2313. A 12-year-old Pekinese can't bear weight on the right fore leg 6 months after slipped disc surgery.

Sep 28, 2015

I received a phone call from the lady. Her 12-year-old Pekinese had intense right neck pain and was unable to put the right fore leg down. Vet 1 had x-rayed and found nothing wrong with the neck. Vet 1 referred her to Vet 2 who did a CT scan ($2,000) and a surgery ($5,000) some 6 months ago. The dog did recover. Now she said that the same symptoms re-appeared. 

"What did Vet 2 diagnose?" I asked her.
"Slipped disc in the neck. Common in Pekineses."

Now she was looking for alternative vets who performed slipped disc surgery.
"How do you know it is the same condition?" I asked.
"My Pekinese can't put his right fore leg on the floor. At least there is no pain now."
"Since Vet 2 did a good job, why not go back to Vet 2 as I don't know of any other vet doing spinal surgery."

She wanted a second opinion but Singapore does not have vets who specialises in spinal surgery as far as I am aware of.

"Try massaging her neck for the next 2 weeks as the neck is not painful," I advised as she did not want to incur more costs. "It may be due to blood circulation problems."

She thanked me emotionally. It is hard to know what causes the problem just by doing phone diagnosis. It may be a shoulder joint arthritis or tumour.