The results are in…

Well, Toby spent most of his day at the vet’s office. He had two X-rays done. One of his hips and one of his back. Both came back looking good. He also had blood work done to rule out Lyme’s disease which can cause pain and swelling in the bones and joints.

He handled all of the procedures well, but it was obvious to the vet that he was in pain. The treatment plan is as follows: pain medication twice a day, no walks, no playing and no furniture jumping for two weeks. He needs to be supervised as often as possible. The suspicion is that he has an injury of some sort.

My poor little guy. I felt so bad leaving him at the vet. He looked so sad when I left the room. He was thrilled when we came to get him. He’s sound asleep now. I have to wait to give him his meds until he eats something. He hasn’t shown any interest in food today, so I may have to bribe him with peanut butter bread in order to get him to take his pain pills.

Hopefully the medication and rest will help him to feel better.

Worry, worry, worry….

Okay, so we get Stevie taken care of (for the most part) and just as we start to relax, Toby starts having problems. Over the last two weeks, we’ve noticed that Toby is having trouble on his walks. He keeps stopping and nipping at his back. After a couple of nips, he stops all together and sits down. When he gets walking again, he whimpers and then goes onto the grass and lays down. Eventually, my husband will have to pick him up and carry him home. Today, they only made it 2/3 of the way around the block before they had to come home. What’s worse is that, even in the cooler temperatures and with water throughout the walk, he’s extremely winded by the time he gets home. He still has an appetite and he can still get up and down from the furniture. He plays and cuddles like normal, but he really struggles when he’s walking.

Toby will be two years old on Thursday and he’s typically energetic, athletic and he can walk for miles. Needless to say, I’m worried.

I’ve made an appointment with the vet for tomorrow morning. Updates to follow.

Have you seen this?

No matter how many times I watch this, it still makes me laugh!

Negative….

Here’s the update – Stevie’s blood panel came back negative. No renal failure, liver disease, kidney malfunction, etc. Frustratingly, his CBC blood test clotted before it could be tested so we don’t have any results on possible infection. We took him for a walk tonight and he made it all the way around the neighborhood without getting winded and laying down. We’ve had the occasion growl and snap, but it’s been better. We haven’t worked on socializing because we wanted to make sure he wasn’t really sick.

Next steps – do another CBC and urine analysis. Find a local trainer that works with blind dogs and continue to work on socializing on our own.

I’m so grateful that the blood panel came back negative. I was walking around with a pit in my stomach thinking about all of the bad things it might have been.

The Long Road

We’ve been dealing with some health issues with our newest addition, Stevie. Our blind and partially deaf pup has been on two consecutive rounds of antibiotics for a bladder infection yet there are still white blood cells in his urine. We had an abdominal X-ray done yesterday but the results were inconclusive. Poor little guy was so nervous he peed and pooped on the X-ray table and then again in the vet’s lobby. Our next step is a full blood panel and another urinalysis next week.

Despite the bladder issues, he’s come along beautifully on house training. His only accidents occur when we miss one of his cues. Or sometimes he messes his kennel when we leave him alone, which I think is an anxiety thing. He’s making it through the night as well. We’ve figured out that he doesn’t like to sleep alone (he always slept with another dog at night when he was in the shelter) so now he has joined Toby in our bed. It’s crowded, but comfy.

The one thing that is bothering me most is the change in his temperament. Most of the time, he’s content and playful, but just recently, he’s been showing some aggression. When he was at the shelter, he had free reign and got along with the other dogs. Now, he’s friendly with Toby, but growls, snaps and lunges at other dogs we come in contact with. He’s also done the same to my husband and myself when we’ve tried to move him off the couch. He’s growled and snapped at my children on a couple of occasions as well. He responds to correction, but I’m concerned that he’s even acting out at all. What’s worse is that the behavior is unpredictable. I’m thinking it is health-related and maybe once we figure out what’s going on we can fix it. If not, I’m not sure what to do.

He really is a wonderful and sweet little dog and he and I have become very close. I love him very much. It makes me sad to think that there may be something wrong that is making him act out. I’m worried that it may be something bad.