[Dailydrool] Update on Gracie

[AnitaW]

Thought I'd let you know what's happening with Gracie.  First, I have no
clue how she injured her leg, she doesn't jump or get on the furniture, so
it has to be something else, maybe missing a step while going in or out.
The Vet says it's possible it's actually been coming on for a while.  

 

Tuesday I had to be gone all day and into the evening.  When I got home she
seemed okay, but that evening she had a hard time settling down to go to
sleep, kept moving from spot to spot, which in hindsight was probably
discomfort.  Wednesday morning she was having a little trouble getting up
and was walking stiff, so I assumed I'd forgotten her arthritis medicine and
gave her more.  Then the girls and I got in the car to do some errands.  She
was odd in the car, and by the time we got home I knew something was
definitely very wrong, she was walking funny and was quivering with pain.  I
might have watched and waited on the walking funny, but the quivering is not
like Gracie and I knew she was in a lot of pain.  Called the Vet and said
we're coming now, back to the car and off we went.  This is very
interesting, normally the other two girls would have had a major fit if they
didn't get to go in the car, too, but they must have known something was
wrong and didn't fuss or anything.

 

When we went to the Vet Wednesday, he watched her walk (by now hopping
actually), then checked the knee joint, and he said it's bending the wrong
way, which means ligament damage, probably torn, and when it does this it's
bone on bone, so it hurts a lot.  His first suggestion was send her to a
specialist (because of her size) for surgery, but put her on meds to control
the problem right now and put her on a diet to lose more weight.  I'm not a
fan of surgery for anything, unless there is absolutely no other option
left, so when I heard the bit about controlling it with meds while she
diets, my ears perked up.  I asked him how long it could be controlled with
meds, and he said he had some patients who'd been on this for years and were
doing fine.  

 

Now both of us are standing there thinking about this - and we agreed that
at 11 or more years old she's too old for surgery if it can be avoided, so
meds it is.  They gave me Deramaxx (anti-inflammatory and also pain) and
Tramadol (pain).  Wednesday night she was absolutely in hysterics and
agitated, it was a looonnnng night, shed' lay there whining and trilling,
then out would come two of her incredibly loud barks, then it'd start all
over again.  Nothing I did helped, in fact if I petted her she would get
more agitated.  This went on every 20 to 30 seconds, from about 10:00 PM
non-stop to 5:00 AM.  She dropped off at 5:00 and so did all the rest of us,
then she woke me up at 8:00 AM and except for the leg, was fine.  I wondered
if it the overnight problem was just because of the pain or was a reaction
to something, but didn't know for sure.  Gave her the medicine again, and in
about 45 minutes the whining, trilling and barking cycle started back up, so
then I knew it was a reaction to the meds.  Called the Vet and immediately
went by and got a different pain med, no more Tramadol for us.  Gave her the
pain med immediately, it counteracted the Tramadol, and she went to sleep
(about 11:30 AM yesterday) and didn't move a muscle until 6:00 PM or so last
night (dinner time, trust Gracie not to miss dinner).  After she ate she
kept going to sleep then waking up, she was pretty groggy, but I wanted her
to go out and pee and poop, so we waited to give more pain meds until after
we did our business.  And I only gave her a half dose.  She slept through
the night, and is doing pretty good today but is still kind of groggy.

 

So -- Wednesday she was hopping on one leg, and was lying in an odd for her
way to avoid putting any pressure on the bad leg.  Yesterday she would try
to put weight on the leg but it'd fold under her, so I did the towel under
the belly thing to help.  Last night she was lying down in her normal
fashion but was so woozy you couldn't tell how much better the leg actually
was, picture being so drunk that your legs keep folding and you wobble from
side to side like a girl with her first pair of high spike heels.  This
morning she can get up by herself (I was helping before) and can walk but
only takes a few steps, then sits down and goes back to sleep.  It's
improving, but she's still so woozy that it's hard to tell exactly how much.
Haven't given her any pain meds today except for what's in the Deramaxx, so
hopefully the other drug will work its way out of her system and I'll be
able to see what's what by later today.  And fortunately the Vet is open
Saturday morning if we need.

 

Thank you everyone for all the information that's been sent, it has all
helped a lot, and we will let you know how we do.  Please keep all paws
crossed that the medication will be enough and we don't have to do surgery. 

 

Anita Woodrum

a.woodrum at sbcglobal.net

 

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