UPDATE: your kind words and thoughts worked....thank you thank you thank you

[karolyp]

My beloved 6 year old dog hurt her hips (I think). And I don't really know how she did it either. But now she has a really hard time moving and is in a lot of pain. She can walk (very slowly), can sit, go potty and such. But she has a real hard time going up and down the front porch step. And she crys everytime you touch the area by her hips. At first I thought she might have pulled a muscle and would feel better, but it hasn't so I'm taking her to the vet tonight. Now I'm thinking her hips might be out of place or perhaps she tore something. Has anyone had any experience with this? Will she need sugery? And of course, finances are tight here, so if she needs surgery will vets work with us or take payments?

**********************************
We'll I took her to the vet tonight. I was afraid to even pick her up and put her in the car for fear of hurting her so my SIL and I just picked up her crate with her in it and put it in the car! And a nurse helped me get her out once we arrived. The vet felt her hips (she did yelp when she did this) and made her walk around. But said that probably nothing tore since she was bearing weight on all her hind legs and didn't hold up a leg when standing still either. The vet also said that she probably just pulled a muscle (how she managed to do this, I'll never know) and to take it easy and come back on Monday for a check up. She said if she still is in pain then she'll have to do xrays and such. What can I say, my "furbaby" (that is soooo cute btw) is getting older, turning gray, and her body just can't keep up with her playful mind....KWIM?

Anyhow, I just wanted to THANK YOU all for your advice, kind words, and thoughts. I am truly grateful.

[JFC]

I'm glad you are taking her to the vet - she'll need to be examined before you know what is wrong. Our labs have suffered both extreme hip problems and a torn ACL respectively. Both required surgery - the hips were more $$ than the knee in my cases, but really, you'll need to find out what your vet finds is wrong. In the meantime, try to keep her quiet - maybe call your vet back and ask for their recommendation, but i know we were able to give our dogs aspirin to help w/ the pain until we were able to get meds. from the vet. I hope she is "up and running" with a clean bill of health (and a small vet bill!) soon! ;-)

[dogmom]

My lab presented with that problem around age 7 or so. My local vet gave him Rymadil thinking it was a flair of osteoarthritis (very common in labs) that he had but I hadn't realized. They took Xrays and thought it might be some boney build up on the spine. (Not to expensive, but they had to knock him out). The Rymadil never did anything and he would still have a lot of problems at times. Just touch is back end and he would wimper and shrink down. This from a typical lab that you could smack his butt again and again for taking your pizza from the table and all you would do was hurt your hand, not the dog. (Lab owners will understand, they are bred to be touch insensitive.)

Sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night and freak out and not be able to move either one of his back legs. I was so worried something would happen and he would become paralyzed. I hauled him into Boston to Angell Memorial Animal Hospital and saw a neurologist. The neurologist was unimpressed with the xrays, he said he saw dogs with much worse spinal fusions that have no problems. After examining him he though it was arthritis, maybe some other inflammatory process and put him on a human anti-inflammatory medication, Feldane, and Cytotec to protect his stomache. He took that everyday for a couple of months and his problems went away.

He took it for years 3/week and I could take him off of it in the winter because he didn't run around as much. The last year of his life he had to go back on it everyday and he had more and more problems. We eventually decided to put his to sleep, but that was six years later when he was 13, a good life for a lab. He only would be in pain like he originally was again if he ran around a lot and he wasn't taking his meds everyday.

The vet explained to me a lot of arthritis presents like an acute event because the dog can't tell you, "Wow, you know it's getting harder to walk around." Just one day too many things happen and it really hurts them.

It can be some other things, but from what you described it sounded I lot like my dog. Good luck with the Vet. If they try Rymadil and it doesn't work please ask to try another med. Many vets will only use Rymadil thinking that Feldane is too dangerous because of the risk of a GI bleed. My vet was always bugging me to take him off of it. I was, "Well, when he starts vomiting blood I will think about it, but right now it is keeping him pain free and mobile." He was on it for years with her always bugging me to take him off of it and he never had stomache problems. except for the last week of his life. I'm very glad I ignored her.


Jeanne
Mom to Harvey
1/16/03

[saschalicks]

Oh you poor thing. I'm in pain thinking of your furbaby in pain. It's so hard b/c like babies they can't tell you where it hurts. Well, I'm glad you are going to the vet. I agree w/PP about calling to find out if there is anything you can give for the pain. My best friend uses her credit card to pay for costs, maybe you could do that if they don't do payments. She has a dog with high health costs and so I know it can become so expensive. I hope it's nothing serious and the bill will be doable. Please let us know what happened.

[TraciG]

I hope your furbaby feels better soon !

[brittone2]

No advice, but from one animal lover to another, I hope your dog is feeling better soon and that you can get the answers you need.

[lizajane]

rymadil (sp?) as mentioned by PP worked GREAT for our lab. he seems to be arthritic and we use it when he appears to have pain. he doesn't need it all the time at all. just when i can see he is having trouble with the stairs. and he is only 5. poor thing.

could it be hip dysplasia that is just now bad enough for you to notice? that can be fixed by (expensive) surgery.)

and my sister's cat had to have major surgery after a car accident and her vet would not let her do a payment plan, but they did give her a little extra time to pay.

[Momof3Labs]

It's hard to say what it could be. My familiarity is pretty much limited to advanced arthritis in senior dogs (since we usually adopt dogs 10 years old or older). They'll probably do an x-ray or two which will give them a lot of info. If they decide to use Rimadyl or any other painkiller, BE SURE that they do bloodwork to check your dog's liver function (and that it comes back normal) before you administer anything. Rimadyl (and associated painkillers) have been a godsend to some dogs, and have killed other dogs.

A good site for info on arthritis is www.srdogs.org.

[ilovetivo]

I'm so sorry she's in so much pain! Let us know! There's a credit card called Care Credit if you need surgery. We did that w/ our dog. I think you can get like 6 months to pay it off w/ no fees. Definitely ask abt it or payment plans. I'm sure they'll do something.

So sad! Good luck and hugs to all of you!

[mskitty]

I hope your "furbaby" recovers... We've been through similiar experiences in the past two years. My baby is a blonde golden retriever mix with chow type ears, tongue and tail.

Memorial Day weekend of 2004 she sprained her "knee/hip". She gimped around on that but it seemed to heal in about two weeks. Watch out for Rimadyl as it gave my girl some awful diaherra at first. Late in March my baby had similiar symptoms but they got progressively worse over 24 hours till she wouldn't put any weight on her right knee/hip at all, didn't want to go down the one step into the garage to go outside, sat still(weird for her) and just looked so pathetic. She had a 95% tear in her ACL which required surgery. We ended up choosing the minor "bandaid" surgery versus the complete recontruction. She was in better spirits just two days after the surgery and was feeling perky enough to chase a squirrel across the yard five days later on her three legs (it was a mighty slow walk back to the house). It took her about two months to be comfortable enough to go around the long block for a walk and the full flight of stairs. It took her about three months to get strong enough to do the half mile and five months to do the full 1.5 mile nightly walk. Both injuries were not caused by anything specific. I never expected to have problems with her since we had her x-rayed when we got her from the shelter five years ago and she is a mixed breed. My doctor said that surgery was the only option, it was just a question of which one as it would not have ever healed properly on its own. It was tough going three whole months without a walking buddy. :( The first couple of walks we took her on, she would go about five houses and just lay down for a spell (wagging her tail and happy as can be). We had to coop her up in a very confined area for the first week but take her on supervised walks up and down the hallway to get very limited movement. Eight months after surgery her mobility is nearly perfect, just has a little lick spot where the last stitch was on her leg.

Its horribly scary when it happens. Hope she is doing better already :)


MsKitty

[jasabo]

I just wanted to add that my dog had the same sx you're describing - couldn't walk, would just stand in one place, didn't want to be touched, etc. Sx came on suddenly and he was in a lot of pain and I couldn't figure out what he'd done. Turned out it was an anal gland abscess. Vet drained it and put him on abx and it resolved quickly.

My other dog had the same sx a few years later - pain, couldn't walk, came on suddenly with no known cause, etc. Vet wasn't able to pinpoint problem - figured it was a muscle pull or something similar. We used Rimadyl for a while and she got better.

I guess my only point is that there could be many causes, some hard to dx, so if your dog doesn't start feeling better, keep trying.

Big hugs to you. I hope she's feeling better very soon.

Lisa - mom to 2 yr old twin boys

[murpheyblue]

I'm so glad it's nothing serious. I hope she's feeling better and is back up to speed soon!