Friday night into Saturday morning Yoda had a very rough time and the vets and I don't really know what the cause was, so I thought I'd share what I observed in case it sounds familiar to anyone here.  He's back to normal now.  He might be tiring a little easier on walks than he had been, but other than that scary Saturday morning, no dramatic change in his health or behavior since his lung mets were discovered about three weeks ago.

When I took him out on his nighttime walk, by the time we got to the end of the yard, I realized he was hopping super slow.  He was sniffing the ground a lot, but his hop never picked up and I knew something had to be wrong.  So eventually I got him turned around. I couldn't tell for sure if he was resisting because he still wanted to do his walk, or if he was just having trouble moving , but we gradually made it back home.

Once home he couldn't seem to get comfortable.  He'd lay down one place, but get up a minute or less later and try a different place.  He also seemed to want to lay on his side, but then especially he couldn't seem to stay in that position long and would get back up.  Laying on his stomach, with his head on his leg seemed to be the least uncomfortable, but he still kept getting up after short periods of time.  He soon went to the dog gate at the top of the stairs like he wanted to go down, which seemed like a terrible idea given that he was still moving so slowly, but at the same time I presumed he believed he would be more comfortable down there and I wanted him to be able to get some rest.  So I spotted him on the way down and he didn't fall.  He went over to the couch, but just stood there like he couldn't get on it.  I brought his bed down in case he wanted to lay on it, but even upstairs he hadn't tried to, so I also brought down a comforter and laid it at the foot of the stairs where he usually likes to sleep after a walk.  But he continued to get up frequently.  At one point he went back to the couch and did get on it, but that turned out not to be comfortable either.  Later he would go back to the couch a couple times and lay his head on it for a bit, then go lay down on his stomach on the floor instead.

I brougth pillows and a blanket down so I could "sleep" on the chair and keep an eye on him.  I expected him to vomit or something, but he never did and my housemate had been home most of the day and said that he hadn't gotten into anything.

I probably slept from 5 to 8am and I think, I hope, he did as well.  He was in the same position he had been when I drifted off.   I got him in for an emergency visit at the Vet School.  He was still hopping slow when we left the house.  He was a little perkier when we got to the parking lot and walked around the green areas and he did his business, but was still on the slow side.  While waiting for the vet, his difficulty getting comfortable continued.  The floors are hard, but that doesn't matter to him normally.  He could have been getting up because he didn't want to be in there, but he usually isn't that restless.  By the time he was seen by the vet, however, he had been laying on his side for several minutes without getting up.  She couldn't find anything wrong and he seemed to enjoy the massage as she looked for tumors or signs of injury, etc.

The vet didn't think x-rays would be useful, but left it up to me.  I decided to wait, since he didn't seem uncomfortable anymore.  She recommended getting him on some painkillers to see if that helped.  Yoda was to restart Piroxicam that morning anyway, which he had been off for a week due to vomiting, but whether the vomiting was because of the Piroxicam or something else was uncertain.  She recommended Tramadol if the Piroxicam didn't seem to be enough.  I suspected though, that he was already back to normal then and there, without the Piroxicam or Tramadol and was right. As we left he was back to his normal hopping speed and didn't show anymore signs of discomfort  - except that he ignored his breakfast when I laid it down for him at my parents' house (who offered to watch him the rest of the day since I had to work).  That was unusual for him.  We visit them often and he has eaten there many times before.  So I tried hand-feeding him and then he ate nearly all of it, some directly from the bowl too.  He had his Piroxicam with his breakfast and since then his appetite has been normal.  I have not seen any reason to add any Tramadol.

So things are back to normal.  We'll probably go to the dog park today, since there doesn't seem to be any reason not to.  But, of course, I still worry that these mysterious symptoms will return.

Does the difficulty getting comfortable, especially when lying on the side, and/or the slow hopping sound like anything anyone has had with their dog before?  And did you find out what caused it?

Thanks!