There has been tears from both of us here today as Mikey was still in obvious pain this morning. Steve was choked when Mikey sat leaning against him staring into his eye. Steve felt he was pleading for help. But as we got the keys out for the van all signs of pain disappeared and he squealed and squawked his way to the van. It did give me a glimmer or hope, but I have been in similar situation before.
The vets diagnosis was almost word for word what Steve had suggested on the journey. The lump is now putting pressure on the spine and causing nerve pain/damage, and anyone who's had sciatic or similar pains will know, there's not much worse than nerve pain. When Mikey was put to stand on his knuckle he could not correct it, proving a nerve problem was now obvious.
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| A GSD "Knuckling" |
He has been prescribed "gabapentin" a drug we are familiar with here, but not previously for animal use. He wants Mikey to remain on the steroids and has changed his antibiotics to Baytril .. again with years of animal care a medicine I'm familiar with, there is no stronger antibiotics. Mikey temperature was over 103 ... a little high but he does think the cough is a Kennel Cough and not a spread of anything onto his lungs.
Sadly with the continued growth of the lump and now pain the prognosis for Mikey is poor and all we can do is make sure he has quality of life and that the pain can be controlled. We can not, will not let him suffer! Devastated just isn't strong enough a word to describe how we both feel today!
