Taking Thor to the er vet :(

Send us good vibes! I don't know what's wrong with him but he hurts everywhere and kept me up all night crying.

My poor baby. He whimpers every time we take a corner :(
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/18/u9ymesav.jpg


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Oh, poor baby! Keep us updated, please. He looks so sweet.

Oh im sooo sorry! Im sending prayers your way that your babies pain subsides and that its nothing serious!!!! I feel your pain right now! Just lost my best furry friend of 14 years about an hour ago! .

We are still here, but they think he has a torn ligament in one of his knees :( We are waiting for blood tests right now.

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Wow that's a bummer hopefully they can fix it without to much trouble.

Poor thing! Hope he gets better quick. Keep us posted!

Make sure they do X-rays, or at least an ultrasound of the joint. I know they cost quite a bit more, but that's the only way we (vet professionals) can get things figured out to the best of our ability....

Let us know what goes down; we're rooting for you both

Aww. I hope your baby is ok. :(

Thank you for the vibes/prayers everyone!

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Originally Posted by norwegn113

Oh im sooo sorry! Im sending prayers your way that your babies pain subsides and that its nothing serious!!!! I feel your pain right now! Just lost my best furry friend of 14 years about an hour ago! .

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An hour before this post! That's so sad :( I'm sorry for your loss

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Originally Posted by Mephibosheth1

Make sure they do X-rays, or at least an ultrasound of the joint. I know they cost quite a bit more, but that's the only way we (vet professionals) can get things figured out to the best of our ability....

Let us know what goes down; we're rooting for you both

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He didn't do xrays/ultrasounds yet, it's double the price during an 'emergency' and he said it wasn't something we had to do tonight. We were there for a couple hours waiting for blood tests and whatnot. His kidney levels were too high for the pain/inflammation med the vet wanted to give him so he's on something else. His heartbeat was also slow, I thought that was really weird since he was terrified. I don't know what to think, and the vet is worried he's missing something besides the knee issues so he's going to call me tomorrow after Thor has been on the meds and see how he's doing. It sounds like we might end up back there in 5 days or less. Oh man :(

So far these blood tests have been done: CBC, a diagnostic vetscan panel (no clue what it is exactly other than it alone was $130!), and a HWT/Lyme/Ehrilchia/Anaplasma have been done. He thinks he has a torn ligament and has old knee injuries on both hind legs. Poor little guy has a whole list of issues :( We just bought a platform bed because I was worried he was hurting himself jumping out of our old bed even though we had stairs.

Dang Steph HHHHUUUUUUUGE amount of Good Vibe and positive thinking id goin His Way... Well I thing THOR will not give up easy!!!

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Originally Posted by SlitherinSisters

So far these blood tests have been done: CBC

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This checks the basic system functions for infection and overall health. The number of red cells, the total number of white cells, the number of each type of white cell (who even knew there were 5 different kinds of white blood cells), the number of platelets, and the health of the red blood cells are calculated/counted. This can indicate (just for example) if the animal has cancer, what kind it has, if it is fighting an infection, if it is waging war with parasites, if it has a congenital defect, etc. It can also tell if it there are metabolic issues, (elevated protein in the blood plasma, etc) which can indicate if there are problems in the kidney or liver system.

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a diagnostic vetscan panel

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This looks at specific blood chemical values (albumin, urea, sodium, potassium, lactate, creatinine) as well as enzyme levels (AST, CK, depending on which series of tests are run). These are needed in conjunction with the CBC results to look at key system function (again those kidneys and that liver).

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HWT/Lyme/Ehrilchia/Anaplasma have been done.

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These diseases (caused by parasites) can cause chronic pain and the symptoms you have described; I would imagine that there were probably elevated eosinophil values in the CBC (the White cell associated with inflammation, allergies, and parasite response) or they ran it because it is tick season (and the last 3 can be carried by ticks)


Sorry for rambling; figured I'd help clear some confusion up ;)

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Originally Posted by Mephibosheth1

This checks the basic system functions for infection and overall health. The number of red cells, the total number of white cells, the number of each type of white cell (who even knew there were 5 different kinds of white blood cells), the number of platelets, and the health of the red blood cells are calculated/counted. This can indicate (just for example) if the animal has cancer, what kind it has, if it is fighting an infection, if it is waging war with parasites, if it has a congenital defect, etc. It can also tell if it there are metabolic issues, (elevated protein in the blood plasma, etc) which can indicate if there are problems in the kidney or liver system.



This looks at specific blood chemical values (albumin, urea, sodium, potassium, lactate, creatinine) as well as enzyme levels (AST, CK, depending on which series of tests are run). These are needed in conjunction with the CBC results to look at key system function (again those kidneys and that liver).



These diseases (caused by parasites) can cause chronic pain and the symptoms you have described; I would imagine that there were probably elevated eosinophil values in the CBC (the White cell associated with inflammation, allergies, and parasite response) or they ran it because it is tick season (and the last 3 can be carried by ticks)


Sorry for rambling; figured I'd help clear some confusion up ;)

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Wow, thanks for all the info! They really did check everything blood wise, wow! I think the last one was mostly to make sure Thor didn't have lymes disease. I didn't vaccinate him for that yet this year.


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Originally Posted by Aes_Sidhe

Dang Steph HHHHUUUUUUUGE amount of Good Vibe and positive thinking id goin His Way... Well I thing THOR will not give up easy!!!

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Lol that's true! Although the vet laughed at his name since Thor is so sad and hurting. He just shivered and hung his head the whole time we were at the vet.

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Edit, forgot an update! He's doing much better, although he woke me up crying this morning as soon as his meds wore off. He has to take a pill every 8 hours. He's on Tramadol. I don't remember what the vet wanted to put him on.

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I think the last one was mostly to make sure Thor didn't have lymes disease

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Tiny nitpicky detail, but it's called Lyme disease, not "lymes". It's just one of those little things that really bother me when people say it wrong, sorry!

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He's on Tramadol. I don't remember what the vet wanted to put him on.

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Rimadyl or carprofen is probably what he wanted, but it's not safe for dogs with kidney/liver values out of whack. Tramadol is pretty safe, though. :)

Well, he's pretty much back to normal as long as he's on the meds. You can tell when it has been 8 hours since his last pill. Also, getting him to take the pill is impossible! He won't eat anything I offer him because he thinks it has a pill in it. UGH! I did some reading online and they said to try crushing it and putting it in yogurt. I think I'm going to try that because I'm out of ideas.

Here are a couple of pictures of him when he's not sad http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/20/e8ugasej.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/20/qevugajy.jpg

Ask the vet for suppositories - a week of that he will be whining for a pill. :P

Glad to hear he is doing so well though. :salute:

A couple things we tell people to try: try hiding it in chunky peanut butter, since it's harder to tell between a pill and a peanut. Also, soft treats (Pill Pockets are good) wrapped around it, cheese wiz, bread, or lunch meat are options. I don't think Tramadol has much of a flavor, so the yogurt thing might work. There are some meds that you absolutely couldn't do that with because they taste so nasty.

Another trick is to have at least 3-4 pieces that look identical, except only one has the pill in it. Give him one or two without, then the one with, then immediately give the next one before he's even done with the pill one. That way he's thinking about the next treat he sees coming, rather than thinking about what's in his mouth.

He's a cutie! I'm glad the Tramadol is working for him.

Wet cat food (not the chunks kind) works well.

If he doesn't want to take it in that even, if you grab his mouth from behind his head where his largest tooth is at on the side (third premolar) you should be able to tip his head back, then use your other hand to open his mouth and plop the glob of "cat food a la pill" into the back if his throat. You usually don't have to worry about choking unless you shove it WAYY back in there.

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Originally Posted by Mephibosheth1

Wet cat food (not the chunks kind) works well.

If he doesn't want to take it in that even, if you grab his mouth from behind his head where his largest tooth is at on the side (third premolar) you should be able to tip his head back, then use your other hand to open his mouth and plop the glob of "cat food a la pill" into the back if his throat. You usually don't have to worry about choking unless you shove it WAYY back in there.

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This. Just make sure that when you're putting your finger with the pill into his mouth that you go straight to the back of his mouth (i.e. through the incisors) and not by the side, because let me tell you it hurts quite a bit when they (accidentally or not) close their molars on your finger. You'll know he's swallowed it when he licks his nose.

I hope everything keeps going well, I'm glad his meds are helping him!

I always had good luck giving the pills inside a folded up piece of American cheese.

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Originally Posted by Alexandra V

This. Just make sure that when you're putting your finger with the pill into his mouth that you go straight to the back of his mouth (i.e. through the incisors) and not by the side, because let me tell you it hurts quite a bit when they (accidentally or not) close their molars on your finger. You'll know he's swallowed it when he licks his nose.

I hope everything keeps going well, I'm glad his meds are helping him!

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I did learn that the hard way! He got me pretty good, which is crazy since he's so small! He's doing much better, but still a little sore every so often. I haven't been letting him do much, no walks, or playing with the big dogs.

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Originally Posted by dillan2020

I always had good luck giving the pills inside a folded up piece of American cheese.

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Yeah, that's what I tried but he found the pill and refuses any cheese now. It must taste awful because if he tastes it he shakes his head like crazy and sneezes.

I'm sure it's a lot more tricky with a smaller dog. with bigger dogs they just inhale it without even chewing.

Another thing you can look into if you're really having a hard time with the pills is a pill thrower. You basically fit the pill in the rubber tip, stick it in the Doug's throat and press the end like a syringe. When I had to give my cats meds for coccidiosis this was the only way I could get them to take it, since it tasted so bad that they would foam and gag if it so much as touched their tongue.

Pills are no fun at all, ever. :(