Many of you know that Nubs has not been well over the past few years. Most of that dealing with his torn ACL and a few surgeries to correct it. It's been a constant battle over the past few years to get him back to normal.
About November I noticed Nubs starting to have a bad limp again in his good knee. With the failure rate of 75% of the good ACL after surgery, I figured his other knee had finally torn and put him on crate rest for a while to see if I could avoid surgery this time around with the issues of the first surgery I didn't want to go through that again. Well after a few months of resting I noticed it not getting better. In fact it was getting worse and he was having issues controlling his whole back end.
This is video of the night where Nubs couldn't get out of his crate without falling over.
The next day I took him to the vet. X-rays were taken and his ACLs were checked. ACL's were in great shape and x-rays only showed that he was backed up and might have had a partial blockage. I was put on poop watch and given gas meds to help him out. Even though I didn't agree with my vet's diagnosis, I allowed a week for things to get better. They didn't. Finally I made a second appointment at a different vet for a second opinion.
This vet was really WONDERFUL. She allowed Nubs to get to know her before we started poking him and messing with his joints. Most vets muzzle Nubs because he give you what a vet referred to as "the Pit Bull look" a look that can make most people nervous but isn't anything at all to worry about, she was loving on him. Made things so much easier because I could get him into downs and on his back so we could move his legs in a natural motion. She agreed that the issue wasn't his ACLs. Something may be going on, but without a ton of tests and all she couldn't tell me nor would she want to run all those tests because it would be a waste since she didn't believe that they would show us anything. At least I knew it wasn't his ACLs and that was a big step.
Wednesday of this week I received a phone call from my sister telling me Nubs wouldn't move and Pee'd on her and himself and wouldn't move away from it. Nubs has never in the year's I've owned him pee'd on himself and maybe only pee'd in the house 3 times. Something was really wrong and I was bound and determined to find it out.
After getting him into the vet as an emergency, the vet and I fought over what was wrong with him. She was convinced it was just arthritis in his knee causing the issue. I know that the arthritis is part of the weakness in his hind end, but there is something else going on besides that. After a good 10 min debate over wasting my money, I had the vet do X-rays and a blood panel for fun. After she was done with the x-rays, she came back and apologized to me. The x-rays from 2 months ago and that day showed a big difference in his spine. What is referred to as Lumbosacral syndrome or Cauda Equina disease. I still held out that maybe the blood tests would show Lime disease but that came back clear.
Read more here: Lumbosacral Syndrome (should open in a new window)
So folks we finally have a reason for his limping. Not what I was hoping but at least it's something. Now I'm looking into building him a wheelchair to go out in so that way he can still enjoy things without stressing out his back. I know he misses his walks and if he doesn't have a lot of time with me, I want to make sure it's the best time he can have.
