Yvonne tells her story starting when Oreo was 6 months old.
December 5, 2011 Oreo came into the house and it seemed like he was walking funny for a couple of steps. We walked him around the family room and main floor and he was walking normal. I noted it down to talk to the vet when we were next in. During the week that followed he seemed fine and walking and running normally.
December 14, 2011 Oreo again came into the house and was limping very mildly for a few steps. One of those where you just rub your eyes and wonder if you were imagining it. I spoke to my vet the next day and she asked that we keep a close eye on his walking and let her know if he had any more episodes. Little did I know that we were in for the ride of our lives over the next 18 months.
December 24th at 9pm Oreo came inside completely lame. Panic call to the vet was immediate bed rest and to bring him in on the 26th for x-rays.
December 26th the diagnosis of OCD was made in both shoulders and x-rays sent to our Ortho surgeon for surgical options. The decision was made to perform surgery on his left shoulder and let his right shoulder, which was no where near as bad, heal naturally during the enforced bed rest after surgery.
January 5, 2012 was Oreo's surgical date. We had another consultation with the ortho surgeon who noticed that he was walking funny on his hind end - kind of a swaying motion. She suggested hip x-rays while he was under sedation for his surgery.
I received a phone call at 1pm letting me know Oreo was out of surgery and doing well. That was the good news! The bad news followed next. Both hips had severe dysplasia with the left being the worse of the two. The socket was only covering about an inch of the ball which meant that it could pop out at any time.
Like any good parent the first call after was to the bank to redo our mortgage .
Oreo's surgery went well, and his recovery was interesting as we not only had Oreo to keep quiet we had to keep his sister away from him at all times. Leash walks were a nightmare, even though we were only walking in the front yard. We had a month of full restrictions, one month of very short 5 min walks, and then the snag hit.
At the end of February 2012 Oreo stopped eating. We had to stop his Metacam and some of his other pain pills during this time. For 6 weeks we fought to get food into him, any type of food. Some days he would eat a bit, other days nothing at all. The recommendation came to get him to the Ontario Vet College as soon as possible for both his eating and his hips.
April 10 was our first visit to Guelph for a surgical consult on his hips and a gastro consult. At that time it was decided that the inappetite was more important so we would pursue his eating issues first. The end result after 3 days of testing which included an ultrasound, x-rays and an endoscopy was that he had a multitude of pinprick ulcers all through his stomach. The poor guy just couldn't catch a break. We put him on a diet of boiled hamburg and rice with some pumpkin added in for a few days to try to get him eating again, along with pills to get his bowels moving a little better and a stomach antacid to coat his guts. The ortho consult was on the final day and it was decided to delay any surgery until Oreo was at least 16 to 24 mths old.
Over the rest of April, May and June we finally managed to get Oreo eating again and feeling better. I managed to cut his pain meds down so we could see how his hips and shoulders were doing. Follow up x-rays of his shoulders should excellent results in both and they were fully healed.
Poor Oreo was once again struck a blow when the dreaded neutering came in July 2012. After speaking with my vet, we decided it was time to neuter him as we have many unspayed females in our neighbourhood and I couldn't take the chance that he would get loose and injure himself further. The neutering went good and he was sent home. By the next day he was running a fever and his incision was infected. Back to the vets for antibiotics and then icing his incision site. The things we do for our pups . By the end of the 3rd day we were once again back to not eating and the fight to find a food he would eat led me to bookstores for cookbooks, internet searches for recipes, pre-made powders to add to meat and veggies and the list goes on.
From July to October 2012 Oreo lost almost 25lbs from not eating. It was at this point I really started to question if I was being fair to him. I wanted him here for me but not at the risk of it hurting him more. I had a long talk with my vet who assured me that I wasn't being unfair to my pup; he had a lot to live for and was a happy guy. She also told me that most people would have given up long ago but there must have been a reason Oreo came into our lives. He certainly is a blessing to me and the rest of our nutty household.
7th May 2013
Oreo has pre-op tomorrow in Guelph for his hip replacement surgery. I am beginning to hate that drive but I love the time I get to spend with him alone :). Wish us luck as they are x-raying his entire body and I am scared to find out what else could possibly be wrong with him.
8th May 2013
Surgery is next week - not sure of the date yet since he is classified as a complex case. All his work ups came back good so at this point he is healthy enough to have it done.
9 May 2013
Think the good news just got jinxed. Received a call this morning from the Ontario Vet College asking if I wanted to delay the surgery since he is doing so well right now. It appears they are undecided as to going ahead while he is doing well or waiting until he is lame again. Sounds like the same mindset I am currently in. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Anyone want to weigh in feel free. I am so torn as to what I should do. Right now he is running, jumping, playing and just generally being a puppy. He eats like a champ and hasn't had any throwing up issues for a couple of months. He is acting like the pup he should be at his age.
He has finally finished growing thank God. His hips are trash according to the xrays and will have to be done but their thoughts are maybe to wait until he is lame again and then do it. My thoughts are that it is summer and he spends most of his time on the A/C vents and has limited activity so now would be the time. I dunno, hard call to make.
I hate making decisions like this. We've been through so much together and I just want him to have some quality of life. His left hip in particular is so bad that it pops out of joint from something as little as taking a corner too fast. But I want him to have some puppy time also as he hasn't really had time to just be a pup and have fun. I'm going to talk to my vet tomorrow night and then make my decision. I really hope it is the right one ugh.
18th May 2013
I have decided to wait and give him time to be a puppy . If I had wanted to go ahead I couldn't at this point as Gibson bit Oreo's head and left puncture marks around his right eye and then the next day swiped him with a paw and left scrapes under the same eye. Poor guy is on antibiotics and cream to help with the healing. Vet had to shave around his eye to see the extent of the damage but the good news is no damage to the eye. Oreo just can't catch a break ugh. Gibson is now wearing doggy socks and if he keeps on biting he will be wearing a basket next. He is challenging Oreo for alpha I think. Good luck with that says Oreo. Gibson is a very hyper Dane .
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