblers. She said that didn't make sense either. He hasn't had a tick on him in, gosh, 7 years? So I don't think it would be anything tick related. They did say he now has a heart murmur which I don't remember him having before. And he has a bit of arthritis. Dietary he was on Acana, then a bit of California Natural. Treats, he'd get Greenies or the hip and joint treats from Zukes. And sometimes wellness canned food. Although now that he's been at my parents he won't eat much so it's one of those what he eats is what he gets. For awhile he was getting eggs in the morning and they made him his own meatloaf. Then he was getting shaved beef from the deli. Then he was getting cooked chicken, ect. He's an indoor dog other than to go potty, walks, ect.
I just don't know what else it could be, or if we should wait it out. Has anyone else seen something like this?
