Neurotic Dog

Nolimits12

7 year old Shih Tzu and in the last year he has changed. Hes nervous of everything and he is getting so clingy with me. Hes also been growling a lot esp if you go near his hind legs or tail. Last june he was at the groomers and he got so stressed he fainted! Hes had the same groomer for all his life and he used to be happy to go to her??

Also, in the vet in november when he injured his paw, during a simple dressing change he peed himself because he got so terrified. He used to have dermatitis and was at the vet regularly for it, so its not as if its a new place.

Why is my dog such a stress head?? I just cant pinpoint an event that would have changed him? He is set clear boundaries and I would not describe him as spoilt. Is this an ageing thing?

DBB

Has your vet investigated the source of pain in your dog's hind quarters? X-rays perhaps?
I'd do nothing more until this has been done.

Nolimits12

Well when I investigate I can feel bilateral patellar luxation, but he disagrees with me. I've asked friends who are vets about treating this and they all say there is absolutely no point operating on this condition because of his age. He has no gait abnormalities so that is possibily why the vet believes he doesn't have this. He doesnt show pain either he just tenses up? It would be the same if you touch his tail.

DBB

Nolimits12 wrote: »

Well when I investigate I can feel bilateral patellar luxation, but he disagrees with me. I've asked friends who are vets about treating this and they all say there is absolutely no point operating on this condition because of his age. He has no gait abnormalities so that is possibily why the vet believes he doesn't have this. He doesnt show pain either he just tenses up? It would be the same if you touch his tail.

But your dog is not tensing up for the hell of it, nor reacting as he is for the hell of it! There is a very strong suggestion that your dog is in discomfort, and I'm a little dismayed that your vet would discount this, and has not at least x-rayed to see what's going on in there.
Bilateral problems can be masked because they're bilateral. Are you a vet or vet nurse that you can feel the luxation and diagnose it? Something needs to happen here because dogs don't suddenly start acting like yours is for no good reason. Sudden changes in behaviour are almost always related to a medical problem.
The fact that your dog seems in pain, and the vet isn't doing anything about it, is a bit odd.

SillyMangoX

I'd talk to the vet about maybe giving him a sedative or GA to fully examine him as some things aren't so easy to spot when they are fully conscious and tensed up, have his anal glands been emptied recently? Would always be my first port of call when they don't like their back end being touched!

Nolimits12

The groom says shes does the glands, he visits her every 3 months.

I know but he just wont go near it?? I cant go to the other vet in my town as hes even worse. But like Ive been to a vet, who seemed good but also disagreed. But when you flex your dogs knee it shouldnt crack! Plus you can actually feel the luxation. I worked as an equine vet nurse and have always been around horses, really used to diagnosing horse lameness. Its very easy to diagnose it in him, I know nothing about small animal veterinary but this is an easy one.

Well you see the tensing Ive noticed mainly after his november paw incident. He went to snap at the groomer and she clipped his dew claw off... I thought maybe hes doing this because hes relating it to getting stitches and his bandage changed and the whole horror of that???

Im really stuck on this, if we get xrays and it shows he has it all we can do is pain management? It was equine vets that advised me not to operate. They havent been near dogs since university, however. But I done some googling, read some scientific papers and the prognosis for older dogs having this condition aint good at an older age.

DBB

Ah here! You've asked vets who don't specialise in dogs and haven't studied canine orthopaedics?!
You need to talk to a small animal vet, preferably one who does orthopaedic work, which just like human orthopaedics, has made enormous strides forward in the past decade.
You also said your dog growls when you try to touch his hindquarters. It's possible that he has an association of being touched here with the dew claw incident. I doubt it though. You say you can feel patellar luxation. The vet says there's nothing wrong.
But there is something wrong, and I don't see what you're stuck on, to be honest. An x-ray, and a proper exam under sedation, will give you a diagnosis. Then a vet who is actually qualified to make a call on the success of an operation can advise you, if an operation is required at all, remembering that your dog has not been officially diagnosed yet. I wouldn't have said 7 was old, but I'll leave that to an orthopaedic specialist to determine.
And what if it comes down to simple pain control? At least you'll have a proper diagnosis and you'll know what you're dealing with. But leaving the dog as is is not an option imo. Time to get actively looking for someone who knows what they're at with dogs, not horses.

Nolimits12

Sorry, I wasnt clear

Small animal vet said nothing wrong with him, examined him and doesnt think he can feel anything. So he wont xray.

I still believed after leaving vet that he has the condition so I started research.

I only asked the horse vets for advice when I was researching the condition, theyve never seen or examined the dog.

These small animal vets i bring him to are meant to be good.. Theyve actually won awards AFAIK. The guy examinging him is not the partner of the practice hes just a junior vet I guess? But it seems like hes the only vet working there! Should I go down and insist on the xrays? The surgery success thing is down to reading the journals. Scientific journals are the best indication i think, you have specialised canine orthopaedic vets "experimenting" on how well the surgery works. The results were it didnt work in older dogs.

I was on the phone to mum there, she took him to the vet for the dew claw thing and apparently he said he examined him under sedation and done xrays. Im confused though because when I picked him up there was no mention of xrays being done. I mentioned the patellar luxation and outright argued with him over it. So if he spotted nothing on the "xrays" he would have shown me to prove his point? I think I may be visiting this guy this evening...