Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
My 9 year old rescue cattledog Bug is at the vet, having been heavily sedated most of the day. She sleeps on my bed and her trembling and crying woke me out of a dead sleep at about 4 am. She had had her annual dental cleaning and a tiny growth removed from her face last Thursday, but also had a spinal xray as she'd been a bit painful a few days before the scheduled cleaning. We suspected she might have some arthritis starting. Unlike most cattledogs she's no stoic. Has always made a fuss about everything. Spine looked basically OK. However, the xrays showed half of one rib was simply missing. She's never had any sort of injury there that I know of. Congenital defect? Another possibility was that there might be a soft tissue mass and possibly the rib was being resorbed. They consulted with a specialist up in Anchorage. Sent her home with pain meds and a steroid to see if that helped. She did seem to be better yesterday, quiet, but peaceful, hungry, her usual nice self. Then this morning she lost all motor control of her hind legs, her sphincters, was hurting, and terrified. Almost posturing as if having seizures.
We don't have a 24 hour emergency vet clinic here but I called the vet's service and talked with her at about 5 am. Gave her a triple dose of the pain med which relaxed her a little, but she was still paralyzed and still hurting when I got her to their office at 8 am. She's been there ever since. The vet called a while ago to say they've had to give her 3 more cycles of IV pain control...each is only lasting about 2 hours. They did an ultrasound and suspect there is a mass where the missing rib should be and her spinal cord looks like it might be involved too. The next step is to go down to see her at the end of their office day and by then we'll know if they've been able to control her pain any better. If not, the decision will probably be clear. I don't think I want to put her through another day like this one even without a confirming biopsy.
Of course I feel horrible, but in a weird way it might be an easier more humane choice than trying to bring a partly paralyzed dog back over months and having to face the same decision again. If she wasn't in such pain it might be worth trying.
Thank you so much for listening.
We don't have a 24 hour emergency vet clinic here but I called the vet's service and talked with her at about 5 am. Gave her a triple dose of the pain med which relaxed her a little, but she was still paralyzed and still hurting when I got her to their office at 8 am. She's been there ever since. The vet called a while ago to say they've had to give her 3 more cycles of IV pain control...each is only lasting about 2 hours. They did an ultrasound and suspect there is a mass where the missing rib should be and her spinal cord looks like it might be involved too. The next step is to go down to see her at the end of their office day and by then we'll know if they've been able to control her pain any better. If not, the decision will probably be clear. I don't think I want to put her through another day like this one even without a confirming biopsy.
Of course I feel horrible, but in a weird way it might be an easier more humane choice than trying to bring a partly paralyzed dog back over months and having to face the same decision again. If she wasn't in such pain it might be worth trying.
Thank you so much for listening.
Attachments
Last edited:
. Praying for you and Bug...
