Hi,

Champ just celebrated his 4 month ampuversary but started last night (as far as we can tell) walking "normal" for a little then his remaining rear leg seems to give out and he sits. I've made sure he maintained a decent weight. He is on metronomic chemo (which includes pyroxicam – nsaid) and k9 immunity plus.

Of course this is the week both my regular vet and oncologist are out of town AT THE SAME TIME. So, we went to the on-call vet. Of course he could palpate his leg and back. He said there was nothing seemingly wrong with his leg but his hip seemed a bit uncomfortable. He also said that when he pressed about mid-way in the spine Champ hollowed out and sat down.

He didn't do an xray but suggested I follow up next week with the oncologist. He gave me some tramadol (which Champ has tolerated well in the past) to hopefully take the edge off. With the pyroxicam though he could not give me previcox. He also said I should limit Champ's movements so we got the dreaded play yard out again.

Does anyone have any similar experiences? Could it be a slipped disk? I know there is also the chance it's cancer again. If so, will an xray be able to determine it or do I need to consider a CT Scan. I asked and it's about $1100…. not looking forward to this possibility.

Any feedback or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. This is our first setback and it's very draining emotionally to me. He was doing so well.

Thanks,

Joy & Champ

Hi Joy –

I'll second what Charon said. Before I even saw her post, that is the first thing that came to my mind. Just like us, they can tweak muscles and suffer from back issues, especially considering how an amputation sort of forces them to reconfigure everything.

I hope he's feeling better with the Tramadol in the mean time. Good luck!

Lincoln's Mom

Update –

Well, he was on Tramadol for a week, was in a pen for a week to limit his activity, and is walking really well now. He went to his regular vet yesterday for a check-up and "looks great" but has a slipped disc. So, the good news… it's not the cancer. The bad news, we have back problems. He is off Tramadol but needs to stay on rest for another week.

We are due for a check-up with the oncologist in 3 weeks and will have another chest xray, maybe another ultrasound, and a decision to continue on metronic chemo for another 6 months if all is well.

We never got to that holistic vet but hopefully we will make it there in a few weeks. She offers acupuncture and chiropractic care so I'm hoping this will help him with his back issues.

Thanks for the comments. It's so easy to go to the extreme.

Joy & Champ

I'm glad to hear it wasn't cancer.  Seems like lots of dogs get to this stage in there recovery and over do it a little.  Poor Kess had a similar experience when she over fatigued "the leg" Glad to hear champ is up and around again.