Dear all,

Yes, it is the same breed. He is indeed an international dog!

Toby did start to eat again. I wanted to give him a cancer fighting diet, but his appitate seems to have waned. He is getting about very well considering that it has only been 5 days. He turns around unaided when he gets ready to sit down or sleep and walks around the houses unaided for short spurts.

I do have a question about the chemo drug, carboplatin. This is the one being used. we start in approx a week. I read that in the US and the UK this is the chemo drug of choice. I have also read about the potential side effects and wanted to know the experiences you have had. Any input would be greatly appreciated. 

I tried to insert two pics, but failed miserably. I will try again later.  

Jerry, I am having trouble creating a blog. I followed the instructions, but it kept stating that there was a problem and I had to keep doing the human verification. I did this four times, but alas, no blog. As I said, I truly am technically inept, do you have a blog for dummies!

All working now. Thank you.

Dear all,

Toby has been rather subdued and is not eating at all well.  He is also walking with a pronounced arch in his back. I am assuming that he is in pain, or is uncomfortable. He stopped all his drugs three days ago, including the tramodol.  Has anyone else experienced this walking gait 10 days or so after surgery? We are having his staples removed on Monday and the vet will look him over and take blood tests to ensure all is OK.

Also, they are concerned that his poor eating will delay his beginning chemo. He will only eat a few pieces of chicken, nothing else. His diet is not balanced at all now. I have a multivitamin, but this is only supplemental, so I am becoming concerned. Again, has anyone had any experience of poor appetite. It may be connected to the pain, if he is feeling any pain. He does not appear to show any signs at all, other than the arched back, which maybe the poor alignment of his spine, pain or both. We have a physio coming next week to look him over and teach us a few techniques that may help him.

 All in all, we hit a dip and then a plateau.

Thanks for any insight you may have.

Thank you both for the information. Toby's appetite has never been great, he is a picky eater and never ate a great deal, but at the moment he is unwilling to eat more than once a day and then only about 6 oz of chicken cooked in olive oil.

His incision looks very good. No weeping, no smell, in fact it is healing really well. There was a small amount of swelling at the base of the incision, but that calmed down quite quickly. His temp is good.

He is hunched when he gets up and when he walks. He has real trouble when he tries to lie down. He did have problems previously, a trapped nerve bothers him occasionally, so it maybe the nerve or it maybe that he came off his pain meds too early. The vet gave me 7 days worth. I did call him, but he was very concerned that the tramodol was affecting Toby's appetite to the point that he was not eating at all. He did not have a BM for seven days. So they were reluctant to put him on the tramodol again. We are seeing the vet tomorrow, so I will speak to him about the hunched stance, the appetite and the possibility of pain.

We have been advised to try Western acupuncture to relieve the pain from his trying to walk, rather than drugs, or ultrasound and physio. Not sure which yet as first we need to deal with the possibility of pain from the amputation.  Acupuncture has become quite the norm for many vets over here in the UK as a way to relieve pain without drugs.

I will let you know what the vets says on Monday and what we decide to do.

Thank you so much for your advice and Toby thanks you.  This site is truly a life-line.