Some of you may have read my post about my standard poodle Sam. He has been sick now for over 3 months. His major symptom is pain when getting up or down. Most of the time it seems like his back legs or hips, but sometimes it looks like his whole body is hurting. This came on very suddenly. He is not himself, most of the time he is lying down somewhere and will not even get up when someone knocks on the door, or when we come home. He does go outside and potties ok. He has some trouble on the stairs to get down to the yard but he manages. Sometimes after he has gone out to potty, he seems to loosen up and starts to behave like his old self. He will bounce around and get excited, but only for a few minutes. He lost alot of weight in the begining from not eating, but his appetite is back to normal now. He has been treated for a neck/back injury,(which I never really believed he had) with muscle relaxers and we saw no difference. He was put on antibiotics at the same time because he got a bad ear infection. Our vet didn't no what else to do, so she sent us to someone else. This vet has ruled out any type of arthritis, lyme disease, hip dysplasia, and all of his bloodwork (several tests) came back normal. He is on Deramaxx now, which I think is keeping him functioning, but not nearly as well as I'd hoped. Now we have run out of tests to run and medicines to try. He is still in pain and I'm not satisfied with giving up and saying this is as good as we can make him feel. I'm hoping that someone who reads this might have dealt with or know someone else who has dealt with similar symptoms and might know what we are missing. If I can get you to ask other pet owners or maybe you have a vet appt. soon, if you have a good relationship with him/her maybe you could mention his symptoms and get a few ideas. I know a long shot, but we are getting desperate. I don't know what else to do and I hate seeing him in constant pain. He is due for a refill on his Deramaxx next week and when we go in I'm hoping I can have a few things to suggest they look into. Thank you VERY much for any help!
Kristi & Sam