Odin Health Update

[LyonsFamily]

A few months back I posted Odin's hip x-rays on here asking for opinions. He was having trouble climbing stairs and after we got Elli, he was becoming sore after they played together. We've been doing a lot of extra training this summer since he just turned 3 in June and I thought he was physically and mentally mature to start actively competing to title. During agility practice he started blowing me off to go lay down, so we focused on Rally because I thought he was getting bored or frustrated with the obstacles and Rally is a bit more fun for us.

After he started having problems and sitting during the Rally exercises, I suspected early signs of hip dysplasia. I brought him to my parents' vet and got some x -rays and he focused on the hip shot, said it could be borderline, but Odin should be fine to still compete if he took some time off jumping with glu/chon/msm daily and gave us a bottle of NSAIDs if there were any flare ups.

After posting the hip x-ray on here, Christi suggested I contact Asheley Winters for a second opinion. I emailed back and forth with her for a while and sent her copies of the lateral view and she suspected a spinal problem and suggested I meet with a specialist.

I met with the orthopedic surgeon and he confirmed what she saw on the x-rays. Odin was diagnosed with lumbosacral steinosis which also goes by a few other names including lumbosacral instability and clauda equina, if I spelled that right. This doctor feels that since Odin is so young and has been showing early signs for a while, that surgery is the best option.

We're all obviously devastated, including Elli who doesn't understand why her new buddy can't play anymore. The presurgical evaluation is around $800 and the surgery runs $3000-$4000, depending on what the mri/ct scan finds. We're looking at care credit for our options right now, although time isn't really on our side with this. There are steroid options that are cheaper and less invasive for the short term, but if we lose the window of opportunity for the surgery by going this route and it doesn't work, the disease could progress even more leading to loss of his bowels and bladder.

Does anyone have any experience with spinal issues, especially the lumbosacral region? Also, if anyone has any suggestions for paying for a surgery like this, I'm all ears.

[Asha]

No experience with this whatsoever, but our thoughts are with you all. I hope everything goes well with Odin.

[Sugars Mom]

Oh no, that is not good news : (
So sorry to hear.

I know nothing about this problem but did your vet offer any payment plans? When Sugar broke her leg they offered a no interest payment plan. That bill ended up being $3500 when it was all said and done....

Sending positive thoughts your way for getting through all this.

[johninny]

what horrendous news. i love Odin's spirit - so obvious in all his photos, including his commandeering of your suitcase. i was serious when i said i love that photo; it was for his spirit [ reminds me so much of my Xander who is such a joy in my life and every day i feel so protective of him, not wanting anything to happen to such a wonderful soul ]. so, first, i cast my vote now for Odin [ no i did not vote for my crew (yet), tho the 3 of them do make a neat ''pick me'' photo] because it is the one photo where the spirit we love in our dogs comes through most strongly [ helped by Odin's exceptional ''caffeinated'' spirit ] and because Odin and Stephanie need our attention now. i hope i'm not breaking any rules by campaigning, but it would be great if anyone reading this thread who has not yet voted could take a look at Odin's photo contest ''pick me'' plea and see if they find Odin's smile as beguiling as i do. it would be great to get that face on the masthead soon.

Stephanie, this may be a really stupid idea, but there may be a way to raise that amount of money [ or a reasonable portion of it ] through a crowd-funding site. the only one i know of is INDIEGOGO, but there are others - and now my knowledge on that topic is exhausted. do others here have any experience with these sites - participating, observing, any insights, etc? need to offer something in return, but maybe we can offer ideas in that regard [ it need not be real value in the normal sense of selling something.] in the same vein, would Eric and the other moderators object to a crowd-funding thread here on the forum - if that would be ok with you. how do others here feel about that idea? if i were you, i would also ask NADSR to put a crowd-funding request up on their facebook pages; they do it for dogs in their foster care; why not for Odin whom i think came through them [????].

good luck, Stephanie. i know it is crushing to know a loved one is silently suffering and not being able to explain things to Odin [or to Elli]. i had noted your first [ seeming to me ] absence since i joined the group last fall and was a bit worried for its possible implications, tho i hoped it was competition that had taken over for awhile. but never did i not imagine anything this distressing. Sakima, Xander, and Tracer send their best wishes to Odin - and Elli.

[centrop67]

My deepest sympathies Stephanie. It's so hard to know the right decision for our 4-legged family members, because they can't always clearly tell us their wishes.

We are praying for the best for Odin and your family.

[Stacy_R]

I have no experience with spinal issues, but will keep my ears peeled and will ask around. Sending positive thoughts your way....

[Schlussdibusti]

I remember this post, a fund raiser for a parvo pup by NADSR:

https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/0Jg84?ps ... 617&ref=nf

May be this can be done for Odin too?

Thanks to Christie's and Ashley's insight Odin got an early diagnose. That is already a big plus. I am confident a financial solution for the treatment will follow soon.

If a fund raiser is being set up, I am sure I can convince Marco to donate his monthly treat allowance.

Don't worry, it will all work out.

[Dutchringgirl]

Oh dear! I am so sorry. Thalie and Sadie will be more than happy to donate their treat allowance too, if that will help. Sadie sends her love , she knows what it feels like to hurt.

Sending healing thoughts.

there are a few fund raiser sites out there. A friend of a friend raised money for their pugs surgury.

[feraloup]

Whaa??? I missed the lead-up and x-ray posts due to my sporadic check-ins, here of late, but Oh, Stephanie!!! Many hugs and positive vibes heading your way and Odin's! If a fundraiser gets going I'd be happy to donate what meager amount I'm able, and in addition, I'd be willing to donate a prize of a custom portrait or pendant or egg-ornament to whoever brought in the most donations... maybe some added incentive to get people donating and/or drafting other people into donating under their name? Anything we can do to help we will!

[Nordis]

We will be sending light and love to Odin and you Stephanie, keeping a positive and healthy outcome as the goal in our thoughts.

From experience, there are many groups and organizations out there that offer assistance with health care funding, but sifting through all of them to find some that may help you is a tedious job, and if you're easily frustrated after a few hours like I am, you may wind up giving up. There are many options, but it seems each one has different qualifications or conditions. On the plus side, once you've gone through a few you'll probably be able to sort them out faster.

Entering something similar to "assistance for vet bills" into Google is a jump into the deep end of the pool of what's out there. You may want to narrow the search by adding your state name. I wish I could just post a direct link, but honestly I finally gave up, as I said, out of frustration and feeling overwhelmed. When we're focused on our loved one's health and being in pain is probably the worst time to be doing this search. Maybe a more effective method would be to do it a little bit at a time.

I am also in the habit of doing searches for alternative treatments for whatever diagnosis and symptoms. I do recommend you look into that and consider anything you find that seems helpful in addition to the standard treatments you're now considering.

My heart and our love are with you and Odin. We support you and send you Much Peace.

[LyonsFamily]

Thanks for all of the support and well wishes guys. Odin is very thankful for his DS supporters too. I'll keep everyone updated as to how the consultations go and when/if there will be a surgery date and need for a fundraiser.

Right now we have a bit in the dog savings fund and Odin has 5 more weeks of crate rest to get through before anything further will be known. The clinic does have care credit and offers payment plans through that, but they're not the greatest options out there.

This is looking to be a congenital thing looking back over Odin's records and behavior problems before we got him, it sounds like this could have been causing him problems his whole life. In that case, even if we had it, pet insurance would not have covered this.

One blessing is that I was talking to the woman that fostered Elli about it as she's a surgical vet tech and she's been able to pull some strings and have her family discount extended to us which is 20% off the surgery with her surgeon who has an excellent background and specializes and is board certified in this stuff.

[johninny]

that last bit is very good news - effectively a good start on the funds-raising front.

i think of Odin often - even before your note. the spirit shown in all his photos has always been so great, i.e., exceptional. always thought he had the look and demeanor of a demon love-bug. was always puzzled that what i saw in the photos was not in keeping with some of his indicated personality/behavior; so, like you, the moment i read your post, i thought to myself that that explains a lot. poor puppy. am very upset about him and the pain he has surely felt for some time and tried to hide. i worry always - especially with my 2 older puppy rescues that i know have some problems - that i am missing or misinterpreting some signal that they are in physical trouble.

our DS with their extreme stoicism and drive and desires to please us do not make it easy for us to discern the presence and/or nature of health issues as we would hope.

[johninny]

it occurs to me that maybe my last paragraph above could be a bit vague from some perspectives, so let me be clear that the genesis of my musings was how diligent and dogged you Stephanie have been in recognizing AND then getting diagnosed properly/correctly a problem that was resistant to both recognition and diagnosis. it scares me to think that i would not have done nearly as well by my family despite the fact that i try to be extremely alert to anything that might be bothering them.

[LyonsFamily]

our DS with their extreme stoicism and drive and desires to please us do not make it easy for us to discern the presence and/or nature of health issues as we would hope.

This is so true. Even now he's supposed to be on crate rest with very little activity, but he tries to tell me he's fine and goes out of his way to try and prove it. He snuck out this morning to pick apples in the backyard.

The initial signs of this disease can be easily mistaken for other things or nothing at all. One of the big things is random scratching and biting, especially near the back and rear legs. That was something we missed as a "sign" as dogs scratch randomly as it is or it could've been seasonal, dry skin, or allergies until the lumbosacral problem was suggested and I started researching. Another is the subtle way he stands with his rear legs closer together. Nobody notices those things and it's even harder with a dog trying to cover everything up. On the contrast, my old English Setter, Winston, would be showing every pain outwardly and it would be so obvious. When he was teething as a puppy, we almost rushed him to the emergency vet because he was faking bloat; then my dad stuck his finger in Winston's mouth.

I honestly don't think we could've figured out something was wrong, at least this early, if he wasn't doing so much agility training and if we hadn't moved to Michigan. My parents' house had the first set of stairs he had to maneuver frequently since we got him. They also have 10 acres and he didn't do a lot of structured walks and I could notice his gait a lot more. Agility was where the biggest difference was in his personality though. He loves doing the obstacles and picked up the weaves in just a few days and it became very obvious that something extra was off when he kept leaving me. We were doing privates indoor and there wasn't really any distractions, especially for his level of training.

It's ironic how we can go from not noticing anything to seeing every sign once it's pointed out. It's like being in a room with a fan that squeaks, but you don't hear it until someone points it out, then it's all you can hear.