dirtwinger 235 Posted August 1, 2010 Report Share Posted August 1, 2010 Took my dogs out on Wednesday for some exercise, i deliberatly went to a field were I am not likely to find a hare maybe one a year at best. Of course they put one up an dissapeared over a hill after a few nice turns. In due course they returned without a kill, they are not really fit and still pretty green so I wasnt surprised. They all seemed fine although one of the young dogs was a bit sore in his abdomen. By the next evening he couldnt get up and screamed when you touched him, so of to the vets I went. The vet did a very thorough exam and we decided he had probably fallen and strained and bruised some muscles. i went home with painkillers and muscle relaxants and he seemed better by the next day. Then he started to show more pain and by Saturday was in a bad way unable to get up or lie down and really miserable. Took him in again to the vets and he is still there now on a morphine drip and a antibiotic drip, he seems to have some kind of infection not related to his muscle problems. As far as I can tell he has beaten the hell out of himself and there is a part of his body that doesnt hurt so much that he screams when you touch him! It must have been a hell of a fall, at least his bones are fine and there are no spinal problems. I will just have to wait and see hopefully he will start feeling better soon. All the best Terence Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Buttermilk Posted August 1, 2010 Report Share Posted August 1, 2010 Oh no. Really sorry to hear this...hope he soon recovers. Has the vet x-rayed him? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dirtwinger 235 Posted August 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2010 Oh no. Really sorry to hear this...hope he soon recovers. Has the vet x-rayed him? No he didnt do an xray, he manipulated all of his vertabrea individually and the dog had no discomfort. The problem seems to be in the muscle on his back and neck in particular you can see the muscles all bunched up which is causing the pain. My vet is a close friend and knows sighthounds well and I trust him to decide treatment, hell he has done surgery on me too! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tiff 36 Posted August 1, 2010 Report Share Posted August 1, 2010 sending out good thoughts your way Terrence! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Buttermilk Posted August 1, 2010 Report Share Posted August 1, 2010 ..what a worry. I'll keep my fingers crossed.x Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cúagusgiorraí 57 Posted August 1, 2010 Report Share Posted August 1, 2010 Hi mate I sure hope the dog recovers. If there are no spinal injuries, then massage is the best thing for him. let us know how he gets on Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dirtwinger 235 Posted August 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2010 Hi mate I sure hope the dog recovers. If there are no spinal injuries, then massage is the best thing for him. let us know how he gets on his spine is the only thing that doesnt hurt. The vet was pushing down on each vertabrea really hard and got no reaction at all but if you touch his muscles he screams! Massage would be hard right now he is way too sensitive for that, we will see once he is through the worst of the pain. Never had to put a injured dog on morphine before, even when he broke his leg earlier this year he didnt need it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dodger 3,589 Posted August 1, 2010 Report Share Posted August 1, 2010 Sorry to hear that fingers crossed hear to Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dirtwinger 235 Posted August 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2010 He is doing a little better this afternoon, he is getting up and down on his own which he couldnt do and finally getting some sleep. The heavy duty muscle relaxants he is on seems to be helping him. i will update tomorrow, he is staying at the vets tonight again. I dont have vet insurance but my vet is a mate so he just charges me cost for treatment which is a great help with my idiot kamikaze dogs and their self destructive antics. It has probably saved me $10,000 in the last ten years. Thanks for all your kind words Terence Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skycat 6,174 Posted August 2, 2010 Report Share Posted August 2, 2010 Hi mate I sure hope the dog recovers. If there are no spinal injuries, then massage is the best thing for him. let us know how he gets on his spine is the only thing that doesnt hurt. The vet was pushing down on each vertabrea really hard and got no reaction at all but if you touch his muscles he screams! Massage would be hard right now he is way too sensitive for that, we will see once he is through the worst of the pain. Never had to put a injured dog on morphine before, even when he broke his leg earlier this year he didnt need it. I take it the weather was very warm? Sounds as though it could be a case of azoturia. Old fashioned name for what is often called cramp, but its not an instant cramp like when your calf muscles tightens up. This type of locked solid and very painful muscle problem usually affects the dog at least 24 hours AFTER it has either run in hot weather and gotten dehydrated, or run unfit. The muscles seize solid: usually the back and hing leg muscles. Human athletes call it Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, but there's a lot more going on that that. It's something to do with lactic acid build up and the muscle trying to function whilst in oxygen debt: made worse by hot weather of course. I've had a lurcher lose all the muscle in her back over a period of several days when this happened when she got on a hare unexpectedly and whilst she was unfit. Just withered away to nothing: looked like a half starved dog, but only her back muscles were affected. They used to call it 'running their backs off', something that coursing greyhounds were prone to if the course went on for an unexpected length of time or the dog wasn't quite fit enough. Took several months to build her back muscles up again, and they never came quite as big as before. She ran fine, but never with quite the strength she'd had previously. Good luck with the dog: let us know how he gets on. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Buttermilk Posted August 2, 2010 Report Share Posted August 2, 2010 Hi mate I sure hope the dog recovers. If there are no spinal injuries, then massage is the best thing for him. let us know how he gets on his spine is the only thing that doesnt hurt. The vet was pushing down on each vertabrea really hard and got no reaction at all but if you touch his muscles he screams! Massage would be hard right now he is way too sensitive for that, we will see once he is through the worst of the pain. Never had to put a injured dog on morphine before, even when he broke his leg earlier this year he didnt need it. I take it the weather was very warm? Sounds as though it could be a case of azoturia. Old fashioned name for what is often called cramp, but its not an instant cramp like when your calf muscles tightens up. This type of locked solid and very painful muscle problem usually affects the dog at least 24 hours AFTER it has either run in hot weather and gotten dehydrated, or run unfit. The muscles seize solid: usually the back and hing leg muscles. Human athletes call it Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, but there's a lot more going on that that. It's something to do with lactic acid build up and the muscle trying to function whilst in oxygen debt: made worse by hot weather of course. I've had a lurcher lose all the muscle in her back over a period of several days when this happened when she got on a hare unexpectedly and whilst she was unfit. Just withered away to nothing: looked like a half starved dog, but only her back muscles were affected. They used to call it 'running their backs off', something that coursing greyhounds were prone to if the course went on for an unexpected length of time or the dog wasn't quite fit enough. Took several months to build her back muscles up again, and they never came quite as big as before. She ran fine, but never with quite the strength she'd had previously. Good luck with the dog: let us know how he gets on. ...what an interesting and informative post.I'm going to go and read up on this now.And I too hope he feels better soon. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dirtwinger 235 Posted August 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2010 Hi mate I sure hope the dog recovers. If there are no spinal injuries, then massage is the best thing for him. let us know how he gets on his spine is the only thing that doesnt hurt. The vet was pushing down on each vertabrea really hard and got no reaction at all but if you touch his muscles he screams! Massage would be hard right now he is way too sensitive for that, we will see once he is through the worst of the pain. Never had to put a injured dog on morphine before, even when he broke his leg earlier this year he didnt need it. I take it the weather was very warm? Sounds as though it could be a case of azoturia. Old fashioned name for what is often called cramp, but its not an instant cramp like when your calf muscles tightens up. This type of locked solid and very painful muscle problem usually affects the dog at least 24 hours AFTER it has either run in hot weather and gotten dehydrated, or run unfit. The muscles seize solid: usually the back and hing leg muscles. Human athletes call it Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, but there's a lot more going on that that. It's something to do with lactic acid build up and the muscle trying to function whilst in oxygen debt: made worse by hot weather of course. I've had a lurcher lose all the muscle in her back over a period of several days when this happened when she got on a hare unexpectedly and whilst she was unfit. Just withered away to nothing: looked like a half starved dog, but only her back muscles were affected. They used to call it 'running their backs off', something that coursing greyhounds were prone to if the course went on for an unexpected length of time or the dog wasn't quite fit enough. Took several months to build her back muscles up again, and they never came quite as big as before. She ran fine, but never with quite the strength she'd had previously. Good luck with the dog: let us know how he gets on. It was hot and the dog was unfit, I took him to that area because hares extremely uncommon there one a year maybe. The dog is a very hard running dog fit or unfit I try to be careful because he is a dog that would run himself to death. He was hot when I got him back from the run but not extremely hot and he was coooled down with water immediatly after I got him back which has always done the trick for me in the past. I carry a gallon of water in the field and another one or two gallons in the truck. The other dogs were not overheated including my ten year old and they all came back at the same time. I hope that it is just pulled and bruised muscles rather than azoturia as that would really suck. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dirtwinger 235 Posted August 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2010 The vet will be taking Slim off the morphine today as he is doing much better just some pain at the top of his neck. He will spend another night at the vets with just oral pain meds, if he does well he should come home tomorrow. All the best Terence Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dirtwinger 235 Posted August 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2010 Well brought Slim home today and he is doing a lot better, seems to have been a combination of overheating, taking a bad fall and being unfit when it all happened. Slim should recover completly and only cost me $900 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tiff 36 Posted August 4, 2010 Report Share Posted August 4, 2010 glad to hear it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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