Rottifan

Good advice - I would rest and do small exercise and movement as per last post. Time will see the inflammation reduce BUT with so many of the breed out there (whippets and greys) and not all having these issues you have to look at WHY this has happened. I dont mean the running around and having fun because you would see ALL of the breed having the issue when they 'ran around and had fun/raced'. If your dog is out of alignment and has pinched nerves (eg is your dogs back curved upwards "roached", or has a dip in it, or walks sideways a litte....many other signs to learn) then when your dogs adrenalin kicks in when its play time they push through the pain barrier and something has to give. If they have pinched nerves when they stretch out fully and move with full movement, the pinched nerves will cause muscle spasm and they normally stop and reduce their movement.....unless they are in an adrenalin filled moment and thats when they do the damage. Make sure your dog is in alignment to eliminate it happening again or deteriorating worse. The dog will heal a lot better/faster and their immune system will be functioning fully too! Good luck

Same - mystery blood spots that were light in colour came from my boy and took a while to detect.....he was 4 and not yet desexed and was found to be leaking from his private parts...desexed and ultrasound of prostrate to ensure there was nothing else and the issue stopped, thankfully. It was an early warning sign that alerted us to the fact that it could have turned into something nasty (prostrate issues). Good luck with your girl and keeping watch!

Charissa Smith is good for alterative ideas if you want a different scope on things - operates from her home far west of Brisbane or Greencross Vets at Inala on certain days. Has a website if you google her to check that out too. She refers to Vet Specialist Services on the south side who I rate very highly compared to specialist centre experiences on the north side and was happy to travel to see her to get a referral to the south side specialists regardless of travelling a lot further!

Brighton is a little bit of a drive but info for you just in case......North Road Vet at Brighton is probably much the same price as North Lakes but the care and attention and service is great. I took my kitten to a vet at Strathpine seeking cheap alternatives and when I rang up after not hearing feedback around lunch time I was told that they had a few issues....one being that they cut "him" open and after "digging around" and "not finding a uterus" they "realised he was a boy, not a girl! The poor little boy's wound then got infected and it goes on and on......... Now if I am shopping for a cheaper vet it will only be for annual injections or things that cannot be stuffed up! I have heard good reports about Simon, the vet from 3rd Avenue Vet Brighton who's service is impeccable and his prices are also generous. Might be worth a call if the bit of a drive doesnt bother you too much. Good luck!

Best of luck, I'm so worried for you because reading your story is exactly what I went through when my rotti was 7. Not a fan of QVS, AT ALL, in fact even if it was my last option I'd never take my dog back through their door under any circumstances. When I mentioned my quite recent experience with QVS to a local vet I was told that they refer to Albany Creek Specialist Centre due to receiving many similar bad reports, so I've learnt from experience..... I live at Brighton, recently I wanted a 2nd opinion on something and got in to see Terry King at VSS on the south side and he is the most caring experienced person i've seen in my boys 10 years of life - I've seen a lot of vets from working with a federal government drug dog unit as a handler and travelling all over Australia, he is the best I've seen and has Rotties himself in the past. Cannot speak highly enough about him! My analysis would be, keeping it simple. Your dog is not moving because it hurts her to do so. Pain killers are only masking up the problem. Vets and specialists are experienced in the administering of medication but this will not cure the problem. So, what is causing the pain......I would definitely see an animal chiropractor ASAP. When my boy was paralysed and could hardly move when he was 7 I went to a vet chiro on the north side, a vet who did needle acupuncture at indooroopilly and then several animal chiropractors on the south side. They are all very very different from what I viewed them do with my dog, one terribly rough so much so that I walked out and refused to let him continue. After some my boy was worse. My last resort was the mobile animal chiro I now continue to use who used to work on the police dogs. He is amazing. My boy is 10, no supplements, no pain killers and walks like a puppy. I have him and him only to credit for the extra 3 high quality years I've been lucky enough to share with my boy. I would not wait and I would not judge a book by its cover with regards to them being "vet" chiro's - absolutely didnt compare when it came to the results they didnt achieve with my big boy.....please know that I am speaking from identical experience. I know how helpless I felt lying with my boy promising to take his pain away but not knowing how....now I do and I really really hope you can follow my advice and get in touch with the chiro as soon as possible. Good luck and keep us up to date!

Mobile Animal Chiropractor Doc Jamieson - been EVERYWHERE else, vet chiro's, animal chiro's, human chiro's - they pulled my dog around (Rotti) and if anything made him worse. By the time he was completely paralysed and just dosed up to the eyeballs with painkillers with everyone telling me to put him down (age 7) I thought there was no hope. Thanks to this guy he walks like a puppy and was taken off all meds and supplements at that time and has just turned 10 and is doing fabulously. Miracle worker! Many testimonials to show the cases of animals he's turned lives around for when all else had given up on them. Best of luck (www.######.com)

I would see an animal chiropractor in your local area and make sure that all pinched nerves are released and your little chicken in in alignment. I've seen dogs that have the same symptoms from referall pain due to pinched nerves and muscle spasm, my own included. My vet did a million tests and gave me completely different verdicts (all very serious) and said there was no hope for him but strong medication. After seeing the chiro he has gone 3 years with no medication and is now 10! www.######.com has information and testimonials which you might be able to relate to to understand there other options. Stay positive, she sounds like she's meant to be with you!

Go to the chemist and buy original (yellow liquid) human mouthwash called "Cepacol". Buy a spray bottle - the top of the spray bottle will fit on the 500ml bottle of Cepacol. Whenever you walk past your dog spray the would with this stuff until its running off - dont be shy. I was told this by an old animal wiz - said our mouth bacteria are the hardiest and worst and this stuff can kill that and is also great for stopping any infections and helping wounds to heal - seen proof that it works on its own with nothing else applied to be nasty dog fight wounds and even a very venemous snake bite!

I would still try and find a chiro now, in case it is an injury. If it is and you leave it for a couple of months, it could cause more damage in the mean time. Always a good idea with Border puppies to have regular chiro checks as they grow because they are so good at injuring themselves. There's a great "mobile animal chiropractor" in Qld - might not be a breed problem but the mum may have just stepped on the pups in the litter as the symptoms being displayed sound like those associated with having a pinched nerve (slipping over, being dropped, being stepped on...can cause this) and once pinched nerves are released with chiropractic adjustments movement will return to normal. With pinched nerves nothing else will release them apart from chiropractic adjustments....well not that I've had success with with my dog! I would always get any new dog that I have come into my life adjusted by my mobile animal chiropractor from 3 months of age to ensure they grow properly and dont adust the way they walk to avoid pain and end up with muscle wastage....best of luck!

Maybe try a chiropractor first - check out the testimonials at www.######.com - lots of people had the operations for same and had no results and then found it was a pinched nerve in the dogs back or found that with chiropractic adjustments keeping their dog in alignment they are able to walk properly again and build that wasted muscle back up to hold their own bones in place. You just never know! Good luck...

Get a good recommended animal chiro to ensure before exercising the dog is in alignment otherwise you will be toning muscles to hold bones out of alignment. Swimming is good but if not possible regularly in between chiro visits I would be doing walking on a lead to keep the exercise constant and controlled to ensure good movement, flat nonslippery surface (eg walking on grass, not sand, not up hills) etc.

Vegemite, strong odour, works, depending on how long you will leave it in location for and how protected. It permeates well through layers of protection from animals/ant and would take a while to completely disappear!

All early runs must be in dogs favour. EG - BIG ODOUR. The reason why good 'play rewarded' detector dogs work so well is because they are ONLY allowed to play with their toy during training and for their entire life, when they find something. Its not as easy in a home environment because they can use their play drive when they want with other toys and therefore will not continue for as long, unless you stop all play and only play in training to get skills up - depends how important it is to you to teach this or for what! So if you have chosen tea or coffee. Step one, use the one toy that you will be using for rewarding the behaviour. Initially I would get that toy out once a day to play (no searching anything at the start) BUT make sure that the toy has been sitting in a container with the scent that you will train her on. Therefore you will play catch with a ball or tug of war with a rolled up towel and she will absorb the scent off it while you play. She will soon associate the scent with her toy. For the first few exercises involving search I would continue to use the scented toy to establish that scent association. First exercise.... put in a line 5 upside down plastic flower pots (with a hole in top/visual aspect to see whats inside) - baby step training. No scents in 4 of them, in one have the odour you're teaching your dog to find plus the dogs scented toy sitting in there, cementing scent association with the beginning of establishing a response or hunt drive. Search along the line with no verbal, when the dog stops at the scented one it should be enough after the scent associated and a slight visual of the toy for your dog to knock/push over the pot and get the toy. Have a BIG game and lots of praise. Gentle quiet 'good boy/girl' encouragement at the nose pushing/prodding of the pot after scent recognition/detection can be given if your dog is not distracted by that. If you can give no verbal then its probably better and save the encouragement/praise until exercises get harder. After that do another similar exercise but with boxes with the top flaps just folded over, visual aspect so that the dog has to push open and get toy or scratch box to get toy out, big game - verbal praise if struggling to get toy out. If at any stage during the exercise you have realised that you have made it too hard for your dog to get the toy out....have an identical toy in your pocket (unscented) and drop that in near the dogs nose when it is focussed on the box and play the game with that but do it before it becomes a stop stand and look at you so your dog doesnt start to work off your cues. Work out what sort of response you want, do you want a scratch/active response where your dog find the odour and scratches to indicate to you it is there or do you want a passive/sit response to the odour? After the first exercises you can start to cement the response because odour recognition and scent association with their play toy should be adequate.

I have some ideas if you are interested - I can talk better than type but my boy is 10 years old, been there done that with all of this, I'm also on the north side!! Had shocking experiences, lots of money and no results with one of the specialist centres on north side :rolleyes: and other practitioners I trialled and errored with until my boy was completely paralysed at 7. What was shaking and tremouring back legs to start turned into an inability to move at all. I then found a 'mobile' animal chiropractor - google them!, and I dont have to put my boy in the car or travel miles with him which will only make him uncomfortable. Having a person come to my house to treat my boy means that he is more relaxed in his environment and because after a chiropractic treatment when ALL nerves are PROPERLY released he is the most free of pain than he has been in a long time he just wants to relax and sleep - cant do that when sitting in start stop traffic and then comes the problem with an older dog with muscle wastage getting them in and out of the car without causing problems with how you do it. The guy I use is amazing, I've tried them all and heard it all! Good luck

I havent tried it but with a 10 year old rotti with hip and elbow displaysia when I was getting cushings tests done at the specialist centre last month I did ask about it and whether it was worth a try. The specialist said that there have been no scientific results and apparently the 'technique' or 'practice' has been sold to the surgeries that do it as a franchise. Who's to know. The specialist centre I went to said that they have asked for quantifiable results or scientific proof that there have been improvements using this treatment before they promote it or take it up themselves but nothing has been forthcoming so they cant recommend it.....I decided against it for this reason. I didnt want to operate and then I was told it wasnt possible to joint fuse or replace or amputate (which was too drastic for me anyway) but I've had great success using an animal chiropractor. Best of luck - if you try it please update so we know!!

So glad to hear Chester has recovered. If he starts to limp again definitely see an animal chiropractor. The mobile chiropractor I use in S/east Qld has treated alot of dogs referred from vets including VSS. Xrays dont show nerves so will not correctly define this (being out of alignment with pinched nerves) as the problem! Symptoms will sometimes go away (inflamation might reduce or with adrenalin their pain threshold is high) HOWEVER if the cause of the problem hasnt been addressed then the problem is sometimes still there. It might not be until a big play time or winter, rough play or a slip/fall that the problem flares up again and muscles spasm to protect pinched nerves and it is all triggered back off again. Good luck, you have a very beautiful one - I just wish i'd learnt earlier to see a chiro before my dog had the reoccuring problem late in life and by that time had developed really bad muscle wastage and I hadnt realised

Comfortis is soooo much better than anything I've ever used, especially when they're chronic. One tablet and all gone for a month, so good! Good luck

Thanks so much for the update, much appreciated - provides that hope for people with newly diagnosed dogs like me who are stumbling through so much information but not quite knowing what to expect or what could happen at either end of the scale of things. Thanks again

I have learnt that, after having similar problems and spending alot on xrays only to find out nothing, that xrays dont show nerves. The symptoms sound like a reaction to the pain caused by muscle spasm as a result of protecting pinched nerves. I think you were on the right track getting a chiro as long as you have a very good one who can look at your dog, tell you what is wrong by looking at your dogs composition/gait, tell you how to fix it and that they've dont it before and have proof of their successes. I took a while to find a good one and now I have a mobile chiro who comes to my house when I need and my boy benefits tremendously....several vets could not figure out what was wrong with my dog either!

My dog was diagnosed with severe elbow displaysia and not much better hips. Swimming was suggested as well as anti-inflam/painkillers prescribed. The effect of the tablets wore off, another 2 types of painkillers were diagnosed. His muscles had wasted away from changing the way he walked (taking shorter steps) due to pain, the subtle signs I hadnt noticed until his lameness because obvious.....I've since learnt so much. It was recommended to me by a friend to try acupuncture. I tried a vet who did the needle type, I didnt notice a difference. The vet said to try steroid injections into the joint and leave him at the surgery overnight, my heart was breaking, euthanasia was next....he was 7 (a rotti obviously). I was then told about an animal chiropractor....this man adjusted him from head to tail a number of times and after each treatment used a magnetic therapy machine/mat and laser acupuncture. He explained that acupuncture gets the blood flowing through the muscles and helps with inflamation but it wont work until nerves are released when the dog is out of alignment which causes pinched nerves and causes muscle spasm to protect the nerves when the dog stretches out to walk hence causing lameness from pain. Makes sense.... after being adjusted and treated this way...(I didnt swim my boy until I had had him in alignment for a good period of time - no point swimming with pinched nerves you will only be toning muscle to hold him/her out of alignment), I weaned my fella off medication. He just turned 10, walks like a puppy and is on no medication/supplements. Now there is no doubt at all that my boy has elbow displaysia, hip displaysia and bad bones/joints BUT that was not what was causing him to feel pain and go lame...it was from being out of alignment. I cannot promote strongly enough using acupuncture AFTER having your dog seen to chiropractically, amazing results!

I wouldnt rule out seeing a good canine chiropractor. I have been told if their neck is out (probably is by that age from jumping up and down on things, slipping on slippery floors, using stairs/doggy doors etc) and they have pinched nerves it can put pressure on the skull...sometimes their hearing and balance can be affected and their eyes cloudy blue. After being adjusted the pain and pressure will be relieved and at least you can rule this out....cheap healthy option regardless and apart from everything else if they are in alignment then everything is flowing properly, no energy blocks and their immune system will get up and running to its maximum again. Best of luck, always a worry

Just a completely different side thought that I dont think has been mentioned in this thread.....I know of dogs that have chewed at their feet and/or tail as a result of being out of alignment. I dont know of many vets who properly diagnose this along with other symptoms of being out of alignment with their way of dealing with both to suggest xrays (which dont show nerves so wont show if your dog has pinched nerves anyway) or painkillers/anti-inflamatories which only mask up the problem however the problem remains because the cause of it has not been addressed. I'd see an animal chiropractor if you see no change. If your dog has pinched nerves in his back or sciatic nerve is pinched it is highly likely that referral pain or niggling annoying feelings could be shooting down his spine to the tail/rear legs and once adjusted and put back into alignment the feeling/pain instantly is relieved and then it will stop....or it will be a matter of breaking the habit!

Here here, I'd see a chiro. Also keep some condies crystals on hand. If the quick bleeds, pinch some of the crystals in your fingers and hold on the end of the nail....will seal the nail and stop bleeding instantly, feels a bit warm but works better than soap and cornflower etc and my dog doesnt complain and he's a big sook! I believe the quick can shoot back and then the problem reduces so fingers crossed it wont be reoccuring for you, best of luck!

I believe if you associate a word with the action of a slip/choker chain it is effective and will not damage the dog, they learn fast most of the time. I have worked as a drug dog handler with a federal government agency, one year old labs are trained with these. They are pulled back gently (not allowed to get too far ahead so its not a dramatic handling action) and told "heel" and this is repeated, with every step if need be. I was against using them in the past and didnt with my rotti until (when he was fully grown and I was a 21 year old owner) I realised the power he had and the damage he could do if I couldnt control him and he took off and bowled a child over or had a confrontation with a dog that went wrong and decided I had to be sensible about it. He also learnt very quickly but you have to know what you are doing so as to work with the dog and not damage them in anyway...which is why so many people dislike the use of them. I still see people yanking their dogs (not just on choker chain but on leads/harnesses as well) without uttering a word to the dog. How are they expected to learn that way? Put yourself in the dogs position...walking along then suddenly "yank" - what for?! They learn nothing by this. Associate a word with it and gentle praise and you will do very well. My rotti is now 10 and whilst I didnt socialise him (I have since learnt so much) and he is dog aggressive he walks with the lead loose all of the time and if there is a dog about just with the noise of the chain moving on the chain he slows. He hasnt had any damage done to him, likewise the dogs I have worked with in official capacity, but you need to know how to use them properly. The benefit to using them for me with my rotti far outweighed the damage he could have done had I lost control of him in public. Best of luck, sometimes it seems like they take ages to learn something than all of a sudden they just 'click'!

Every dog is different but here's some ideas. My rotti was anti cats until I adopted 2 that were found taped up in a box dumped in the gutter (how could I not!). I had taught my rotti the "leave" command with food. I'd put some food down on the arm of my chair after I told him to "sit". i started off with 1 or 2 seconds of having him stay away from the food and just watch it and saying "leave" "leave" and then "have" when I gave him the food. I then cemented the "leave" command over longer periods of time. Thats an easy one. I then started associating "leave" when he heard thunder and would wrinkle his head up and think about going nuts at the sky.....he settled down straight away, then I'd give him a treat and say good boy. I think by doing this I changed the meaning of "leave". When he is licking himself obsessively sometimes I say "leave", he stops. When I got the cats he would look at them and I would say "leave" and his gaze would be on me giving him a treat....and now he just accepts that they are there. I went for a long period of time not wanting to be too trusting and endanger the cats so I would lock the dog out and cat in if I wasnt there and now the dogs are most often inside whether i am there or not and the cats are free to come and go with their cat flap. The cats rub up against my rotti now and the only time I've seen him get upset is if, unbeknownst to them - they go near his toys.....I can even pick up the cats and take them to my rotti and say "give her a kiss" and he licks their face. It can be done but bit by bit - best of luck!