~ Our Frightening Event

I love seeing all the happy Owyheestar dogs on the blog, and I go their first if I have a basic health question and Cliff and Shela have covered so many topics!  Wealth of information. But sometimes things happen to our pups and it can be cray scary.  So, my sweet 10 month old Franny had a truly frightening pain event a couple weeks ago. We ended up at the emergency vet (and this is not a failure on their part, they can’t be expected to be specialists in all things) but they suggested her x-rays showed a specific syndrome indicating a scary, progressive back concern. 

My regular vet, (Cornelius) and (after talking to Cliff, he asked their vet to look at the film too – thank you so much!) the Owyheestar vet also saw the xrays, but they saw something different. All recommended an expert review. 

VCA is the closest site in Oregon with a neurologist, and from my research there are only a couple hundred vets in the country that do this specific work. I was pretty worried about how this was all going to shake out. 
After their exam, it was clear that Franny does have a transitional vertebra (my vet and Owyheestar’s vet both agreed!). However, this vet thinks that wasn’t likely the cause of her pain. She said she thinks my little athlete likely had a bout of intense psoas pain. She had taken her first weekend at the beach and then spent the very next weekend in Central Oregon where she got to run leash free the entire time, doubling her normal daily activity, and then – the long car ride home where she was still for 4 hours.
Runners (as a former marathon runner, I can vouch from personal experience) know that not moving after a long run can tighten everything up and cause pain. Kind of makes sense now that I think it through. Also makes sense that the anti-inflammatory meds helped even more than pain meds.

Barring any additional events, specialty vet said keep her playing, stop any meds and just use anti-inflammatories as needed, and all should be fine.
She didn’t even recommend more imaging. She thinks the vertebrae issue is a red herring, not a current concern, and said unless things dramatically change, no surgery (the emergency vet thought she might have to have surgery) in fact, she said she wouldn’t perform any surgery outside of repairing trauma on a dog this young as she is still growing.

The neuro vet was personable, warned me her staff wanted to keep Franny (shout out to #owyheestar, they said she was one of the most beautiful pups they have ever seen), and I am so very grateful that they weren’t about upselling tests or treatments that aren’t needed.

Miss Franny is full on back to normal. I am so grateful to Cliff and Shela for being there for us not just for the cute pictures but for their support during the scary times too.  I included part of Franny’s play group at night with their light up collars, a gorgeous shot of her in Central Oregon, and of course the one I cll “legs for days” – she is so tall and lanky. 

Breeder Comment

Thank you for taking care of this lovely girl. Any number of things can happen with our beloved fur children–it can be overwhelming. Vets don’t always have the answer–and sometimes we have to talk to more than one to figure things out. The process can be exhausting, gut-wrenching, and scary. Thank you–for doing everything possible for this beautiful girl.