farthing
08-02-2012, 04:25 PM
We've had a very stressful couple of weeks with poorly old animals- arthritis seems to be name of the game at the moment. Jack the goat, Doris the sheep and Corrie the collie have all been diagnosed with varying degrees of it- for Doris and Jack we are at the last options of trying to help it. We also lost a rabbit, Jessica, today after she damaged her leg- we have no idea how.
Molly Parkin the latest cat also had her mammary lump removed yesterday, and is recovering in a cage beside me.
Anyway, I took Pudding into the vet 2 days ago as she was very dowdy and making an awful noise when she ate. The vet said her teeth were bad but we would try a one off shot of metacam and antibiotic to try and avoid operating on her- she is hyperthyroid and in early stages of CRF.
She was no brighter yesterday so I took her back in, we ran bloods and her kidneys we actually better than previously so she was booked in the next day for a dental and was left there overnight on a drip. The vet has just called and said Pudding's teeth weren't that bad so she x-rayed her ( she knows me well enough to go ahead if she cannot get in touch, and Pudding wasn't great under anesthetic so they didn't want to wait). The x-rays show she has spondylosis in her mid back and the vet suspects she has arthritis in her jaw ( hard to see on the x-ray).
The vet has suggested putting her on metacam but understands why I'm not keen. I think I'm going to try cartrophen injections and possibly acupuncture first, leaving metacam as a last ditch option. Obviously if she is in pain and we cannot control it any other way we will have to go for quality of life rather than quantity.
So after all that- what do people think, any other ideas would be welcome. She's bright and ready to be collected at 6, and of course a dental may have done the trick but if not I would be interested in any input.
Molly Parkin the latest cat also had her mammary lump removed yesterday, and is recovering in a cage beside me.
Anyway, I took Pudding into the vet 2 days ago as she was very dowdy and making an awful noise when she ate. The vet said her teeth were bad but we would try a one off shot of metacam and antibiotic to try and avoid operating on her- she is hyperthyroid and in early stages of CRF.
She was no brighter yesterday so I took her back in, we ran bloods and her kidneys we actually better than previously so she was booked in the next day for a dental and was left there overnight on a drip. The vet has just called and said Pudding's teeth weren't that bad so she x-rayed her ( she knows me well enough to go ahead if she cannot get in touch, and Pudding wasn't great under anesthetic so they didn't want to wait). The x-rays show she has spondylosis in her mid back and the vet suspects she has arthritis in her jaw ( hard to see on the x-ray).
The vet has suggested putting her on metacam but understands why I'm not keen. I think I'm going to try cartrophen injections and possibly acupuncture first, leaving metacam as a last ditch option. Obviously if she is in pain and we cannot control it any other way we will have to go for quality of life rather than quantity.
So after all that- what do people think, any other ideas would be welcome. She's bright and ready to be collected at 6, and of course a dental may have done the trick but if not I would be interested in any input.