[sienadog]

After an entire night of worrying and what seemed like a long day until his appointment... I was starting to think he had Lyme Disease. However, we just got home from the vet. The Lyme test (amongst other tick borne diseases that the test checks for) was negative and Siena showed NO SIGNS of pain when the vet manipulated both knees and both hips... lo and behold he winced when his lower back just above his pelvis was touched! The vet said his symptoms are typical of a back injury and gave Siena on an anti-inflammatory and told me to report back in one week. He said that if he's still in pain after a week of anti-inflammatorys (and limited activity) then we'll delve further into this.

When I asked him if we should take xrays anyway he said he didn't think it was necesary at this time since his hips are not where he is feeling pain. He told me that he very rarely sees Rottie's who do not have some form of HD on xray. He followed that up with the statement that most Rottie's are very stoic and may have xray evidence of HD but show no symptoms. He said that shepards are the ones who seem to complain about HD the most!