Eeek!
Pappy was all recovered from his tweaked leg by Sunday night. Then today, Tuesday, he didn't really want to wake up. He was generally lethargic all morning, slow to rise, and lying down in unusual places. He wasn't excited by going on a walk, but he seemed steady once we were out and about. His appetite is good, and he is wagging his tail when we call, but he just seems all-over achy.
I'm in training this week, so I was pretty torn about whether to leave this morning. I decided to have the dog walker call at midday with a status-- he doesn't sound worse, but he's still pretty mopey. We made an appointment at the vet's for this afternoon to see what is going on. The trials of parenthood...
Later update:
We're back from the vet, and I guess no news is good news. The vet didn't locate anything, his appetite is good, no diarrhea, no localized pain, no temperature. Pappy seems a little off still, but there are flashes of normalcy as he gets excited about things. The vet asked whether we would like to go on a fishing expedition with a bunch of tests, or whether we'd rather pursue a strategy of "benign neglect" (in other words wait-and-see). I went with the latter, since this is pretty much how I'd deal with my own ailment. But maybe he deserves better than what I'd give myself...
10 comments:
Aww. Sorry you're not feeling well Pappy. Hope you're up on your feet again soon.
The FleasGang
I hope you feel better soon Pappy!
Love ya lots,
Maggie
Fleasgang and Maggie,
Thanks guys. So far he looks... pretty good. I think he's fine.
Get a lymes test. It sounds like lymes disease to me. Really.
/amy
Flirt,
On initial reading about Lyme Disease symptoms, I thought "gosh this is it". But then they mention swollen lymph nodes, temperature, tenderness of affected areas, and loss of appetite-- Pappy doesn't have any of these. I'll check with the vet to make sure. He was actually very perky all evening, just a little tender lowering himself into a sit. Could be a muscle thing?
Dear Pappy:
hope you feel better soon, me and Teka have consulted and think you need a pal. Teka is coming soon!
oh i hope it is nothing!!!! i hate not knowing.
Minou and Gus,
So far this morning has been encouraging-- he was up an around pretty quickly, and doesn't have the aimlessness of yesterday morning. Looks much better.
The long list of Lymes symptoms is indicative a the more acute stages of Lymes, so it is not uncharacteristic that Pappy wouldn't be presenting with them all. Often in active, healthy dogs the early indication is a non-specific lameness, lack of intensity, fatigue.
If he just has an "ouch" you should be able to detect some warmth where it hurts relative to the opposite extremity.
I am not trying to scare you, but if Pappy were my dog, I would do a Lymes test. At the worst, you can start him on doxycycline and you will see definite improvement in 48 hours. At best, he doesn't have it and you aren't waiting for it to get worse to be sure.
Lymes is insidious, but treatable.
/amy
Flirt,
Thanks, good points. Let me see what I can figure out with the vet. I'd hate to dig the hole deeper than it has to be if he does have Lyme. Wish I had done it when we were there yesterday.
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