Has anyone had similar to this? Dog in obvious pain but no cause found

[musicposy]

My DDog is 9. Not young but not really old for the breed - she's a Jack Russell cross.
She's started to slow down a lot over the last few months, nothing obvious but stopped bothering to follow me around etc. Still interested in walks, outings. I mentioned this to the vet at health check and everything seemed fine.

The last few weeks, she's really deteriorated. She kept yelping when she's touched or moved. We've been back to the vet more times than I can tell you and they cannot find a reason. She's had bloods and x rays and all are completely normal. Her joints look healthy. She's been on rimadyl and gabapentin and most recently on 2 weeks rest. She's seemed much more like a normal dog.

We started slightly weaning off the meds this week under vet advice, not completely, just lowering the dose. Since yesterday she is yelping every time she moves, shaking and panting. She was doing this before she was put on the medication but today is the worst she's been.

I've phoned vet and am taking her later this afternoon but I'm dreading them being, as usual, unable to find any cause. They know she's in pain of some sort but can't find what or why. She perks up a bit when distracted so always seems more normal at the vet (which I think is a good sign but does make it hard). As I write this she's just shifted position slightly and has set up screaming and yelping again. It's awful seeing her like this

Has anyone been through similar? Our last dog got to 15 and we never had anything like this.

[BiteyShark]

Sorry no experience but a couple of thoughts.

If she is worse at home I would video her on my phone to show the vets how she is. Always helpful when they 'rally' at the vets and you having to explain the symptoms.

I would then be asking for any specialist referrals given they can't find what's wrong.

[musicposy]

Videoing is a good idea; I'll do that.

I'll also push them for a further plan. She's not insured but we have some savings put by for vet bills. I've spent a lot already but will do whatever it takes and I have told the vet that. I'll reiterate today that we need a further plan and if that's expensive and means a referral, so be it.

[Whitney168]

What have they x-rayed? I would be wondering whether it's worth getting a canine osteopath to look at her spine?

[musicposy]

They did a full body x ray under general, side on and then one where she looked to be laid on her back, the legs and hips, and showed them to me (not that i can decipher it) and said it was all perfect, all aligned, all straight. They did say some back problems don't show up on x ray though. Would the vets know of a canine osteopath?

I'm off to vet in a minute and they will have to do something - she can't be left in this state

[Dontgiveamonkeys1350]

Let us know how u get on

[musicposy]

They've given her a stronger painkilling injection, still can't find anything wrong. They took her out back with the vet nurse for the injection and to have another examination of her because she definitely ramps the drama up with me. She has history as a bit of a drama queen with them even though she loves going to the vet - even at vaccinations and health checks she acts as though they are killing her. This makes it harder for them to pinpoint what's wrong as she will yelp in anticipation of pain before they even touch her!

Anyway today she did have a bit of a temperature - probably the pain and panting. The vet actually asked me if referral would be an option for me now (as they know I'm paying). I said yes - it'll likely cost ££££ but I couldn't say no. After all, I have a £3000 car loan and she's way more important than my car.

So they are going to refer to a specialist. They will get advice on the case first but she will probably see the orthopaedic or neurological vet there. She's on crate rest in the meantime and gazing at me sorrowfully and whining every time I look at her. She's mostly stopped yelping, thankfully.

Shes used to sleeping on my bed but because she sometimes jumps off she's either going to have to stay in the crate or I'm going to have to work out how I can sleep down low with no furniture she can jump on. I've even considered tent in the garden, soft touch that I am, but I suspect it will have to be the crate.

[BiteyShark]

Do you know where they are referring you to? When we got a neuro referral the place has a price list for everything online. Just to give you an idea of the prices for our referral at a specialist Center an initial consultation was £240 and whilst an MRI was around £2000-£2500 if an operation was subsequently required the price of the scan was included in their fixed price surgery.

As for sleeping when they can't jump we dismantled our bed and put the mattress on the floor so he could easily get on and off it.

[fivedogstofeed]

I actually did have something similar, and we never really found out what it was.
Ddog was in so much pain she spent two weeks curled up between the pillows on our bed, literally couldn't move. I had to carry her as she wS, curled up in a ball.
Vet was firstly convinced it was orthopaedic but even the strongest painkillers only helped a bit. Eventually they said her liver might look a bit enlarged on xray, but not definitely as the xray wasn't great.....and after a second antibiotic she started to improve so we had to conclude there was some kind of infection in the liver/ spleen but really never knew.
Ddog was also about 8/9 and I was sure she was going to die. She's now nearly 13 and fighting fit. :)

[musicposy]

Thank you - the messages have all really helped!

She's being referred to Anderson Moores in Winchester. They've emailed first for their advice and are hoping to get back to me later today. It's 40 miles from us but sounds as though they have all the specialist equipment.

She had a bad night but slept from about 4am and is far happier today. She was in the crate initially but it was bought for a small sheltie and i think we need bigger if she's to spend a long time in there. So after reading your post BiteyShark we upended the sofas in our back room and have brought our mattress down and put on the floor. She now has a comfortable room with space and it leads into the garden. She slept pretty much on me but has decamped to the dog basket now.

fivedogstofeed your post was so encouraging- I really needed something to hang on to yesterday as she seemed to be suffering so much. DD1 reminded me that our first sheltie looked on his last legs at 7 or 8, lethargic for ages, coughing, no cause found. He rallied and lived happily and healthily until a week away from his 15th birthday.

[BiteyShark]

I haven't been to the one in Winchester but know someone who has and I think the prices were about the same as the one I was referred to and yes they have all the equipment in terms of scanning etc.

Hope they can get you some answers as I think knowing what you are dealing with is the first battle.