Boxer ill, undiagnosed problem, please help

[kev3000gt]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

Hi guys, i`ll try to give as much info as i can but my boxer ( ash ) is a 4 year old male.
In november he started to occasionally yelp for no apparent reason, although after a couple of days i worked out it was when he opened his jaw. He started to limit his opening to about 2 " and i took him straight to the vet. They could examine him because he wouldnt let them so the following day i took him back and they sedated him.

The vet examined his jaw and his throat etc and couldnt find any damage and the jaw moved correctly. The assumption at that point was a pulled muscle so they gave him metacam, i bought a baskerville muzzle so he couldnt pick stuff up and have been taking him out on the lead only. After a few days he had gone down hill, he`d been sick and had the runs ( apparently fairly normal ) but then he stopped eating and drinking so i stopped the metacam and took him back to the vet. They gave him tramadol then as the metacam had given him a bad reaction.

After about 2 weeks of tramadol he developed a limp on his back left so i took him back again and after an examination they were sure it was a pulled leg muscle and nothing to worry about. The limp came and went for a couple of weeks and then got progressively worse to the point of him hopping along for a full 24 hours and that evening my son ( 1 year old ) went to stroke him and ash grolwed at him, completely out of character so back to the vet.

At the start the vet was sure there wasnt anything wrong to warrant any xrays but i got them to do it to make sure, they took 3 of his head, 2 of his spine and 2 of each of his back legs. There wasnt anything broken and no lesions / tumours etc so they did a blood test, white cell count was very low. His jaw pivot point had a gap slightly bigger on one side than the other ( very small difference ) and they thought that the gap may be causing it but were considering the possibility of limes disease. They said carry on with the tramadol and give ronaxan to combat a possible virus issue.

After a few days he picked up a bit and levelled off. The yelping had stopped but the limp remained. A second round of ronaxan was ordered and the limp improved further. He had started walking and running lightly off the lead due to the improvements. ( tramadol stopped halfway through the 2nd ronaxan ) but a few days ago i took him back in again as he was still very lethargic in the mornings and moved slowly like an old man and has not regained his back leg power, i have to lift him into the car etc.
The vet is convinced of a virus and due to the improvement seen from the ronaxan ordered a third round of treatment. we are part way through this now.
Today we went for a walk and he ran around for about 10 minutes, ( nothing major or fast ) Tonight he has gone back to hopping and when i went to stroke him he tried to bite me. Obviously he`s in pain and probably scared and tomorrow im going to phone the vet again but i need other suggestions, this out getting out of control, he`s in pain and i dont want him to snap at my son ( obviously we would never trust him alone with henry but even supervised it only takes a second ).
ANY suggestions are welcome, please help
Kev

 

[kev3000gt]

I should add that the limp has swapped sides from rear left to rear right

 

[lurcherman]

Find another vet and tell him everythink, you gave done well to take him so many times, do some research and find a better practice, if your happy with ur vet then fine. Best of luck.

 

[kev3000gt]

Hi, i forgot to say, i had taken him to another practice at xmas, they phoned my vets which didnt go down very well. At that point the 2nd vets said they agreed with the 1st vets but would have got xrays. The vet i see is regarded as being the best locally and other dog owners have been suprised that i`m having problems getting to mthe bottom of it

Thank you for replying

 

[Hula]

Ask to be referred to a specialist at a vet school .

 

[chelynnah]

Did they do any followup with the suspected Lyme? A good vet should never take issue with a second opinion. No one is perfect, and when stumped better safe than sorry.

 

[lurcherman]

Agreed. The vets dont own us, we pay our way.

 

[Badlydrawnmum]

My dog has been unwell for several weeks but has an overall theme of different presenting problems. My vets are also an excellent practice and are highly recommended and caring. Unfortunately they were focusing on the symptoms rather than the whole picture, which is that there is a huge underlying problem. A locum was in the practice this week and she took one look at my dog and said there is a major problem here and your dog is 'complicated' and very unwell. My dog's diagnosis could be one of tens of conditions but observing his behaviour and asking relevant questions she immediately said he needs further investigation. He's at North West surgeons as I type and may not pull through. He's having in depth diagnostic tests which is very expensive (it will wipe out my whole annual Petplan cover for this process) but at least I've been heard and hopefully we will know what we're facing. The locum explained xrays are OK but they miss a multitude of issues and that ultrasounds/CT scans etc may be required. Unfortunately I left my boy with a temperature of 103 and serious respiratory problems yesterday and I've been visiting the vets at least once a week since Christmas. You obviously feel something is seriously wrong and if I was you and you have insurance or a lot of money, I'd ask for him to be referred. I've learnt my vets practice is equivalent to a GPs surgery and that with more complicated stuff a referral is essential. None of my vets were listening to my concerns and were simply doing all the detailed tests. They do operations at the vets and are very well qualified but they don't have the detailed diagnostic equipment that a specialist place may have. Hope you get somewhere!