Hi!
I have just come across this site, hopefully someone may be able to help us please!! I have an 18mth lab .Two weeks ago he slipped in the garden chasing a ball. About 1/2 hour later he came inside and we noticed he couldn't sit down properly, by the evening he was pretty stiff around his back legs. Took him to the vets the next day, she said more than likely strained his back, gave him a anti-inflammatorys see him back at the end of the week. This was the monday. By the Thursday he wasn't any better particularly stiff and seemed to be panting, took him back and another vet saw him and said that he was probably just feeling generally unwell as his temperature was high, so gave him antibiotics and to carry on with anti-inflamm. If no better take him back the following day. Took him back first thing in the morning as he was really poorly panting and drooling quite badly. He kept him for blood tests and we picked him up later on, the blood test showed he has an infection, he also had swelling in his soft tissue round his back legs. We brought him home and told to carry on with the medication. That night he started wretching really bad making a particularly disturbing screeming noise! Stayed up with him all night and rushed him back in the next morning. The vet suspected something going on with his throat. In all these visits to the vets his temperature was still high and didn't seem to be coming down with the medication which was baffling the vet. Anyway he sedated him looked down his throat and xrayed him at the same time. His cartilage around his voicebox apparently is swollen and very red on one side, hence the wretching noise. His xrays show no bone damage but swelling around the hocks. We are now 2 weeks down the line, and he isn't any better. His temperature went back to normal two days ago and we actually thought that he was getting better. Only yesterday and today he is extremely stiff, very wobbly on his feet, not too bad when he gets going. But it is very upsetting to see such a lively dog struck down with such debilitating symptons. He is on a very high dose of steroids (prednisolone and antibiotics), has anyone had similar symptons or can offer any help, as we are all scratching our heads at the minute as he is confusing us all!! He was very bad this morning, (sunday), ended up back at the emergency vet, who gave him a different steroid injection and also an antibiotic jab. As his temperature has shot up again. We are now entering our third week with him and he seems to be making no progress and has also lost a lot of weight. Any info / help would be gratefully appreciated.

Kirsty

aw poor lad :(

sorry I have no ideas at all but want to wish him well.

any update Kirsty?

Has anyone on here any ideas at all that may help?

SaraW

Absolutely no idea! It sounds like more than one problem to me! Bit of a coincidence but they do happen! My first thought was a slipped disk, a trapped nerve causing the effects to show in different places but that should have shown on ex-rays!

Sorry, John

Hi!
Thanks for all your replies!! I really appreciate it! Barney stayed in the vets yesterday all day as he was really stiff . Our vet is really concerned now as we are moving into week three and there is no real improvement. He is seeing him again this am. Although this am he is a little better, he wasn't as stiff once he got going.


Thanks again
Kirsty :)

HI there,

it almost sounds like a viral arthritis that people get! The stiffness and temperature would suggest some sort of infection going on somewhere. Hopefully the vet will come up with some answers today.

TTFN

Ruth

Hi!

Yes, the vet says its poly-arthritis. We have changed his medication slightly and will see how he goes on, although he actually managed a little walk this am and wasn't as stiff once he got moving. He was alot more alert in the waiting room this morning, even managed a couple of barks!! Fingers crossed that this will improve slightly now although i am aware he may not fully recover from it, although some do.

Thanks Kirsty :)

Hope he's brighter soon Kirsty

Poor lad. Do hope he starts to pick up soon.

Lucy

Poor boy! give him a big hug from me :)

Hi!
Thanks!! He is actually alot better today!! :) Going to see how he progresses over the next few days. He managed a couple of walks yesterday! Seems to be a little less stiff. Thinking about taking him to a hydrotherapy pool, as he loves swimming! The vet has also mentioned acupuncture.

Thanks for the good wishes !! ;)

Kirsty

hi there i too have a lab who used to have alot of problems regarding injured joints, torn or sparined tendons ligaments etc(mainly due to trying to keep up with a lab/springer pup at the time,but we foung that giving arnica staright after for a short period saved both us visits to the vet who always treated with anit imflamatorys and steriods etc . Now i have never been a beleiver in alternative therpys but a couple of years ago we had a cocker who had a nasty skin problem and who we spent many hundreds of pounds trying to help while at our conventional vets. Finally as she continued to get worse and much more misrable we read an article in dogs today written by richard allport who is a traditionally trained vet until crossing over to complenmentary medicines. anyway we thought we would give molly another shot at some help.he really was soo easy to talk too and the consultation lasted about 25mins in which time he asked so many questions not only about her skin problems but also what sort of dog was she ir shy, quiet likes to lay in cold or heat the list was exhaustive, but he came up with a variety of treatments,to cut a long sstory short her last few weeks with us turned out to be some of her most relaxed time she had in the last two years or so, also during this time she suffered as alot of cockers do with a heamatoma(massive swelling 0of her ear flap) which our 'normal vet wanted to operate on as this was the'only treatment available'now we really didnot want to put her thru surgery what wityh all her other problems so we went back to richard who proscribed amopngst others things arnica .Now i was still scepital at this time as i thought her improvement in her skin condition was in my mind, but really the heatoma started to deacrease unitill it ceased to be a problem, in front of my own eyes.I then brought his book which is on hand at all times;heal your dog the natural way'. sadley we lost molly to what turned out to be a rare form of skin cancer but still refere to the book every time one of my two dogs has anything from a tummy upset to injurires like sparins.
but if you find his book there are treatments for things like cushings disease, arthritis and even the old lab fav hip dyspasia . it might just give you an alternative if you are in the position that your vets seems stuck for ideas, idont know where you are but richards practise is in Potters Bar but there are lots of otheres around the countryi pick up a dogs today mag theres nearly always an adress regarging homopathic practioniers. hope in the mean time yourlittle man starts too feel better soon.
danbee

Hi!

Thanks for that i really appreciate it. I will try and pick a copy of the magazine up tomorrow. He has been ok for the past couple of days, but has got up today with stiffness in his back legs again although not as bad. He is on quite a high dose of prednisolone and has had his last antibiotic injection today, so we will see how he goes over the weekend with no antibiotics!! I am willing to try anything with him, so i will look into alternative therapy with him. We are just taking each day at a time with him as he has had a very bad flare up of this poly-arthritis that has knocked him for seven!! He has also had a skin complaint all over his stomach and it started to spread to his legs, the vet seemed to think this was an allergy. Since being on these steroids that has cleared up. His throat has cleared up as well, so it could have been coincidence!! Poor thing has been hit with everything in the past 3 weeks!!! We are in south manchester area, the vet said there was a hydrotherapy pool in Preston that we could try, as he loves swimming in the river. Thanks for the information once again, really appreciate it :) Sorry to hear about your loss, but glad to hear the last couple of weeks were peaceful.

Kirsty

Hi Kirsty,

I've just read your post. Sorry to hear your dog is so poorly. I'm not sure about dogs but humans can get a rash as an allergic reaction to antibiotics.
I've been using homeopathy for 10 years now and sometimes the results are amazing. Your dogs case is complicated so a Hom. Vet. would be advisable but you could try a remedy called Rhus. Tox. given for ..."stiffness of joints and muscles, worse after rest but improves once the animal gets moving". It also helps with some types of skin rashes too. I used it (plus some other remedies) on a week old calf that had been kicked and was very ill. The Vet. had given steroids ( and poss. antibiotics..I forget now) and said he'd done all he could for it. I persevered and it eventually grew into a healthy bullock so please don't give up hope.

I don't know about Hom. Vets in the manchester area but this is a link for the Vet. list on the British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons site.

http://www.bahvs.com/vetmfhom.htm

hope things go well
Kath

hi its me again i wonder what do you feed your lab! when we got our amber s acouple of years ago the breeder recommemded a food that we had never heard of and wetried most of them when they thought mollys was a food allergy, anyway we continued feede it to amber for the next couple of years unitl the manufacturer put up the price and charded postage so we tried some of old favs like omega tasty beta etc, but we always found that amber stated to scratch alot more within a couple of days, so being slighlty paranoid about skin conditions we switched back to her original food anf the scratching stopped straight away, the food is called dAVIES ranger chicken and rice which is gluten free & dosnt contain any beef wheat dairy or soya which are the cause of many food based allergys. their websit iswwwpetschoice.
but youll prob find it in your neck of the woods as they are based in blackburn. best of luck ang hope your boy continues to improve

Hi!

Thanks for the links to the websites i will go and have alook at them. We just feed him pedigree chum complete dry mix. The stiffness isn't too bad today. The vet actually mentioned that the skin condition could be due to an allergy, that some dogs have allergies to certain foods, so will look into that. Just taking each day as it comes at the minute, spoilt rotten and plenty of tlc.. and getting away with murder !!! :)

Thanks again will look those sites up now .

Kirsty