Well, the vet said Auggie's increase in eye boogers is probably not a food allergy, it's probably environmental and it isn't likely to go away. He said I could try Benadryl but I don't see any reason to put him on Benadryl every day just because he has more eye boogers than he used to.
Then we looked at his feet. I asked him if there's anything we could do. He looked at him for a while and then he said, well... not really... you can do surgery. But he also said he wouldn't recommend it. For one thing, he said usually they do surgery when the dog is young, which made me feel completely rotten like I should have been on top of this and done something years and years ago. I know that's not how he meant it but I felt horrible. Then he said the surgery is basically going to be things like breaking bones and trying to plate them so they will lay correctly, but the problem with that is that it isn't guaranteed to be successful and could actually end up making Auggie lame.
So basically, since Auggie doesn't really seem to be having any problems with it, we don't want to do that. It's not worth the risk.
I asked about splinting it and he said we could try it, but he doesn't think it will do much good. He thinks it will probably just fall incorrectly within the splint, and if we tried to force it to fall correctly, it would be painful for Auggie. He was picking up his leg and playing with the joint and his toes and said "even when I'm holding it in the air with no weight on it, the bones just want to fall this way." He said it would probably take a lot of x-rays to look at different things to see exactly what is going on to try and change anything. I'm not sure if they have a copy of the x-rays we took for OFA a few years back but I know when we took THOSE, there was nothing structurally wrong except the missing joint. I'm sort of curious to know what it would look like to compare those to if we took an x-ray now because I bet there is a structural difference now. =<
I almost started crying in the office because he was basically saying there's nothing I can do to stop it from getting worse, and if it does get worse then we'll have to decide if the surgery is worth it or not, because it could end up permanently breaking him. It doesn't mean our chiropractor won't have any ideas with acupuncture and stuff, so I'm going to ask her the next time I see her which is right before Louisville, but I'm not feeling very optimistic now because it seems like it's now become a structural issue where it wasn't before. I could still call the vet med school but I'm really hesitant to spend several hundred dollars for them to just suggest surgery, which I really don't think is the best option right now.
So now I feel like a crappy dog owner because I didn't do anything soon enough, even though realistically I know it never seemed bad enough it needed anything done until it was already "too late" anyway, and now I can't do anything except wait and see if it gets so bad he actually NEEDS surgery. As if this week weren't bad enough now I feel like I failed my little guy.
We are getting him a wrist wrap, mostly for support and just a basic one because we don't want to really be trying to push or force the joints and bones right now because it could hurt him, putting him on Gylco-Flex 2, and we'll just have to see what happens. The vet doesn't really expect it will keep getting worse but we never would have figured that a few years ago either. Arthritis in the wrist earlier than usual is something he thinks we'll probably see.
One way or another I'm guessing Auggie won't still be running agility at 14 like his grandma is.
Then we looked at his feet. I asked him if there's anything we could do. He looked at him for a while and then he said, well... not really... you can do surgery. But he also said he wouldn't recommend it. For one thing, he said usually they do surgery when the dog is young, which made me feel completely rotten like I should have been on top of this and done something years and years ago. I know that's not how he meant it but I felt horrible. Then he said the surgery is basically going to be things like breaking bones and trying to plate them so they will lay correctly, but the problem with that is that it isn't guaranteed to be successful and could actually end up making Auggie lame.
So basically, since Auggie doesn't really seem to be having any problems with it, we don't want to do that. It's not worth the risk.
I asked about splinting it and he said we could try it, but he doesn't think it will do much good. He thinks it will probably just fall incorrectly within the splint, and if we tried to force it to fall correctly, it would be painful for Auggie. He was picking up his leg and playing with the joint and his toes and said "even when I'm holding it in the air with no weight on it, the bones just want to fall this way." He said it would probably take a lot of x-rays to look at different things to see exactly what is going on to try and change anything. I'm not sure if they have a copy of the x-rays we took for OFA a few years back but I know when we took THOSE, there was nothing structurally wrong except the missing joint. I'm sort of curious to know what it would look like to compare those to if we took an x-ray now because I bet there is a structural difference now. =<
I almost started crying in the office because he was basically saying there's nothing I can do to stop it from getting worse, and if it does get worse then we'll have to decide if the surgery is worth it or not, because it could end up permanently breaking him. It doesn't mean our chiropractor won't have any ideas with acupuncture and stuff, so I'm going to ask her the next time I see her which is right before Louisville, but I'm not feeling very optimistic now because it seems like it's now become a structural issue where it wasn't before. I could still call the vet med school but I'm really hesitant to spend several hundred dollars for them to just suggest surgery, which I really don't think is the best option right now.
So now I feel like a crappy dog owner because I didn't do anything soon enough, even though realistically I know it never seemed bad enough it needed anything done until it was already "too late" anyway, and now I can't do anything except wait and see if it gets so bad he actually NEEDS surgery. As if this week weren't bad enough now I feel like I failed my little guy.
We are getting him a wrist wrap, mostly for support and just a basic one because we don't want to really be trying to push or force the joints and bones right now because it could hurt him, putting him on Gylco-Flex 2, and we'll just have to see what happens. The vet doesn't really expect it will keep getting worse but we never would have figured that a few years ago either. Arthritis in the wrist earlier than usual is something he thinks we'll probably see.
One way or another I'm guessing Auggie won't still be running agility at 14 like his grandma is.
You have NOT failed him! These things happen... and it totally sucks, but... it happens 
