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Post by orpheous87 on Apr 29, 2017 20:36:08 GMT
I am positive that Cody's left hind leg is still not at 100%. He seems to favour it a lot, when walking, standing, lying down etc. He can do everything at full speed as normal, and he's not limping totally obviously but he's not fully weight bearing on it. When he jumps onto the settee to lie down, he'll get himself into the corner and put all his weight on his front legs and swing both hind legs round so that he's curled into a ball. None of it seems normal to me, if that makes sense. When he jumps down from the settee, he seems to lift his left hind leg first and doesn't put it down properly until all his other 3 legs are planted. When he's standing, he seems to stand on his tiptoes on that foot rather than with the pad flat on the floor. He has been x-rayed at the vets (hips & knees), as I'm sure you'll remember, and the results didn't show anything wrong. It just doesn't seem like there's any point going back to them again, seeing as there's no obvious limp. I did take him to hydrotherapy with Pepper once and Helen, the hydrotherapist, said that she could see him limping on it. Presumably she can see more than I can due to her job and working with joint issues every day. Does anyone have any suggestions on what we could do/look at now? He lets me manipulate it without making a fuss, which doesn't really help! I will also add that no-one else seems to see the same things that I do  |
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Post by cazypops on Apr 29, 2017 21:17:58 GMT
I know what you're talking about, you just described how our Jasper is. If you have some Loxicom in the house I'd give him some for a few days to see if that helps, and if it does then you have something to report to the vet if you take him back.
Is it possible the vet missed something when they did the x-rays? Like a hairline fracture?
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Post by orpheous87 on Apr 29, 2017 21:28:34 GMT
We do have some, but as I don't feed him and my brother doesn't think there's anything wrong with him, I don't think he'll give him any. Last time I told him that I didn't think the leg was right, he dismissed the thought.
I don't know. I don't think so, but as we didn't see the x-rays, I don't know for sure. I might mention it when I take them for weight checks next. It would almost be a blessing if he started limping again, not that I'm wishing injury on him.
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Post by scallywag on Apr 29, 2017 22:05:27 GMT
Hope it all gets sorted for him, bless, Beau was standing on tippy toes and not weight baring but he also held his leg up at times when running, seems as Cody isn't doing that its not tge cruciate ( well hopefully ) anyways x
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Post by caz2golden on Apr 30, 2017 8:42:04 GMT
I do know of a friend who had a freak case where x-rays did not show a fracture. After months of on and off limping friend took her dog to a specialist who did another kind of scan (sorry can not remember the type of scan) that did show Boris had fractured a bone in his front leg. Therefore occasionally x-rays might not pick something up. I would expect if that was the case he would show regular discomfort during and after exercise! Can you stand him on one of the fitapaws products you have (or even a memory foam bed) to show the family he is not evenly distributing weight when standing? Actually maybe some work on fitpaws kind of equipment will help strengthen muscles if it is muscular rather than joint! Would your brother consider giving him regular hydrotherapy? Would he listen to Helen if she said to him that something was not right? Does your brother give him anything for joints i.e GLM or omega supplements? Sidenote: I notice totofit have a sale today and I am so very tempted even though I do not have the money! Though unsure what to go for 2 disks, 1 disk and some pods, two different kinds of disks (or the whole lot  ) |
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Post by orpheous87 on Apr 30, 2017 20:19:32 GMT
scallywag, the only time I've noticed him holding his leg up was just tonight when he was coming downstairs. He came down on 3 legs, but was walking on all 4 when he got to the bottom. It's odd. I've been told numerous times that it's not his cruciate, but I'm not convinced that there's nothing wrong, if that makes sense? caz2golden, hmm, that's worth bearing in mind. I might mention it again when I go to the vets for weight checks next, just to see what they say. I may try and get some photos/videos of what he's doing. I have tried to put him on the fit paws stuff before, but he gets too over excited and just barks at me. So as nice as it would be to do that, I don't think he'll calm down enough to be able to do it. He doesn't get any supplements for his joints, no, even though he's been told that he can get Yumove on prescription from the vet. I think if the vet recommended hydro he'd do it, especially if he could claim for it on the insurance, but if he had to pay himself then I don't think he would. That's the reason Cody hasn't been to any kind of training classes.
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Post by caz2golden on Apr 30, 2017 20:52:15 GMT
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Post by tonib on Apr 30, 2017 21:09:41 GMT
orpheous87, Our vet had a suggestion with behaviour that they couldn't see in the surgery & that was for us to video it & take it in to the vets to show what we meant.
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Post by orpheous87 on Apr 30, 2017 21:14:05 GMT
Sometimes it's the only way to get a message across tonib. We had to do it for Oscar when he ruptured his cruciate because he gets so stressed in the vets that the vet couldn't properly diagnose him. The first time Jean took him for it, they diagnosed locating patella and said that they don't do anything with them until it gets to stage 3 (or something) and they gave him anti-inflammatories. But after the course was complete and he was still limping (and getting worse), I convinced her to video him with her phone and take the video in to the vet. Except, being in her 70s, she didn't quite have the hang of videoing on her phone and hadn't pressed the record button! Luckily I'd also videoed him and was able to email my videos to the vet. After she saw the video, she said straight away that it was his cruciate. I'll try and get some photos and videos over the next couple of weeks. |
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Post by tonib on Apr 30, 2017 21:39:34 GMT
In our case orpheous87 , it was after Roman's cruciate op & as he recovered we found he couldn't scratch properly with that leg - it was thought to be just a case of muscles needing building up. It was difficult to describe as he'd apparently scratch with the leg but instead of his hind paw being by his ear it was under his chin not touching anything just going up & down! The vet suggested videoing it & when they saw it they x-rayed him again & found that part of his Achilles tendon was stretched. 3 options - leave alone, fix the ankle, shorten the stretched part (no guarantee to be perfect) We went with the leave alone option for the moment & a year later its still does the same but we're occasionally seeing him walking a bit stiffly with that leg. He's due back in Maynow (glad I checked as a resut of this post & he was done late April last year) for the annual vacs Maynow (glad I checked as a result of this post & he was done late April last year not early May, Lexie was early May!) so I'll have a word then & hopefully have a video of his bad walking - just need to have the phone/camera to hand when he does it! Hope you can get to the bottom of Cody's issue - with or with out your brothers help  |
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Post by orpheous87 on Apr 30, 2017 21:46:56 GMT
Hopefully the vets will have some answers for you then tonib. Would you opt for surgery if they gave you the option? |
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Post by tonib on May 1, 2017 0:42:04 GMT
Good question @orpheous97 its a balancing decision between how much of an inconvenience it is for him (including the potential of pain which cats can hide well) against the risks/impact of any operation.
The option to shorten the loose part of the tendon has risks, such as not being quite right adjustment & any such repair could lead to more weakness.
Or if we go for putting a screw in the hock & fix it the down side is no spring in that hock which might cause him more problems when he's outside.
So think I'll see what the vet says, it could be something else entirely, although I don't think the cruciate implant is the cause of the problem just the Achilles but we need to get that assessed as well.
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Post by orpheous87 on May 1, 2017 19:03:22 GMT
So, after saying that he hasn't been holding his leg up... guess what he's been doing today. Only after he's been let out of his crate after our walk this morning. Now, I will admit we were out for longer (it was a nice day here) than usual, and he ran around quite a bit more than usual too as we were in a big group so he had a few playmates to run with. So perhaps he's overdone it, but either way, he shouldn't really be holding his leg up if there was nothing wrong. One good thing is that when my brother came home from work and Cody went over to him, he was holding his leg up then so I've convinced him to give him Loxicom for a few days. We'll see if that helps. I've also got some photos of how he's standing so I can show the vet.     Not sure how well they demonstrate the issue, but there we are. |
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Post by orpheous87 on May 1, 2017 19:06:42 GMT
Good question @orpheous97 its a balancing decision between how much of an inconvenience it is for him (including the potential of pain which cats can hide well) against the risks/impact of any operation. The option to shorten the loose part of the tendon has risks, such as not being quite right adjustment & any such repair could lead to more weakness. Or if we go for putting a screw in the hock & fix it the down side is no spring in that hock which might cause him more problems when he's outside. So think I'll see what the vet says, it could be something else entirely, although I don't think the cruciate implant is the cause of the problem just the Achilles but we need to get that assessed as well. Hmm. It seems like cat owners must have more considerations to make when deciding to go for surgery or not. I think I would do the same as you and see what the vet says. They will surely be able to give you an honest opinion of what would be best. |
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Post by scallywag on May 1, 2017 19:40:19 GMT
My first thought was his hip, hes not wanting to bring it fwd in line ? orpheous87 |
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