Pumpkin report
After giving us all a bit of a fright on the weekend with his mobility issues we took Pumpkin to the vet this morning and have just returned.
Firstly the main cause of his issues at the moment seems to be his spine rather than the hips i.e. his hips are going all over the place and getting sore from trying to compensate for pain along several points in his spine, going quite high. He's probably got arthritis at several points, with the possibility of some fused vertebrae. So the core problem is that he's too stiff, rather than too loose as I'd posited. This is why we have vets.
Dr Laura agreed with me that whatever the diagnosis, surgery was not going to be an option.
Step one is to manage his pain, particularly after a round of "Does this hurt?" with a medical professional. The strategy is much the same as for Cally. Today he got a shot of Cartrophen and will have weekly shots for 4 weeks. I'm to give him Metacam as well, starting today: the 4kg dose for 3-5 days then either every second day or as and when needed. Thank heavens above that it's a liquid I can deliver by syringe. Then we review.
If pain management doesn't seem to be enough we'll take x-rays, but I don't know what that would tell us and what alternative courses of action that might open up for us, but I'm willing to cross that bridge when I get to it.
I take all this as positive news - Cally responded extremely well to this course of treatment, and it's kept her going for several extra years now.
Firstly the main cause of his issues at the moment seems to be his spine rather than the hips i.e. his hips are going all over the place and getting sore from trying to compensate for pain along several points in his spine, going quite high. He's probably got arthritis at several points, with the possibility of some fused vertebrae. So the core problem is that he's too stiff, rather than too loose as I'd posited. This is why we have vets.
Dr Laura agreed with me that whatever the diagnosis, surgery was not going to be an option.
Step one is to manage his pain, particularly after a round of "Does this hurt?" with a medical professional. The strategy is much the same as for Cally. Today he got a shot of Cartrophen and will have weekly shots for 4 weeks. I'm to give him Metacam as well, starting today: the 4kg dose for 3-5 days then either every second day or as and when needed. Thank heavens above that it's a liquid I can deliver by syringe. Then we review.
If pain management doesn't seem to be enough we'll take x-rays, but I don't know what that would tell us and what alternative courses of action that might open up for us, but I'm willing to cross that bridge when I get to it.
I take all this as positive news - Cally responded extremely well to this course of treatment, and it's kept her going for several extra years now.