Mushu's dogtor's appointment.

I took Mushu back to the vet today. He has very cute little bones and a silly looking skull. The exrayed his whole body and everything looks completely fine. He's eating and drinking fine. He's still hurting, though. They want me to keep him confined to a crate for a few days except when he goes out to potty. Has anyone else ever had to do this? I hope it doesn't hurt his feelings.

MAAlfred wrote:I took Mushu back to the vet today. He has very cute little bones and a silly looking skull. The exrayed his whole body and everything looks completely fine. He's eating and drinking fine. He's still hurting, though. They want me to keep him confined to a crate for a few days except when he goes out to potty. Has anyone else ever had to do this? I hope it doesn't hurt his feelings.

Yes, I've had to do it several dogs--either due to an injury that, like you, didn't appear on an X-ray or due to post surgical needs.

IF what he has is a soft tissue injury (Tank has one currently) then prednisone will do nothing for it. Pred can be helpful in some cases, but not in a soft tissue or strain injury. Anti-inflammatories can help as can pain meds, used carefully. When a dog is indicating pain that seems to have no identifiable cause, then often the advice is to restrict activity (crate rest). So no stairs, no jumping, no running, nothing that would stress muscles and tendons. If he isn't crate-able then confine him to a room with a baby gate. His feelings aren't going to be hurt, but his body might be if he isn't restricted from any kind of activity that will stress his muscular system.

I give Tank a massage and some stretching exercises--but I had the canine physiotherapist take a look at him when my vet suggested arthritis--It just didn't look like arthritis to me. And it turns out he's probably wrenched his shoulder from jumping off my bed in an effort to get to my son (he has stairs to go up and down from the bed, but The Boy coming home is too exciting to waste time on stairs). So he's on some tramadol for bad days and he gets a moist heat applied to his shoulder several times a day.

Do you have any idea where he is hurting? It makes it tough to know what to do except restrict activity if there's no "spot" that the pain seems to be primarily. Certainly keeping him warm would be a good idea.

If you haven't already, I'd elevate his food bowl so he doesn't have to bend down to eat.

I'm glad he seems to be returning to normal somewhat. Bloody frustrating you haven't found a cause. Blanche has given great advice. I hope with restricted movement, rest and your TLC he comes good soon!

I've been mulling over what's been happening, Meredith and wondered a couple of things.

Did the vet say why they put Mushu on Prednisone? It can have anti-inflammatory properties and is sometimes used in cases of suspected spinal injury. And pred should never be taken with any NAIDS like Metacam or Rimadyl. And you need to wean a dog off of prednisone slowly to avoid pred withdrawal. How long and at what dose is Mushu on pred?

Did the vet manipulate Mushu's legs, spine, or neck to see if there was a pain reaction?

Did the vet give you any idea as to what they thought might be the problem?

Feel free to tell me to bugger off, but I'm trying to suss out what the vet thinks is going on and the reasons for the meds. Can you tell me what meds (names of them) that he's on?

I do know all about the prednisone, so don't worry. They also manipulated every little part of him. They gave me pain meds and a sedative if he needs it. They're going to call me in a couple of days. They were very thorough and it's a very good vet. It's actually a small vet hospital. She said that his one shoulder was a little stiff but he doesn't limp and he didn't cry out when she moved it. I appreciate all that you told me. It makes me feel better. As I'm sure you can relate, I love him like crazy.

Okay. It sounds like you and the vet are on top of it. I'd certainly curtail his activity. Tank doesn't limp often on his injured shoulder, either, but his step on that side is foreshortened and when the physiotherapist manipulated his shoulder in a certain way, there was resistance which my vet hadn't found.

I'll keep Mushu in my thoughts and I hope this all squares away quicly for you both.

One other way to help figure out where pain is coming from, feel over his body and feel for any areas that are warmer to the touch. I have no idea why vets typically don't do this. A massage therapist who works on my dogs told me about this and it's been spot on!