Need immidiate advice concerning my dog !!!

[AikenRooster]

I know I am new here, but I desperately need y'alls advice concerning my dog:

The dog: Rottweiler, female, 8 years, overweight, hips inflammed for about a year; other than this normal.

The scenario: 2 weeks ago, we took the dogs to our vet(great vet btw) to get yearly shots. Doc asks how long the Rottie's hips have been inflammed. We said since last christmas. He gives the dog some anti-imflammatory medicine/pain medicine and a couple of days later the dog is running around like a puppy, frisky as heck.

2 days ago, said dog won't jump in truck or come up steps. Said dog has to be pushed up steps(wife), or picked up and carried in(me), and this sucks. Dog walking kind of low to ground, but can squat to use bathroom.

Took dog for x-rays and bloodwork today at vet. Just got the phone call. He says it isn't her hips and he can't see anything on the x-ray or bloodwork indicating broken bone, hip dyslpasia, infection, etc. Says it is possible that BOTH ACL's are torn, but highly unlikely, and it doesn't feel like it. Says that we need to take her to specialist in Columbia, and it will be $1000 for MRI, CT, or whatever they will do. Then he says that depending on the scenario, it will be several thousand dollars to have a back surgery.

He says it is HIGHLY unlikely that this situation is going away on it's own. I do have the $1000 for this MRI, even after I fork out for these x-rays today, but I went through financial difficulties last winter, and I do not have $3000 or $4000 laying around for a dog back surgery. I feel terrible. I don't want to put my dog to sleep, but I don't want her to be in pain. I don't have kids, but I don't have this money, either.

I don't know what to do. My wife is headed to a funeral in the upstate now, and we're freaking out and probably not thinking clearly. I would just like to know how much you'd spend on a dog/cat in this situation. I hate to say, "how much is a dog's life worth," but I guess to put it coarsely that is what I am asking.

Thanks for any advice in advance. God Bless!

[MEL]

Hmmm. Have they checked your dog's thyroid? My daughter's cat went thru this, but he was also losing weight. It got to the point that the cat couldn't jump up on the bed and could barely move his back legs because he had lost muscle mass. The doc gave him pain & thyroid meds and her cat is now fine. But, I do see where you said your dog is overweight. Maybe putting her on a diet could take some of the pressure off of her hips and help improve the inflammation.

Anyway, if it would make you feel better, maybe you should go ahead and spend the $1,000 on the CT or MRI so that at least you'll know what's going on so that if you do decide you need to put your dog to sleep, you will at least know that you made an informed decision instead of going thru what you are experiencing now, which is the unknown.

It is truly difficult to put a dollar amount on the life of your pet - it really is and I do sympathize with you so much that you are having to make this kind of decision and your poor dog is suffering right now. Do you think she'd be ok on anti-inflammatory meds for a while or was she still on the meds when she started going downhill again?

Good luck and pray hard about it and hopefully an answer will come to you. Keep us posted.

[ShutTheSuccop]

Is keeping the dog around in pain for your benefit or your dogs?

[N00k]

I'm from Aiken too. Just wondering - what vet did you go to?

[AikenRooster]

Originally Posted by N00k

I'm from Aiken too. Just wondering - what vet did you go to?

We go to Dr. James Mitchell in Bamberg. Nice guy, and about the best prices you're going to find. Aiken vets are too much because of all the demand for horse care prevalent in the area.

[AikenRooster]

Originally Posted by ShutTheSuccop

Is keeping the dog around in pain for your benefit or your dogs?

Correct, I do not want the dog in pain for her benefit. Sure, I will miss the dog, but it is her quality of life that matters.

When I called the place in Columbia, I got hit with another bombshell. You can't have the imaging done without scheduling for suregery, and the minimum is $3200 to $3700, and I don't have it. I used to have that type of money laying around, just for emergencies, but not now. Damn, caught with my pants down again, I guess is how the saying goes.

I am trying to call my wife now to consult. This sucks! I am ready for Carolina football and this is just a freaking bombshell.

[boo boo]

My dogs are my best friends and I would spend whatever to keep them alive. I also would not want them to live in pain. I would suggest you keep researching and get a second opinion. Hope it works out for you, man. I got roots in Aiken too btw.

[GamecockSkip]

My dog had problems with mobility and the vet gave me some organic suppliments that helped a lot. They came in a plastic tub and looked like large rabbit crap. The active ingredient is glucosamine HCL which is an amino acid the my vet says has absolutely no side affects, unlike antiinflammitories. You might try those before spending lots of cash. They take about a week to show any improvement though.

[lencho30]

Originally Posted by boo boo

My dogs are my best friends and I would spend whatever to keep them alive. I also would not want them to live in pain. I would suggest you keep researching and get a second opinion. Hope it works out for you, man. I got roots in Aiken too btw.

What boo boo said!!!

[CocksfanNC]

I would definitely suggest getting a second opinion before you do anything. Also, did your vet prescribe some pain meds until you can decide what to do? At least that way your dog can be comfortable until the decision is made.

As for how much I would pay for a dog's health care...well, we have three cats and until this summer (when my oldest dog died) we had three dogs. So far this year (and I really, REALLY hope there won't be any more unhappy surprises) we have had three surgeries for one cat, one surgery for one dog (the one who later died of an unrelated heart attack) and one surgery for another dog. I actually ended up taking out a personal loan for the most recent surgery. I feel like I need to do everything I can to take care of my pets. I do go to a very reasonable vet, though. You need to make the best decision you can based on what is best for you, your family and your dog, though.

Good luck and best wishes to you all.

[OscarTheGrouch]

Yeah get a second opinion. Any good vet will let should let you get the imaging done without forcing you in to anything.. check in greenville, columbia etc. hell call uga- they have a vet school...

[FoghornLeghornCock]

I have two things for you first the average life expectancy for different breeds of dogs. http://www.vetinfo.com/dog-life-span.html

At this sight your breed a Rottweiler is know to have a propensity for Hip Dysplasia. http://www.vetinfo.com/hip-dysplasia-dogs.html

I would do some research on the web and if you don't think these symptoms are not this disease maybe get a second opinion. I guess though if you can't afford it you may have to make a hard decision here. You also might wait a little while and see if it clears up on it's own as well or gets worse.

[MEL]

Originally Posted by GamecockSkip

My dog had problems with mobility and the vet gave me some organic suppliments that helped a lot. They came in a plastic tub and looked like large rabbit crap. The active ingredient is glucosamine HCL which is an amino acid the my vet says has absolutely no side affects, unlike antiinflammitories. You might try those before spending lots of cash. They take about a week to show any improvement though.

Yeah come to think of it, the vet for my daughter's cat gave her some supplements to give to her cat. She opened a capsule and mixed it into the cat's wet food once per day and that along with the thyroid meds helped. Her cat is 12 years old and back to his old self.

[AikenRooster]

Ok, I went and picked the dog up from the vet. He says that it isn't hip dysplasia and that is why I need to take her to the SC surgical refferal place in Columbia. He believes it is a spinal problem, which can't be detected by x-ray. He gave me some steroids for the dog and pain pills.

I left under the assumption that I couldn't afford the $3800 to have imaging and surgery in Columbia, but I called my local credit union, and lo and behold my credit was good enough with them to get a personal $5000 (haven't borrowed money in a long, long time). It felt uneasy, but I had to do this for my dog. Anyways, I got the money, and said dog will be in Columbia, SC (Home of the Fighting Gamecocks) on Monday to see if South Carolina's best vets can perform a miracle. Boy, I hope so.

Let me say that I appreciate everyone taking time to respond to this today. God Bless!

[c-girl]

Please let us know what they have to say...

[RudeCock]

Originally Posted by AikenRooster

Ok, I went and picked the dog up from the vet. He says that it isn't hip dysplasia and that is why I need to take her to the SC surgical refferal place in Columbia. He believes it is a spinal problem, which can't be detected by x-ray. He gave me some steroids for the dog and pain pills.

I left under the assumption that I couldn't afford the $3800 to have imaging and surgery in Columbia, but I called my local credit union, and lo and behold my credit was good enough with them to get a personal $5000 (haven't borrowed money in a long, long time). It felt uneasy, but I had to do this for my dog. Anyways, I got the money, and said dog will be in Columbia, SC (Home of the Fighting Gamecocks) on Monday to see if South Carolina's best vets can perform a miracle. Boy, I hope so.

Let me say that I appreciate everyone taking time to respond to this today. God Bless!

I hope everything turns out well with your dog man.

[The Yancey]

Good luck!

[garnet812]

Good luck to you and your pup... always hate to see dogs injured or sick

[Acockolypse Now]

Man, best of luck. Pets are part of the family and that's tough.

[AikenRooster]

Ok, I wanted to give everyone an update on the situation. I will follow with details, but let me just say this for folks who don't want to read any further: Thank God Almighty we live in the United States of America in the 21st Century. We need to stop and contemplate the miracles that occur everyday as a direct effect of being blessed enough to live here during modern times. Now, to the details.

The fine folks at the South Carolina Veterinary Specialists facility, off of Piney Road, in Columbia, performed a procedure called a hemilaminectomy. Basically, the dog's disc has collapsed and the vertebrae is "pinching" or "compressing" the spinal cord and they take out a portion of the vertebrae(the lamina, or half of it, thus hemi-lamina) and "clean up" the area. They do not fuse the vertebraes, like they do in humans, and in fact, will sometimes remove the lamina of some connecting vertebrae to give further relief, which I think they did with Peaches, but I am not sure. Anyways, the surgery was successful, and they kept her for about a week. It was awful to go up there and see her, because she could not walk and they had her in this "sling" contraption to hold her up, just to get her off the floor so she would get sores, but she could not walk. The week in there, the surgery, and the imaging cost right at $5000, which is what we borrowed.

It just so happens that one of the best dog physical rehab vets in the whole of the United States practices in Aiken, SC, Dr. Maria Glinski. The guys in Columbia referred us to her. It costs $265 per day, but the dog couldn't walk, so what was my choice, having gone this far. However, I really didn't/don't have this type of money, so we told her that we could only pay for one week. At this point the dog couldn't walk. The rehab place does accupuncture, laser treatment, underwater treadmill, excercise with a cart, and other exercises and their staff is top notch - super friendly people who really care. I would rather go there if I ever needed medical care as opposed to a hospital, where they don't care, but anyways...
After one week of this, the dog could barely use the right hind foot and the left one wasn't doing anything. I told my wife that this dog was never going to walk and she'd be walking in a cart the rest of her life, a cart that we were going to have to pay $600 for, in addition to the bill.
After one week, the doctor wanted to keep her another week. We told her that we were tapped out, which we were, after we paid the bill, and bought the cart, and that we weren't doing any credit cards(I have never had a credit card). She said she would give us 3 months to pay, so we agreed. Anyways, change wasn't happening very quickly after this second week. Still, no hope, in my book, and the dog still wasn't home. Then Thanksgiving came around, and the cart we ordered hadn't arrived, so they kept her last weekend. So, Monday, we said that we were coming to get her. Lo and Behold, when my wife arrived the dog got up on all fours and walked to the door. Hallelujah! And, they didn't make us pay for the cart, which she doesn't need. We just have to walk with her about 6 times a day, and do some exercises. She is on a big time diet, to help with tremendous amount of muscle atrophy that has occured, and she walks very wobbly, for now, but she is getting stronger every day. Sometimes she can even get up off her "bed" on her own and walk over to you. This is awesome. I hope in a few months that she'll be back to normal.
Anyways, I know some of you animal lovers out there were praying for my dog, so me and my wife thank you for that !!!! If your dog needs rehab after surgery, I would recommend this one here in Aiken, just based on the way that we were treated and the miracle that they performed.