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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Chihuahua Advice torn ligament
| I'm sorry this doesn't involve AIHA, but I have received excellent advice about my Presa and his cancer in the past. I have a Chihuahua/Daschund mix that is anywhere from 12 - 14 years old. About a month ago, My husband and I were trying to give her Prevacox for her arthritis discomfort (which she absolutely refuses to take easily). I was holding her in my arms so he could pop her pill in her mouth, she raised her paws up towards him to prevent him from giving her the pill. I held her paws down gently and she yelped! I looked down at her and it appeared that her shoulder was out of socket! I was barely applying any pressure when I was attempting to hold her paws down. I immediately rushed her to our local Animal ER and while they were checking us in "Bama" sat up in my lap. I placed her on the ground and she proceeded to walk across the floor without any limping. The nurse told me that if it had popped out of socket it must have popped back into place. We left and I continued to watch for any signs of discomfort and never saw anything until about two weeks ago. On the Tuesday of that week I thought I noticed her favoring that arm. She mostly sleeps during the day and only goes out when I carry her to go outside. She will do her business and then either sunbathe for a bit or let me know she is ready to be carried back inside. She currently has arthritis in her hind quarters, as well as, a luxating patella so she isn't able to run around much anymore. By Thursday morning, I could definitely tell she was favoring that arm so I took her to my vet and he didn't want to do an x-ray because she would have to be anesthetized and he didn't recommend doing that unless it got worse. He started her on adequan injections, along with her steroid injections to assist with her arthritis. I took her back Monday because she did not show signs of improvement. I requested an x-ray and the Orthopedic surgeon found that her ligament had been torn in her elbow. He wrapped her arm in a bent position for the next week to see if she would build up scar tissue to hold the joint in place. We went back on Friday only to find out this procedure didn't take. He recommended surgery to place a tiny screw in the bone to hold the elbow socket in place. My question is, does anyone have any advice on other procedures we can try before surgery? Bama has a full appetite, no problems with potty breaks, and still appears to be fairly comfortable with her life. I am not sure at what point I should allow her to get until we decide she shouldn't suffer any longer. I do not want to keep her here with me if it causes her quality of life to be miserable..... Thank you for reading and for any advice you may offer.. Shannon |
| Shannon johnson Florida |
| Hi Shannon, I don't have much advice, but I'm on the Orthodogs forum over on Yahoo for my other pup Honey who has had three knee surgeries in the last month...yup, it's been a real disaster...but, there are a lot of knowledgable folks over there who are well versed in hips, shoulders, knees, etc. http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/orthodogs/ You have to join the group in order to post. Good luck, melissa and family |
| melissa slc |
| Shannon, my 12 1/2 year old lab jake, tore his cruciet ligament Last January, does/nt sound like the same procedure they recommended. My vet said the only way for a big dog was to have surgery, but he does hav eliver ocmplications and putting him at his age thru a magor surgery for him I wanted to go the non-invasive way. I am curious how they were able to tell a ligament was torn by an xray? My vet said the only way to get a difinitive diagnosis was an MRI. I used this site as my guideline, againg, I dont know if its the same injury. http://home.earthlink.net/~tiggerpoz/id1.html Sounds like putting a screw in is a lot less invasive than the surgery on a torn ACL. I would reado over the boards Melissa posted about. Wish I knew about that when Jake first injured himself If he was younger, I would have had the surgery done. |
| Laurie CA |
| Thanks for the website info Laurie. I will check it out. He diagnosed her injury by process of elimination. History I gave him, no sign of any fractures or breaks in her bone shown in x-rays, and the ability to easily slip her Ulna in and out of socket. Her Ulna was only in place while wrapped. It is visibly out of place now and I do not allow her to bare weight on that leg. He's the top surgeon in my area so I can't help but trust his judgement. |
| Shannon Florida |
| Sounds like she does need surgery then, with the Ulna out of place. Glad to hear you have a great surgeon. Interesting, my vet does a lot of ACL surguries but If I was going to do the surgery, he was going to refer me to a differnet vet, the best in our area for this type of surgery. Laurie |
| Laurie CA |
This thread was discussed between 08/11/2009 and 10/11/2009
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