We brought Chevy and Spike to the vet today for checkups.
Chevy
Back in June we brought Chevy to the vet because he was limping on his right foot. The vet took and ex-ray and said he had bad arthritis. She gave him an injection of Legend (similar to Adequan) and I put him on Rimadyl. This didn’t help, so I called the vet and asked if there was anything else we could do. The first time I called I didn’t get much of a response, so I called again and we changed his meds to meloxicam, gabapentin, and cartrophen, with a caveat that if the Legend didn’t work, the cartrophen probably wouldn’t work either. This turned out to be true.
Today we brought Chevy to the local vet, who immediately noticed muscle atrophy in Chevy’s right shoulder, so he took an ex-ray and found the bone just below his shoulder is decaying. This could be due to cancer, or something else? The vet predicted eventually he would start dragging his leg. He said if this was a younger dog, he’d amputate the leg, but that type of surgery isn’t appropriate for a 13 year old dog. We’ll continue with the gabapentin and drop the meloxicam & cartrophen, and monitor his pain and discomfort level. The doc said he probably isn’t in pain.
Spike
We brought Spike in for a pre-dental, and she will have some dental work done in the near future.