[andybo]

off to the vets in 10 mins for them to review Ambers back leg after a week on painkillers. It's still stiff & she keeps picking it up and 'hopping'. She's also due her first blood test for her epilepsy drug levels which I am dreading. He did say if he thought she needed the leg x raying under anaesthetic he would do the blood test at the same time. But I don't want her to have an anaesthetic, and he is not keen because of her epilepsy ... Oh dear. I have had 5 children, and I keep saying none of them caused this much worry...

 

[jazzsmum]

Hope Amber's ok. Know what you mean about kids and the stress. I've got 4, and I worry more about the youngest at 19 than the others put together, but that all pales into insignificance when you think about the dogs being ill.

 

[_Mary_]

Hope all went well at the vets for Amber

 

[Topseyt]

I do hope all goes well for Amber, and that they can get to grips with the problem of her poorly hind leg without too many complications.

Do they have to give her a GA for the X-ray, or would sedation do the trick? Or are both options equally risky due to her epilepsy? I have no idea myself, but I guess it is something I would consider asking.

 

[Luna-Tuck]

Hope things at the vet go ok for poor Amber

 

[Scubabe]

Do they have to give her a GA for the X-ray, or would sedation do the trick? Or are both options equally risky due to her epilepsy?

Helen, I'm not a vet as you know, so I'm not 100% certain, but I think that they prefer to give a GA to dogs with some health probs as it can be reversed a lot easier (and faster) if needed, and also with a GA the dog is intubated, wheras with sedation they're not.

That is just my understanding anyway.

Andy, hope everything went OK at the vets with Amber, pls update us when you can?

 

[andybo]

Well, I suppose you might as well have the whole package..
She has had both back legs thoroughly examined and manipulated (the vet was crawling around the floor wrestling with her !) and he thinks it's hip dysplasia. he says he can feel the head of the femur sliding around, and thinks the sudden pull up of the leg & hopping is the hip popping out, then back in again, then she limps for a while because it hurts. He thinks she is holding her knee joint stiff to protect the hip. She is to go in for X rays on Friday under GA. He wanted her phenobarbitone levels doing before the GA so she's had that done. I was in a state waiting for her to get the blood test, so goodness knows what I'll be like on Friday; and with everything else there is to come.
Epilepsy and hip problems, how unlucky is that ?