5thhorseman wrote: ↑Thu Apr 21, 2022 1:25 pm
My puppy is alright. The symptoms wore off by the end of the day so it was probably something she nibbled on that morning.
Glad to hear. Sadly, the same is not true here.
My 15-yo puppy showed similar symptoms. He was happy go lucky on Wednesday. We met some new dogs on our afternoon walk and he greeted them with a wagging tail, had a few sniffs and even made some play moves, skipping about a bit. Then he was clearly distressed at night. Woke me up at 1.30 am, but seemingly just wanting a drink. Then again at 3.30, at which point I went up and took him for a brief walk. He didn't really seem to know what he wanted, but he walked by himself and lifted his leg three or four times on the County Council lawn across the street with the "No dogs allowed" sign. Nearly lost his balance once, but I figured he was just as groggy as I was at 3.30 am. Then he woke me up again at 5 am, and now his right front paw was not functioning. It turned backways when he tried to walk, and he stumbled. It didn't hurt, because he didn't attempt to do the three legged skip thing dogs tend to do when a paw hurts. He insisted on trying to walk on all four, despite that one leg clearly did not give any support. I called the vet as soon as they opened and got an appointment at 9.20. He now insisted on sitting in my lap and got quite upset whenever I left the room to get coffee, get dressed, whatever. I picked him up and took him to the car. Carried him into the vet's office and when they asked me to put him on the scales, it turned out his left front leg had stopped working too, so he tipped over.
The vet examined him and decided it was something neurological. Most likely a stroke or a tumor in the brain or spine. The options were basically to either have him transported to an animal hospital (at least one hours drive) for an MRT to get a more exact diagnosis and plan for treatment, to have him put down or to just give him a cortisone shot, wait 24 hours and see if it had any effect.
The first idea seemed far fetched. A fifteen year old dog with a stroke or brain tumor will not get fixed. Even if they manage to save his life, his life won't be worth living. And the cortisone shot would be a Hail Mary strategy that most likely would have no effect, and he would just have to endure 24 hours of confusion, shame and deterioration before being put down anyway, so I did what had to be done and returned home alone. Almost exactly one year after I was admitted to the ICU, 366 days. Barely eleven months since my wife died.
Sirius, my pooch, was invaluable for me in the year since my wife died. True unconditional love. Always happy. Helped me complete my 10,000 steps every day to get back in shape. And I did not have to feel alone when he was around. I mean, especially during the pandemic, I have been working from home and hardly been seeing anyone. But he was there. And now he is not.