Hi, I’m looking for advice and maybe just some reassurance from people who’ve had a long road to recovering their dog's health! (This is pretty long!)
I noticed our 5.5 year old dog’s gait looked a bit off one day in October when he was walking on the lead, and he went to the vets to get this looked at. They couldn’t diagnose anything, so recommended short lead walks only for 2-3 weeks and painkillers. After about 2 weeks, he got a suspected UTI (third one within a year) and he went back to the vets, who noticed one of his testicles was slightly swollen. Still no improvement with his leg either, so he was booked in for an x-ray of his hip/knee and an ultrasound of his testicle at the same time. He was put on antibiotics for the testicle swelling.
However, before this could take place his testicle swelled up enormously, very quickly, and he was in a lot of pain. We went back to the vet immediately and he was put on stronger antibiotics and painkillers, but there was no improvement in the next 18 hours, so he was taken in for an emergency castration and scrotal ablation. This was quite stressful for us as he was entire due to being quite an anxious and sensitive dog.
He recovered well from the op, but there was no change in his gait. Vets maybe thought that his lameness was connected to the testicle, i.e. he was walking oddly to accommodate a painful testicle, but there was no improvement in his gait post-op. He was referred to an orthopaedic vet, who carried out various tests and thought he had an issue with his spine due to failing the knuckle test with one of his back legs, and other responses to tests. He was referred for an MRI to try and pinpoint the cause.
Pathology on his testicles then came back, and it wasn’t cancer, but it was inconclusive whether it was a torsion or infection. As it may have been infection, our vet wanted to test him for brucellosis due to some of his symptoms matching the virus symptoms. Although it would have been almost impossible for him to contract this, we had an anxious two weeks waiting for his result (negative!). His MRI had to be postponed as he couldn’t visit the clinic with potential brucellosis.
So – he finally had his MRI last week. The neurologist agreed with the orthopaedic vet that he was showing signs of neurological deficiency and said his likely guesses would be a slipped disc or diskospondylitis (infection in the spine). The MRI showed nothing except a healthy spine, and blood tests and lumbar puncture testing came back clear. The neurologist has said they’re a bit puzzled by him, and has recommended continued monitoring and blood tests to check for inflammation, and thinks it could be something else in the body causing the issues. Next steps might be x-rays or a CT scan.
To top it all off, I think he has developed an ear infection over the past few days. He’s been on short lead walks only for 3 months now, and he’s an active working breed. We have no idea when he can start going out again, and I don’t know how long to keep putting an anxious dog who hates the vets through tests. We're not seeing any physical signs beyond his gait, but he is obviously showing signs of pain and neurological deficit when tested. He’s coped incredibly well with being confined, but how long does this go on for?! We’re £5k down on our £7k insurance policy and no closer to any answers. If anyone has any advice, or any similar experience with their dog, I’d love to hear – I’m feeling so worried about him and I don’t know what to do!