Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Bode's Trip to the Vet - AGAIN!

Yesterday I took Bode to the vet.  It was a pleasant visit in that the vet is a friend and I look forward to visiting with him.  It was an unpleasant visit as I was pretty sure I knew what the vet was going to tell me.

Last week I started noticing that Bode was having trouble with his back left leg.  He was limping or lifting it up when he went up and down the stairs.  At first I figured he'd just been playing too rough with Bumblebee, our basset hound grandog.  They had been having great times together so that seemed like a reasonable explanation.  When it didn't go away, though, I examined him a bit more closely.  I went online and did some reading and got a sinking feeling.  So, off we went.

After an initial exam Dr. Scott said he'd need to do some x-rays and as it turned out, he needed to sedate Bode in order to make that happen.  I went out to the waiting area.  When I'd first come in there was a little boy, about age 5, in the waiting area with two women.  They were both out of sight but the little boy was there with 2 couples.  He was kind of getting rowdy and the adults weren't really doing much about it.  I was concerned because he kept getting in the face of their large dog, who seemed to be agitated himself.  Finally, one of the adults told me they didn't know the boy but when the two women went back to be with their pet as it was euthanized, they'd asked these strangers to watch the boy.

So, I got a National Geographic and called the boy over to look at pictures of animals.  I gently reprimanded him when he threw a magazine to the floor, pointing out that it wasn't his magazine and he needed to treat it carefully.  After that, he snuggled up beside me and was friendly and well-behaved.  The women were gone for about 1/2 hr.  While I was happy to help, I was stunned that anyone would leave a little boy with strangers like that!

Anyway, back to Bode.

When Dr. Scott came to get me he asked if I wanted to see the x-rays.  I knew that was a bad sign as no one offers to show you boring x-rays.  As it turned out, my internet diagnosis was correct.  Bode has hip dysplasia.  It was worse than I thought.  His left hip is almost totally out of the socket and his right hip is only a little less bad. 

So, we have some choices to make.  There are 2 different surgical options or we can just treat his pain.  I expect it will be surgery as he's not even a year old.  There is still time to prevent the arthritis that would surely be his future.  Nothing has to happen too quickly.  We were given some good pain meds for now and the doctor will be getting back to us with recommendations and prices.  I'm sure you'll be hearing more about this from me!

In the meantime, enjoy these photos of Bode sleeping off the sedation.  He's pretty, isn't he?  One of the vet techs told me he was the prettiest dog she'd ever seen!  Well, that's something.




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