Quote: JessicaKromer

Thanks Debbie.I just hate seeing her in this much pain...

I totally understand. I can deal with most anything with my animals but pain is something I have a hard time with too.

Hopefully you can get some answers tomorrow and get her on some pain meds.

Best of luck,
Debbie

So to update, Rox had her x-rays yesterday.

All of her blood work came back in normal ranges. Protein was just above normal, but nothing to worry about at all, so blood tells us nothing.

On the x-rays, it shows that she has advanced arthritis in her spine. Spurs and bridges (some of which have either broken or are not yet fully formed) from about her last rib to her tail. That surprised me, because she has NEVER shown stiffness or a desire to not move much, and her favorite tricks to throw at me are to sit up and beg or spin in multiple circles at a time. She has never reacted to her back being touched or palpated, or at all for that matter, but you can’t deny the x-rays.

Her lower abdomen was normal, no gas, blockages or any indication that there is anything wrong with the digestive track. BUT the upper part of the abdomen is cloudy/milky, and you cannot identify the upper digestive track, kidneys, pancreas, spleen etc. If you go farther back up, her lungs and heart appear normal.

Although the blood work shows that the kidneys are functioning normally, the vet thinks that there are either kidney stones, gallbladder stones or the pain she is exhibiting is from her arthritis. She kinda down played the milkyness on the x-rays, but, from my experience, there would not be fluid there if there was not a problem. Rob’s ex had gall stones and experienced intense pain in waves (sort of like Roxy), and had surgery. Even after the surgery she still has pain, and is going to have to go back. It sort of fit Roxy, I think.

For now, to avoid surgery on a dog that had a baaad reaction the only other time she went under the knife, we were prescribed Ridamyl to be administered when an episode is coming on. She is going on the fact that the amount of pain the dog must be in with the advanced arthritis. (They don’t think she could make it through the surgery, and with her age and advanced arthritis, it would not be advisable) My money is on the stones, unfortunately…

What do you all think? Anything pop out at you that I could bring up with her?

Any chance that your vet could arrange an Abd. ultrasound? With a good prep you'd have a good chance to see gallstones and with luck, kidney stones ( although a kidney US or IVP would be the gold standard for diagnosis there ).

Just a thought, but probably worth bouncing the idea off your vet...

Thanks Will.

Yes we did talk about it, and the ultrasound guy will be in the office in two weeks. We have appointment for her to see him. Problem is, she said the only option for stones, is surgery, and for her, probably not…

Is there any treatment, diet or otherwise, you are aware of that I could look into?

Well, I'd say get an accurate diagnosis first, of course.

Kidney stones can be diet related - for instance, in humans kidney stones are much more prevalent in the South, due to our iced tea consumption.
And gallstones often develop due to rapid weight loss.

If I may give you some advice, an ultrasound test is only as good as it's prep, so make sure our dog has a very empty belly before the test is done ( poop in the gut makes accurate testing nearly impossible )

Hope that helps!

Thanks Will.

I will make sure she is fasted for 24 hours.

Jessica,

I'd ask the vet for something other than Rimadyl. Metacam and Deramaxx are better, safer options for pain relief, IMHO. Rimadyl can cause a lot of serious problems.

 Quote: Will Rambeau

If I may give you some advice, an ultrasound test is only as good as it's prep, so make sure our dog has a very empty belly before the test is done ( poop in the gut makes accurate testing nearly impossible )

Hope that helps!

This makes so much sense. Will, do you happen to know whether the accuracy of US results are as operator-dependent as I have read lately?

Hey Jessica, if it's bladder stones I know on a male dog they can do a procedure where they flush liquid into the bladder and draw them out with a catheter. They were able to do it on Andy even with an enlarged prostate so I would think it should be an option on a female. Also I thought rimadyl was meant to be given at regular times to keep in the system at a certain level to be effective. Like twice a day, 7am- 7pm.

Connie,

Excuse me for answering a question directed to Will.

More and more vet hospitals are buying ultrasound machines for in-hospital use. I'd like to say they do it for diagnostic reasons but most of the reason they do it is for profit. They have to pay a large sum of money every time a visiting radiologist comes to do an ultrasound.

2 years ago Butler Medical Company started pushing a line of ultrasound machines for in-hospital use. The machine came with an instructional CD! They recommended, but did not require, classes for DVMs so they'd actually know how to use and read an ultrasound. We're not talking months or years of study....just a handful of optional classes.

There are all kinds of machines out there and there are probably a lot of DVMs now using ultrasound, not knowing what they're looking at.