Insert all the swearwords here including the worst one of all... (TW/CW dog illness)

I'm liking the idea of cot mattress with vet bed or sheepskin :)

Aaaand big long email gone to vet practice management today.

They told us we'd get a call yesterday, we didn't. I called today, vet not in until Monday. I've put my foot down and they are going to see if another vet can speak with us this afternoon. I have absolutely reached my 'it's not good enough' limit!

I've ended up emailing them the CT report; they kept saying it had come through to them blank. I said that just doesn't make sense, as I asked the referral vets for it on Wednesday and it arrived attached to an email within minutes. It's not the full imaging but it is the results report with relevant images in it.

I'm assuming if we switch practices now all the x-ray and CT stuff will come over with Ivy's record, so we can essentially get a second opinion from the new vet we register with?

Also wondering about a loophole to register with the CT vet to get round their 12 month policy. I don't care about their business relations, it should be about client choice and the best option for the animal.
 
What was the radiologists report on the CT? No findings? If so and the correct bit was imaged you are looking at a soft tissue problem.
Very not good no-one has rung you to discuss it. If your reg vet referred you as an outpatient they should be discussing. If you saw a specialist (ortho presumably unless they have neuros) for a consult at the centre, then they should be discussing.
 
KEK said:
What was the radiologists report on the CT? No findings? If so and the correct bit was imaged you are looking at a soft tissue problem.
Very not good no-one has rung you to discuss it. If your reg vet referred you as an outpatient they should be discussing. If you saw a specialist (ortho presumably unless they have neuros) for a consult at the centre, then they should be discussing.
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A vet from our practice but not involved with our case rang yesterday to translate the report as obviously there's a lot of terminology we don't understand, and she confirmed what we thought it said which was they found some minor things that may or not be clinically relevant to Ivy's symptoms.

I think our vet is an ortho vet, or at least has additional ortho experience (I'm not sure how these things work!), we were referred elsewhere just for the CT to be done as they don't have a scanner at our practice.

A senior vet responded to my email raising concerns about the lack of communication. It turns out our vet wanted the CT images as well as the report, to discuss with an orthopaedic colleague, and it was the images which had not come through. I've just thanked them for responding and said even a brief email/text message would have done to keep us in the loop.
 
SaddlePsych'D said:
Last night was interesting spying on her through the Tapo cam. She'd scratch just a little bit then have a look around, almost as if to say 'well come on, humans, I have summoned you to assist me!' It seemed like she could hear something and that's what was waking her up.
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Is there any chance she can hear mice or something, and that's what she's reacting to?
 
Wow just read through this thread, that's one he'll of a roller coaster you've been on, you must be exhausted. So pleased it wasn't as feared and fingers crossed you can find a good vet and physio to get her back on track. They really do put us through it xx
 
meggymoo said:
If you change vets, all you have to do is send an email asking that they transfer your pets records to new veterinary practice. We had to do this recently with no problem, the request just has to come from you as the client.
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The problem is if we wanted to change to the vets we were referred to for the CT scan; they have a policy not to register clients referred to them for a year after the referral.

I have found another vets locally that I like the look of. A smaller independent practice than the one we are with now (independent but bigger chain).
Dopeydapple said:
Wow just read through this thread, that's one he'll of a roller coaster you've been on, you must be exhausted. So pleased it wasn't as feared and fingers crossed you can find a good vet and physio to get her back on track. They really do put us through it xx
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Yep quite the ride this thread! Tomorrow we should have more information and go from there.

Ivy still seems to be feeling okay, other than getting up in the night but that's down to maybe once or twice a night now. On the first couple of nights home from the vet it was most hours through the night!

I got worried about her again yesterday then remembered that she dislikes the hot and humid weather as much as I do, so it is normal for her to be a bit quieter. Her bounce came back a bit this morning with the slightly fresher weather. She really wanted to jump over the big stone slab stile on one of our walks which we said no to; she seems to be moving fairly well so let's not chance anything until we know what's going on and she's strong enough for thing like that.

ETA - she's also just had quite big sass over her second dinner this evening, which I think is a good sign :D
 
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Well we have our update. The big question we had was about what was seen on the x-ray that caused this whole thing, and it turns out to be (if I've understood correctly) a bit of a quirk that's probably not causing the pain itself - some fused spinal processes which is apparently more common in Greyhounds. I do wonder if this on top of an asymmetrical pelvis bone (again, terminology caution here!) makes her more vulnerable to iliopsoas muscle injury, especially if she is not fit. Maybe it's why her racing career never took off.

I'd like to speak to the Physio once more and the vet, to give them a chance to see Ivy again 2-3 weeks on from when the Physio last saw her and then I think we're out. I've found another practice I like the look of and a Rehab Vet not too far away who seems very well reviewed. The vet's suggestion today was rest for a couple of weeks and medication, which we have kind of already done. It was my suggestion to see Physio again but at least he offered to try to arrange this at a time he can also come to see Ivy.

I just think we need a bit more ongoing input to see if we can do any strength/fitness work to help prevent this recurring. It will be a shame to have it just happen again without proper healing/recovery having happened, or for her to just do it again the second she goes off lead.
 
SaddlePsych'D said:
Well we have our update. The big question we had was about what was seen on the x-ray that caused this whole thing, and it turns out to be (if I've understood correctly) a bit of a quirk that's probably not causing the pain itself - some fused spinal processes which is apparently more common in Greyhounds. I do wonder if this on top of an asymmetrical pelvis bone (again, terminology caution here!) makes her more vulnerable to iliopsoas muscle injury, especially if she is not fit. Maybe it's why her racing career never took off.

I'd like to speak to the Physio once more and the vet, to give them a chance to see Ivy again 2-3 weeks on from when the Physio last saw her and then I think we're out. I've found another practice I like the look of and a Rehab Vet not too far away who seems very well reviewed. The vet's suggestion today was rest for a couple of weeks and medication, which we have kind of already done. It was my suggestion to see Physio again but at least he offered to try to arrange this at a time he can also come to see Ivy.

I just think we need a bit more ongoing input to see if we can do any strength/fitness work to help prevent this recurring. It will be a shame to have it just happen again without proper healing/recovery having happened, or for her to just do it again the second she goes off lead.
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LTV (lumbar transitional vertebrae?) will definitely make her more prone to back stuff incl lumbar stenosis . And yeah to psoas strains (almost always secondary). I think your plan sounds good, and maybe something like pregabalin ongoing if she needs it. Acupuncture and shockwave (to L-S and muscles only not rest of spine) can sometimes be helpful.
 
KEK said:
LTV (lumbar transitional vertebrae?) will definitely make her more prone to back stuff incl lumbar stenosis . And yeah to psoas strains (almost always secondary). I think your plan sounds good, and maybe something like pregabalin ongoing if she needs it. Acupuncture and shockwave (to L-S and muscles only not rest of spine) can sometimes be helpful.
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Could be that. Something sacrum/sacral related was mentioned a couple of times. I'm glad our vet did look in more depth at the CT images to work out what was going on with she shadow area on the x-ray. I just wish he'd kept us updated!

Our vet mentioned gabapentin, I'm not sure if that's similar to pregabalin?

The rehab vet I have found has acupuncture in her repertoire so hopefully that can be considered if needed. I've emailed her to see if she thinks a referral will be appropriate.

Ivy's looking a bit poor/lower weight than we'd like. I'm guessing a combo of stress from house move, vet visits, and being in pain. I'm thinking of switching her to a higher calorie, higher fat Millie's wolfheart mix for a bit to try and help her out.
 
SaddlePsych'D said:
Could be that. Something sacrum/sacral related was mentioned a couple of times. I'm glad our vet did look in more depth at the CT images to work out what was going on with she shadow area on the x-ray. I just wish he'd kept us updated!

Our vet mentioned gabapentin, I'm not sure if that's similar to pregabalin?

The rehab vet I have found has acupuncture in her repertoire so hopefully that can be considered if needed. I've emailed her to see if she thinks a referral will be appropriate.

Ivy's looking a bit poor/lower weight than we'd like. I'm guessing a combo of stress from house move, vet visits, and being in pain. I'm thinking of switching her to a higher calorie, higher fat Millie's wolfheart mix for a bit to try and help her out.
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Yes, same class of drug but dogs have way more receptors for pregabalin, as I found out after chatting with the US neurosurgeon who is flying over to do surgery on my dog.
 
I realised later on yesterday that we didn't check out what happened with the white cell count thing, because that had been part of the osteosarcoma hypothesis. Just looked it up and turns out that too could be a quirk of the breed.

I'm in touch with the rehab vet to see about referral so we'll go from there.

Here's Ivy being lovely and enjoying her walk at the weekend. I've noticed she seems to be moving quite well and in the long grass she really picks her back legs up so definitely not looking as stiff as she had been.

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Also think the night disturbance is some kind of noise. She's stopped scratching but watching camera back the last couple of nights her head popped up at various points and she seems to be listening out. The garden shed is on the other side of the wall where she sleeps so I might have a look to see if any critters have decided that's a good spot to hang out!
 
A friend furnished her whole house from Refurnish, I had huge sofa envy!
Love that sofa.
I may have said (I bore myself, not just you!) but T loved her acupuncture and dragged me to the vets for it.
 
Clodagh said:
A friend furnished her whole house from Refurnish, I had huge sofa envy!
Love that sofa.
I may have said (I bore myself, not just you!) but T loved her acupuncture and dragged me to the vets for it.
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Ah interesting! We'll see if acupuncture is suggested. I've done the appointment booking for rehab vet but it's not until mid-July so we're back to the current physio in 10-days' time. Ivy has some medication to help her muscles relax which apparently helps the physio treatment. Both vet and physio had a good poke around and Ivy is so much better. I can't help but think if there hadn't been a break in the Loxicom before the second physio apt, perhaps we wouldn't have ended up going on our big diagnostic adventure. But here we are. We're aiming to get her injury properly healed and then some strengthening done to help prevent it coming back. I don't want her back to square one the second we let her off lead again.
 
With Floyd we do rehab that he doesnt think is rehab. So walking in long grass so he has to get his legs up and pumping, endless blooy tramping up hills, walking him in water etc etc. I did also buy an agility set an spent ages doing raised poles with him to start, but both of us found it boring as hell, so went for more natural rehab.

Swimming seemed to have the biggest impact. He actually did very little swimming but just floated in water in his life jacket. I think it just gave everything a change to stretch out and relax. He hated it so we only did 4 sessions but it made such a huge difference I'll prob have him do it periodically just for the stretching benefits.
 
I'm Dun said:
With Floyd we do rehab that he doesnt think is rehab. So walking in long grass so he has to get his legs up and pumping, endless blooy tramping up hills, walking him in water etc etc. I did also buy an agility set an spent ages doing raised poles with him to start, but both of us found it boring as hell, so went for more natural rehab.

Swimming seemed to have the biggest impact. He actually did very little swimming but just floated in water in his life jacket. I think it just gave everything a change to stretch out and relax. He hated it so we only did 4 sessions but it made such a huge difference I'll prob have him do it periodically just for the stretching benefits.
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Have you tried a water treadmill for Floyd?
 
I'm Dun said:
With Floyd we do rehab that he doesnt think is rehab. So walking in long grass so he has to get his legs up and pumping, endless blooy tramping up hills, walking him in water etc etc. I did also buy an agility set an spent ages doing raised poles with him to start, but both of us found it boring as hell, so went for more natural rehab.

Swimming seemed to have the biggest impact. He actually did very little swimming but just floated in water in his life jacket. I think it just gave everything a change to stretch out and relax. He hated it so we only did 4 sessions but it made such a huge difference I'll prob have him do it periodically just for the stretching benefits.
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We've got our initial exercises to do from our physio appointment today. Very small things to do little and often until we go back to physio in two weeks - picking up a back leg to get her to shift weight to the other and another which I think works like a resistance thing where you push her hips side to side while trying to not let her step to the side.

I've bought posh wet food to make up lick mats to distract her while we're doing the exercises!

Ivy is feeling very jolly, even on the Diazepam which is stopping today, no drowsiness here - I love that the 'people pharmacy' we picked it up from made up the label 'for the dog of Miss SPD' and still included the do not drive or operate machinery bit 😂

She's not supposed to be zooming from a physio point of view but I can't blame her having not had a run for a good while! The upcoming hot weather will be in our favour as she's much less inclined to bounce about when it's hot. ETA - she's been zooming in the house, we're still long line only for walks for the foreseeable.

Sofa update... can't work out what colour to reupholster it. Ivy doesn't mind as long as she can still snooze on it...

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I'm Dun said:
No, but my physio has one and I'm going to see what he thinks. He doesnt mind paddling type water, but he just hated the swimming and it made me so sad to see him so upset about it but being so brave. Hes there next week for a check up and some more laser stuff.
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I hope his next session goes well!

I have similar reservations about hydro. Ivy will paddle in a stream if it's not but I think anything more than that she will be quite stressed, probably get tense muscles, and have super sad RSPCA face.
 
My little terrier has water treadmill for his many woes🙄. He actually rushes in to see his physio but only goes every 2 weeks now for maintenance. It's really straightened him up and strengthened him. He got used to it quickly and definitely loves it now. This may be due to the stinky sausages they tempt him with😁. Fingers crossed you find a similar experience.
 
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