behavior changes and weirded out

14 years ago

I posted earlier this week about my Ridgeback going suddenly partically lame. We went to the vet and she determined that it was most likely the knee. Without xrays we don't know for sure. A (12) her age we decided to put off xrays for the moment since it requires sedation. She already has a sensitive system. We have upped the pain meds and added some anti inflammatories (SOD ES, neutroceutical that has worked well for her in the past, not hard on liver), and rest.

She is still having a hard time getting up, but getting around a little better than a few days ago. However, she has been wanting to go outside ALOT (she's an indoor dog) and just sleeps under the bush outside. Now, I realize the ground is cool and that may be what she is after, but it is so not like her to do this. She's been outside for over an hour now, something she NEVER does. When we rescued her at approx 1 year old, we found her outside and she had been on her own for at least a week if not longer. So, she's always loved laying outside, just not like this.

I am kinda freaked about it, but trying to keep a calm energy since I know how they pick up on stuff.

GAH! :(

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Comments (6)

weed30 St. Louis
14 years ago
Has she been tested for Lyme disease? Sudden lameness and fever (perhaps why she is outside, to cool down) are two indicators. One of my dogs had it when she was a pup.
ladybugfruit
Original Author
14 years ago
Weed! Thank YOU!! She has never (as long as we have had her) had a tick up until this past week! We missed it because the blood clotted up around the tick and we thought she had run into something outside and gotten a boo boo. The vet pulled it off of her on Tuesday when we took her in. We are in Texas, so maybe it didn't occur to the vet that Sadie might be showing symptoms. I will be calling the vet first thing in the morning to get Sadie back in and tested. THANK YOU! She has always had a sensitive system. She is acting normally right now. She stayed out for another half hour and then came in for dinner. Still eating okay. I was just reading that lymes can act like rheumatoid arthritis, poor thing. I had human parvovirus earlier this year ( still working through my system) and it acts JUST like RA. Very painful and makes you feel horrible. I really hope we can get her back to her old self very soon.
Thank you again so much for sharing your experience!
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weed30 St. Louis
14 years ago
You're welcome! When my dog had it, she would lay on the wood floor under/behind the couch - not normal for a 4 month old puppy. Her muzzle was swollen and painful, (she screamed when I touched it), so at first it was diagnosed as a possible bee/wasp sting. She was given steroids which helped a little. I had to feed her baby food since she wouldn't open her mouth much and couldn't chew. Then she went suddenly lame - I had to hold her up so she could potty :(

Finally my vet decided to treat her for Lyme (there was no test back then), and it worked. She did have two ticks on her when we got her. One was tiny, and I suspect it was that one who infected her.

I hope Sadie is feeling better soon, whatever it turns out to be.
ladybugfruit
Original Author
14 years ago
Oh weed, how awful for both of you. So glad that the treatment worked. Thanks again so much for posting...we went in this morning and got tested and yup, she was positive for Lymes. The vet told me that she thought about that after we left the office Tuesday, but knew she would be checking in with me within a few days and also, lymes is not prevalent in our area, so it wasn't the first thing to come to mind.
On top of everything else, my poor baby decided to go into a full blown ear infection last night at 3am...head shaking and red angry ears. So, antibiotics and ear meds and lots of cookies for Sadie today. Now here's hoping we can get her feeling better soon. I am grateful that she at least has her appetite still and I am glad that we could get her started on treatment for lymes sooner than later.
thanks again so very much!!!
Here's a pic of my Sadie with her 'baby'
petaloid
14 years ago
So glad there's a happy ending for Sadie.

Good detective work, Wendy (weed)!
weed30 St. Louis
14 years ago
Sadie looks like a real sweetie, and seems to have the same toy as all of the dogs I've ever owned ;) Glad to hear that it's not something worse - my pup got better quickly with tetracycline and lived to 15. Hope her ears heal quickly too!

Heya Petaloid!