My Whippet is in Pain!

[doane]

I have a 9 year old Whippet, Raul.
He is in good shape, not over weight, but he has a recurring problem that seems to be caused by pulling muscles, or tendons, or something.

I walk him quickly about 1 mile each day, and once or twice a week we go to a local park where he chases a ball until he decides he has had enough, after about 10 minutes, and indicates it by going over to the gate and waiting.

Over the last several years, several times, he has apparently strained something, as is the case this week. On Saturday we were at the park and I remember he slipped while running very fast to catch the ball.. he didn't yelp or show any pain, but Monday, yesterday, when he got up in the morning he was obviously stiff, and he yelped several times and the rest of the day, occasionally he would move a certain way and yelp. He seems worse today and I can tell he is not feeling well as he follows me around and looks unhappy.

I'm giving him coated asperin twice a day, but it doesn't seem to help much. He has been on 700mg of Glucosamine with 500mg Chondroitin Sulfate for about 3 months because we suspected he is having some joint pain like our 12 year old Italian Greyhound has. They both eat adult Pro Plan.. should I switch them to the Senior formula?

The last several times this has happened I have taken him to our Vet, who has looked him all over with no specific indication of a painful area. He suspects that by the time he comes in his adrenelin is up, but at home, I've tried the same prodding and lifting his legs, etc. and he gives no indication of a painful area by flinching or yelping or any other communication, so I can't even tell where he is in pain! Each time, our Vet told us to take him home, let him rest it off, and sure enough, within a few days he gets back to normal and is happy again.

Have any of you had similar problems?
I am wondering if maybe the once a week running is not enough, and that maybe he is not getting enough exercise and his muscles are weak so that he is more susceptable to pulling a muscle when he does run fast?

Any help would be appreciated, I hate to see him in pain like this.

[lily's pet human]

welcome to the board! raul is a cutie!

sorry to hear he is hurting. have you tried icing the area you think he has strained? have you thought about seeking a canine physical therapist, or similar? i have not had any experience with this as of yet, but that would be one avenue i would look into, as well as seeing if there were any hydro therapy facilities for canines.

imho (absolutely not professioanl advice), once he is healed, i would have him chase a ball more than twice a week. i would start off small... maybe chasing the ball in the house, or someones back yard... but not a huge distance, maybe 20-30 feet. very small short sessions.

i hope raul feels better soon

[Inquisitive Snoop]

Welcome to the board and Raul definitely is a cutie.

I've had this happen to two of my Whippets over the years. With us, just resting and no physical activityother than going out for potty took care of the problem. I believe it was a pulled muscle and it corected itself over a 24 or 48 hour period. After that happens I would limit his ball chasing for a while and gradually work it up to a full play period. As with people, if the muscle is stretched and you don't take care the injury will keep reoccurring. As Lily's mom said, ice is a good idea but not for too long and try massaging the leg involved.

If it lasts for more than 48 hours a trip to the vet is definitely in order.

[doane]

Thanks, all.
It seems like he is getting worse tonight. He keeps paceing around, not able to lay down on his pillow with lots of yelps at different times, like when he tries to lay down or get up, so my wife and I finally got him on the bed and watched TV and he seemed very content, resting between my legs, probably feeling safe or comforted. About 1/2 hour ago we tried to get him to go out in the dog run and when I tried to lift him off the bed onto the floor, he was really making some yelp sounds like something was really hurting him, but again, when I tried to figure out what it was I came up blank... finally got him out, then some more yelps getting him back up and into the bed.. looks like it's going to be a restless crowded sleeping night. Poor guy; it just kills us to see an innocent animal in pain.

Does anyone know of anything I can give him that might help? The aspirin doesn't seem to do much.

If he seems even worse tomorow, it's off to the Vet again, I guess...
Thanks,

[lily's pet human]

does he yelp if you try and massage his muscles? i tend to err on the side of caution, and would ask the vet to do a set of xrays, or recomend a specialist to look at him... but that's just me, imho

[doane]

does he yelp if you try and massage his muscles? i tend to err on the side of caution, and would ask the vet to do a set of xrays, or recomend a specialist to look at him... but that's just me, imho

That's what I've said several times.. that when I prod him and move his legs up and back the way the Vet does, he gives no indication of pain. he doesn't even flintch. I've been through this four times with him in the last three years and took him to the Vet each time with the same results I mentioned above. I just got up this morning and am hopeing he is feeling better... he's sleeping in. :~)

[doane]

I think Raul might be half swan...

[rrkingmccue]

A canine chiropractor might find a vertabrae out of wack. This would explain why he yelps getting up or trying to lay down. Some linament massaged into his muscle might help, too. Flexall is safe for dogs. Also, ask the vet about muscle relaxers as opposed to pain killers. If something is tight, it won't allow the possible misplaced vertibrae to go back into place.

Kathi

[whippethaven]

My min pin had very similar symptoms several years ago...the crying out with moving, pacing, not being able to get comfortable and even pain with bending his little head to reach his food an water.

He was diagnosed with a herniated disc and sprain/strain of the back muscles. I noticed even with deep breaths he would flinch in pain. We did a course of antiinflammatories and something to relax the muscles. Not sure of the name of the meds anymore. Canine chiropracty was not an option for fear of causing more damage.

We were cautioned not to aggravate this by rough play, i.e., tug of war or jumping off of furniture (as if!).

Good luck with Raul. He certainly is beautiful. I love his "swan" photo.

[doane]

Thanks everyone for the help and advice. I went to the Vet and he did xrays today and I just got home. He has a calcium spur on a vertabrae just above his hips which is causing the pain. He said his hips looked good though, as did his upper back. He took a blood sample which will show if Raul will have any problems on a cortazone type treatment like the Rymidal some one else had mentioned earlier. He told me that there is no cure for the disk problem, but that an anti inflamiatory drug, along with the Glusosamine we are already giving him will help get rid of almost all of his pain. He also said that it's very important to get the blood test first though. He also told me that when a dog gets to age 8, he is considered a senior and it's best to put them on one of the senior diets that have calcium/protein that is easier for their organs to handle.

Results will be back tomorrow and I should be able to start him on the medication. I can't wait, for his sake, and for me, as I have had very little sleep the last several nights, not daring to move and hurt him.

[Inquisitive Snoop]

Poor baby. Hope he feels better soom. For now he'll just have to chase bunnies in his sleep.

[doane]

Poor baby. Hope he feels better soom. For now he'll just have to chase bunnies in his sleep.

He has his older brother, Toney Tops, to comfort him until he feels better again and we can go to the park and chase the ball again.
Tony, an IG is about 12 and helped raise Raul from when he was a puppy. Tony is very nurturing.. He'll lay like this for 15 minutes licking Raul's face and putting his ears in his mouth and gentely chewing on them untill Raul's ears are limp and soaking wet!
and Raul sort of copies everything Tony does.

Here they are snoozing on the bed..

[Third Coast Whippets]

Okay, those have to be the sweetest photos ever posted on this board. What beautiful pups. Hope Raul feels better soon.

[doane]

Sometimes we forget how great modern medicine is..

Our Vet got the blood tests back this morning and called us saying everying checked out normal. I took Raul in and he was given a shot of a non cortozone drug and a perscription for the non cortozone drug, 25mg Deramaxx once a day starting tomorrow. Within two hours of getting the shot Raul was a totally different person... uh, dog. Jumping up on the bed, running around, grabbing his new puppy stuffed animal that barks when he squezes it.. back to his old self. Almost like a miracle!

I was told that the reason they don't perscribe Cortozone based drugs like Rymidal is that they can only be taken for a short time or they start destroying the liver. So I hope some of you that were mentioning Rymidal earlier see this post.

Thanks everyone.

[ajhunt52]

Hi, Doane. Where are you located? The picture on the beach looks like it could be Ocean Beach in San Francisco but the houses aren't quite what I remember.

Is the beach close to home. My guys (Tahbu and my old dog Kit who I lost last year) adored their beach runs when I lived there but now I'm in the cold, snowy north (MN). Kit used to come running at me just as Raul is doing, then stop abruptly with his front feet straight in front of him so the sand would spray, somtimes up to my knees. Then he'd stand there and just grin like "That was just too funny, Mom!" Does Raul do that?

Glad to hear he's feeling better and hoping he stays that way from now on.