Dragging hind leg

Koji update.

The vet said there was some good things/improvements, but overall, he's still not 100%. We are supposed to introduce "walking" back slowly and see how it goes. So, walk tonight, see how he is the next couple of days. If he's okay, walk a bit more, see how he does. If he doesn't do well after a walk and he's worse off, then we need to call the vet. At that point, the vet said we'd have to make a decision.....how is his quality of life if he can't walk a ton or what not assuming he's not in pain? Do I want to do a CT/MRI? It might only tell me what is wrong, but wont' fix anything (and is expensive). After that, if they can fix it with surgery, do I want to do that? Ugh!

I guess a little more time will tell. Even the trip to the vet, it seemed his legs were a bit weak. Granted, he's been crated for 2 weeks, so that could have something to do with it.

Sigh. I'm scared that this might be his life. Don't get me wrong, he's got a cushy life, but still. :(
 
Quick update. He's doing a lot better. Trying to keep him from jumping off anything is not easy! I have been taking him for longer walks and he seems to be getting better with time. He's still not 100%, but better than when we went to the vet last week. Fingers crossed he continues to get better.
 
Sigh. So one week later, he's dragging his paws again. I'm trying to keep him from jumping up/down, but he's okay enough that he does that now, but obviously, he's not 100% yet enough to do it. I don't know what to do at this point. Is this going to be his life and how is it going to be as he ages (he's turning 10 in two weeks)? Ugh.

I don't know what to do. My choices are to either get and MRI/CT to diagnose his issue or let him live his life out like this. :(
 
I'm so sorry Koji's still limping. I'm surprised your vet hasn't given you other options. A CT/MRI is sooo expensive - well at least it is here. Has the vet done an x-ray at all to see if it's due to arthritic changes? Maybe you could try him on Gabapentin - which helps with neuropathic pain and is pretty inexpensive. If it works then you know it's possibly a neuropathy (although Deska has it now for arthritis and it seems to help him). It's safer than an NSAID, which is often too broad spectrum with pain relief to give an idea of what's wrong.
 
Caro said:
I'm so sorry Koji's still limping. I'm surprised your vet hasn't given you other options. A CT/MRI is sooo expensive - well at least it is here. Has the vet done an x-ray at all to see if it's due to arthritic changes? Maybe you could try him on Gabapentin - which helps with neuropathic pain and is pretty inexpensive. If it works then you know it's possibly a neuropathy (although Deska has it now for arthritis and it seems to help him). It's safer than an NSAID, which is often too broad spectrum with pain relief to give an idea of what's wrong.
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Thanks. It seems to come and go, so I'm assuming it just depends on his level of activity. Today, we've been couch potatoes. The vet did an x-ray when I initially took him in. He did say that you could clearly see that there was less "space" between certain discs, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the issue. Does that make sense?

I honestly can't tell if he's in pain. He doesn't limit his movements or chooses not to jump up/off things, etc. Sigh. Yeah, the CT/MRI is about $1500 USD....just for it to maybe tell me what's going on. Ugh!

I think I'll call the vet tomorrow and revisit my options. He seems better today, which is good. :)
 
JoyceJoh said:
How is he now?
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Thanks for asking. He's about the same as before. Not bad, but not 100% either. Some days are better than others.

At this point, it's a decision of quality of life vs cost of MRI/possible surgery. Since we can't afford the latter at this point, we're making sure he doesn't jump off of things or go down stairs. I'm not sure how going up stairs or jumping up affects him, but he seems fine doing it own his own. So, we just watch and see. There's not much more we can do right now. Even if we did the MRI, it's just to find out what the real problem is, it's not going to do anything to solve the problem. So, $1,500 for a diagnostic. Sigh.
 
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