Despite much wailing and gnashing of teeth (and that was from my husband), Tito finally lost his family jewels last Monday. Honestly, what a lot of fuss about nothing. He went in at six and I stayed with him after they gave him a sedative. He politely collapsed at my feet and stayed zonked out while two vets hauled him on the gurney. I stayed while they shaved his leg and his goolies and then he was wheeled away out of sight. I collected him an hour later, a little woozy but happy as ever.
Much more traumatic through the week was Tito’s sudden cries of pain and favouring of one leg. His sqeals were horrific but would stop as soon as they started. At first, I thought he’d picked up a thorn though I couldn’t see anything caught in his pads. Given the news about his brother having Dysplasia we were very concerned when Tito repeated his dramatics although each time the pain seemed to pass in less than a minute.
The internet is an absolute fountain of information of course, though I know from experience that you should never rely on it for identifying medical symptoms. Once when my boy was in nappies I scoured the internet for reasons why there might be orange crystals in an otherwise dry nappy. God knows what strange malady I came across that day but I remember dissolving in floods of tears convinced my perfect baby would be strapped to a wheelchair and in constraints to stop him snapping at his carers by the time he was 16.
Nevertheless, I have read a lot about dogs on the internet and although I have never had a dog with pano it seemed to me that Tito’s was displaying classic pano symptoms. When we took him to the vet he confirmed that in a large breed dog, growing so fast, Tito was suffering nothing more than growing pains – panostitis. What a relief!
I have received several comments from Caroline asking for photos of Tito and it has been a while since I posted any.
Uh Oh – She’s Found the Chewed Shoes – Presa
What is happening with Tito please. Has he got over the shock of his operation ..
Caroline, you must be Tito’s biggest fan
He’s doing fine though seems very mellow at the moment. I’m not sure if that is the effect of his op or if he’s feeling a bit under the weather.
Sharon from Happy Tails was here yesterday and she commented on how well behaved he was. That was until she went to get a photo of him and he gave her face a flanneling with his big slobbery tongue.