thanks for the good wishes.
zack is still in bad shape. all he can do is lay down, he won't go out to pee, it seems like something is wrong with his legs, weakness maybe because he's not showing pain signs or sensitivity. Like, when i take him outside, he takes a few steps and then lies down. when i got his harness and leash to take him to the vet, usually, he's very eager to go out, but he just laid down at my feet when i had to stop and pick up something. i carried him down the stairs.
he's very affectionate, wants to kiss all the time. he's normally affectionate but this is more. he wants to lay on me. he likes to be stroked.
when we got to the vet he really perked up because he knows other dogs might be there. there was another little dog there and zack was very excited, tail wagging like crazy, straining toward the other dog, but not as strong as his usual pull on the leash.
the vet couldn't find anything wrong with him, unsurprisingly. She hadn't seen my email. i told her i sent the links to the SM stuff, and she expressed appreciation for that, and listened to what i said about people saying it sounds like SM, she was well aware of the frequency of it in this breed and she took the possibility seriously. she was already feeling his backbone before i brought up SM. she felt him all over and said he didn't seem to have any pain. yet while we were talking he started wimpering. she said 'is this what he's been doing,' and i said 'no, he's just doing it right now.' it was a different kind of whimper from what i've heard before.
i told her about the brewers yeast, garlic, diatomaceous earth, and the neem oil. She said maybe the combination of all those things threw him off. She gave him subcutaneous fluids, she said maybe it would wash him out, he had a big bulge on his neck from the injected water after but now it's gone.
She said she could do a blood panel but thought it would probably not show anything, and he just had one when he was neutered. but he didn't have these symptoms when he was neutered, so i asked her to go ahead and do it. it was my call. at the time of the neuter, it was expensive, $110, so i figured i could deal with that. But when i got the bill from the visit today, the total was $320
$180 of it was the blood panel. geez. I asked the guy about it, after it cost $110 at the time of the neuter and he said "The prices just went up a couple of weeks ago." wow.
i'll be making an insurance claim. i wonder if they will pay a claim without any diagnosis.
the other things i paid for were, she expressed his anal glands, her idea, i asked them to clip his toenails, and the cost of the exam, and the subcutaneous water. She also washed out his ears, but there was no charge for that.
so...he's the same. He hasn't been out to pee since this morning and he had all that water. He declined my invitation to go out when i got home. The door is open if he wants to go. At least if he peed in the house whle i was gone, i haven't seen it. I had to take him home and go back to the office for almost 4 hours. He still doesn't want to walk or stand up, he still is licking his paws a little. the vet didn't find any sign of any illness on him.
something is really wrong with him. he's not acting in pain, but just very lacking in any desire to walk or play, which is so abnormal.
Since i got home, he has a weird odor, i dont' know how to describe it. I wonder if it could be from the subcutaneous fluids.
the vet said if he didn't improve in the next day or two, she would do acupuncture on him.
i hope she will read the stuff i sent about SM.