It's a sad day here at das Hogan Haus. We believe that Scout may have injured herself. Kevin is taking her to the vet in a few minutes so we'll know more in a couple of hours. We really like this vet and he's seen her before so we know she's in good hands.
It's so difficult to determine what might be wrong with a pet. For the last few days we knew something was up. Mild changes in her behavior, like a pronounced lethargy, was one sign. But it's so difficult to tell--is she sleeping all day because she's not feeling well, or is she sleeping all day because she's a dog? There were a few other signs pointing to trouble--her utter lack of exitement about going outside (to potty or for walks), her lack of scratching at the door to tell us that she needs to go out (instead just holding it until we coax her out), and her reluctance to walk up the stairs to the bedroom where she likes to spend at least part of the night with us.
At first we thought it was stomach-related. She has a very sensitive stomach and it gets upset at the drop of a hat. We hoped it would just pass and since she was still eating and not throwing up we weren't too worried about it. However, yesterday I noticed as we were walking up a few stairs to get to the elevator that she was reluctant to go up the stairs, was going very gingerly, and I couldn't quite tell but she seemed to be favoring her left rear leg. I checked out her back and leg and couldn't get a reaction out of her, so I just stored the information away. I mentioned it to Kevin and he also took a look at her and said he thought she was avoiding putting weight on her back leg but wasn't sure.
However, this morning (after another night of not coming up the stairs and after two days of not sleeping on the couch) Kevin took her downstairs and again she balked on the stairs. Kevin gave a tug on the leash and Scout yipped and then started holding up her left rear leg, so it's definitely time to head to the vet. Kevin is looking up some leg-related vocabulary in the dictionary (the vet doesn't speak English) and will be taking her in shortly. Hopefully it will turn out to be no big deal at all.
Posted by Shelby at May 19, 2004 10:33 AM