Ivan needs prayers
 

Ivan, our big ol gsd is going though something that is causing him a lot of pain.
He came in from outside last night and whimpered a little when he had to step up in to the house. A few minutes later I reached down to pat him on his butt and he yelped so loud everyone in the house came running. He would cry in pain every time I even touched his left flank. While laying down I manipulate his spine and pushed and pulled on both hind legs, and moved his legs and feet in all kinds of directions with no response but the lightest of touch sent him off when I touched his left flank. Later on in the night he became tender on the other side as well but not to the same extent. I gave him aspirin and my husband said he would get him in to our vet this morning. Well the vet is stacked up to the max but since she really loves Ivan she told DH to bring him in and let him spend the day with her. She would check him out, do X-rays and maybe bloodwork between appointments. Now I am waiting to hear from DH and may have to wait all day. Whatever it is Ivan is in a lot of pain and needs your prayers to see him through this. He is only 7 yrs old and has been as healthy as a horse all of his life with the exception of having seborrhea.
Thanks for reading this and thanks in advance for your prayers and good thoughts.

aww prayers for you and ivan. hopefully it's nothing, and he'll be better soon
do you have any pictures of him? i love GSDs

Prayers are coming for Ivan.

will def. be praying for ivan. please keep us updated!!!!!!!!!!

I will keep him in my prayers. What breed is GSD? Thanks

Our prayers go out to Ivan, you and your family. It sounds like he is in good hands. Please keep us posted.

My guess is that he is a German Shepard Dog.

Send prayers to Ivan .Hope everything is OK . Hugs and Kisses .

Ivan is a german shepherd. Here is a link to his picture I posted about him. It is when Adie wa about 12 weeks old and he was so careful around her!
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sho...highlight=Ivan

Now for the vet news: Dawn (our vet) diagnosed moderate to severe hip dysplasia which I was afraid of. She said he has had it for quite some time now but something made it flair up. We have two courses of action. They can put him on heavy duty anti-anti-inflammatories and glucosomine/condroiton (spelling?) or he could have a total hip replacement. We decided to try the anti-inflammatory first but will check into the hip replacement. DH didn't say if Dawn can do the surgery or not. I hope so! I think an ortho specialist will be awfully expensive. He goes back in two weeks for blood tests to make sure his liver and kidneys can stand the meds. Sigh. I hate seeing my big bad dufus in so much pain. Every time he cried out he would try to run to me for comfort and a hug only to hurt himself more; poor baby.

Thanks for the prayers. We really need them.

Prayers coming your way from all of us here.... :heart to

Prayers coming for big old Ivan. I hope you get good news soon.


Sheilagh

Prayers on their way for Ivan that the meds will work. The pain must be awful for him. Give the big guy a hug from Roxy and Remi, and me, too.

Prayer are send your way Ivan:thumbup: :hands:

Ivan report
 

Well, Ivan made it through the night OK, or at least that is how it seemed. I think the muscle relaxer pretty much knocked him out so he laid around a lot and stayed quiet. I could see the pain in his eyes though. We started him on his other meds this morning. He ate well last night but my treat freak refused his dog biscuits all night and this morning too. I don’t know what that is about. He was also eager for a taste of my homemade veggie soup. He can usually sucker me out of at least one bite off my plate. If these meds don’t work we agreed that we will go with the total hip replacement no matter what it costs. That means I may not get to buy Adie’s half sister or brother in April as I hoped, what with trying to sell our house then buying new house money will be tight. Watch for my sales on this board. I need to decrease my belongings so I don’t have to move it and saving up for an operation is motivating me to get going! Speaking of money I think our vet treated us really well. She only charged us $180.00 for the emergency office visit, X-rays and three medications. I think that is pretty good.
Thanks again for the prayers and well wishes. We appreciate them more than you know.

The prayers and heavy-duty anti-inflamitories must be working. Ivan was feeling really good this morning. He even took a treat but didn't try to scam me out of a scecond one like he usually does. Now we pray that the meds don't mess up his liver and kidneys.

Oh, poor Ivan... I pray that he continues to improve.

Thanks to everyone for your concern and prayers.
Ivan continues to do well on his meds.. He had his blood test three days ago and it was OK for his kidneys but not his liver. His ALT was is 131 but high/normal is 87 so we need to keep an eye on that. Dawn (the vet) said she thinks it is a fluke because the meds usually effect the kidneys so we will test him again in three months unless he shows any signs of trouble. She wants to get a call from me at least every other week just to let her know how he is. Did I say she is very fond of Ivan?
Anyway, Ivan is behaving normally and we couldn't be happier with that!

Great news!


Sheilagh

Update
 

I posted the following on another thread in response to a question so I thought I would post it here too. Ivan's problems just seem to get worse as time goes on.

The news on him just keeps getting worse. The hip pain is pretty much gone but all he does is lay around the house. He acts like he is bored out of his mind. I took him to the vet last Thursday because it appeared to me that he had an anal gland infection (which he has had before). The vet shave his bum only to see three swollen angry looking lumps around the top of his anus. She said they looked like they could be developing fistulas and those would require surgery to remove. Either that or put him on a really strong antibiotic but he would have to go off of his anti-inflammatory for the two weeks he would be on it. We don't know what to do! It seems like no matter which way we lean with this poor guy he ends up in pain. On top of that he has something wrong with the corners of his mouth. He gets this crud that looks like dried dog food. The vet told me what it was but I was in shell shock from the other news to remember all of it. So I am Washing his bum twice a day with a warm towel - leaving it on as a compress for 5-10 minutes before that and apply Tritop. It is a nasty job but if you could see his poor butt you'd want to do anything in your power to take care of it. I won't even think about takeing a picture to show you.
Anyway, We go back to the vet this Thursday. Wish us luck!
L

Sending prayers for Ivan.

I am so sorry to hear Ivan is having such a difficult time. I am sending prayers for his recovery.

Thanks for the prayers my friends, I think they are working. Ivan's sore spots look a lot better and the vet said she couldn't feel a perforation yet.
She is more hopeful that it is an allergy-related issue. So he is now on an antihistamine, glucose/condroiden, and heavy anti inflamitory. (My spelling is now officially out the window!)

The antihistamine will help with the goop around his mouth and nose too. Poor guy, every time I clean it it bleeds and he yips.

I worry about his quality of life. He still seems to be uncomfortable and doesn't take much interest in physical activity. When we walk he will only go a little ways and then refuse to go any further, The seborrhea on his back itches constantly, who know how long the anal gland thing is going to last and it looks like the mouth crud may be here to stay. All-in-all no one thing is enough to even think about putting him down at 7 years old but again, what about his quality of life. He seems like he is just plain sad most of the time. I can get a smile out of him whenever I want but he goes right back to the sad face afterward. Sigh. I hate this!

I haven't posted in a long while but I do have a great report to give.
Ivan is doing really well. The crude around his mouth and the angry swollen stuff at the other end were related. The were from a bacteria that shepherds are prone to. He was on a specific antibiotic for a very long time but it cleared both up. He didn't have to go off of his pain meds. A bonus to all of that is that it looks like the antibiotic also helped his seborrhea! So the only thing we are dealing with right now is the pain issue and his meds are keeping that under control.

Ivan is a lot more sedate than he used to be so I imagine he hurts even with his medication. He dearly loves our new little one and Skeeter loves kissing on Ivan or teasing him from behind a chair. Ivan will go behind the chair only to find that Skeeter has snuck up behind him. They are adorable.

I am glad to hear that Ivan is doing much better. I pray he continues to improve and that his pain will get under control. Thanks for the update.