Rescue Journal

Roxie has back problems ....

Mo  ·  Jan. 30, 2007

and I suck at not freaking out !!!! She went in for X-rays & when the vet left me a message... did he say , not to worry it's something we can manage... No , he says... " we've completed our exam & I'll definatley spend some time with you explaining things when you come to pick her up.. call me after 3 " He left the message around 11:30 .. me , wait until after 3 to find out what was going on... No way. I called back, received news.. that I didn't reallly understand... thank goodness I was at SAINTS & Carol was able to bring me back to earth & quell some of the anxiety that was bubbling up into my heart. It seems Roxie's vertabrae are fusing together & one knee joint is somewhat flat on one side... I'm not sure where this is going but I love this dog so much !!!she's 4 years old... this is not supposed to happen to a young dog.

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Rae

I'm so sorry Mo. Sounds like a really rough day for you and Roxie. She's lucky she has you for a mom. You'll take good care of her and make sure she has everything she needs to be comfortable.

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Carol

ha ha...roxie is gonna wish she kept her secret hidden longer...mo-mom is on to her now! hey, she can be a real saint now that she is a confirmed defective...levy is still a wanna-be!

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Maureen

Thanks all... Carol, I'll call you when I get the chance to discuss pain management & supplements. I'm sure once I realize/believe this is a management issue I'll relax.. and i think that just takes time. I'll do what it takes to make sure Roxie gets what she needs.

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Jean

Aww Mo, I hope Roxie will have a long and carefree life. Don't forget to consider things like acupuncture - an acquaintance of mine found this helped her dog with bone abnormalities quite a bit, allowing him to maintain his flexibility much longer than the vet had predicted - I don't remember what the exact condition was, but I know it had something to do with the spine.
Hugs to you and your puppers.

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Carol

deep breath, she can be managed. did you ask him about the metacam, glucosamine and cartrophen?...and if he said wait to see to all of that...don't. give her the tools to maintain her spine, ligaments, muscles, and connective tissue in optimal health so she doesn't hurt herself and deteriorate. preventative vs reactive medicine works much better. we teach this in human medicine but not in vet med. and that is why the cripple crew can still run in the fields. we need to do a workshop on this.

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Janice

What a worry ... well you can start with supplemnts!! What is the name of that product that gal had at my fund raiser.. an equine product now for canines? Gosh i can't think of it now..

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Maureen

I wish I'd take a tape recorder in with me... I was anxious & never remember everything... It's sorta & wait & see , it will be up to me to watch for how sore, how often, to what degree is the pain . If it were to get worse really fast, he thinks she should see a specialists ( I'll talk to Carol about all this later ) he was a bit stumped by what the knee showed, he showed me pictures in books of what HD & other ailments look like.. her's is a bit different. She's got 3... crap maybe 4 spots ( there's that memory loss again ) where the vertabrea are fusing, the one close to her tail looks the worst. If it doesn't get progressively worse fast, we'll X-ray again in a year . My fear is that it has been worse in the last few weeks... will it continue at this speeed. Can I manange it effectively so no additional damage is done because of her loss of flexibilty..... no more thinking about it....

I'm heading out to take them for a short walk around the block.. Please excuse my spelling mistakes...

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Julie

I'm sure there is something that can be done to help your sweet girl with her mobility. pets and hugs all round for you.

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Nicole

oh mo, i'm so sorry to hear it wasn't just muscle pain. i will bring her out liver brownies on saturday (and beer for you). did he discuss any 'treatment' possibilities?
take care

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