Poorly dog:

[madmaggot]

My dog is 'not right'; at first I thought she's hurt one of her toes but now thinking it might be a problem with her belly.
She's off her food a bit and she's yelped a couple of times when getting out of her bed (but not every time). She can't settle and keeps getting up and going from her bed in the lounge to the bed in the kitchen. Normally after her walk she will settle down for a couple of hours unless something happens that she thinks she should investigate. She is a dog that enjoys rolling but she seems to be rolling more than usual and she's using her nearside back leg to scratch under her belly.
Yesterday on her walk, when we reached the footpath where she's allowed to run loose, she just turned round and made for home!
She's not limping or favouring any leg and really there's not much to say to the vet except that I know she's in some discomfort, but I'm not sure where she hurts.
She's normally a very 'interested' dog but she is spending a lot of time sitting staring at the wall as if she just doesn't want to see if anything is happening.
Any ideas anyone?

[notasyoungasiwas]

You need to take her to the vet. Discomfort may become severe pain if you don't. The vet will know what to do once you've explained everything. To be honest, I wouldn't hesitate.

[madmaggot]

Yes, she's going tomorrow morning but will he do anything other than give painkillers? I'm quite worried about that because she's previously had bad reaction to NSAIDS and we nearly lost her.

[boxtops]

The vet ought to do more, investigate the case of her pain - maybe a scan or xray is called for. The vet may know - but remind him about the NSAIS reaction.

[boxtops]

^ NSAID

[notasyoungasiwas]

Well if he's worth his salt (do you trust him?) he'll thoroughly examine her - may even need to keep her in for tests. I wouldn't expect my vet to give painkillers to my dog wihtout first knowing what the pain is. It could be absolutely anything you know, not necessarily serious, but the fact she's off her food a bit means she definitley needs help. Good luck - I hope she's OK x

[BIGDOGY]

You can give paracetamol for a shot time if she cant take NSAID's

[boxtops]

Bigdoggy - only under strict vet supervision - many human medicines are extremely dangerous for our pets.

[madmaggot]

I've started to give her glucosamine today in case it's arthritis but I'll leave it to the vet to manipulate/test her joints as I'm afraid of hurting her. She seemed happy on her walk today, trotting along with her tail held up high although she wouldn't run with me, just trotted until she caught up. Once again she seems not to be able to get comfortable in her bed to rest now as she normally would. She will be 8 in Febuary so is about the age for arthritis to show up so it could be that; I really don't know and keep changing my mind as to what might be the problem.
Thanks everyone for the replies.

[lankeela]

I'd get her looked at by a Reiki Healer who does dogs. She might have just put something out of place and be in discomfort. Vet will probably want to x ray and do blood tests which will cost £££££s so a few quid spent first might solve the problem.

[madmaggot]

Really good idea and one that I'd like to take up.
Lankeela, do you have any idea how I can locate a healer in my area?

[lankeela]

Just google reiki for dogs and your area and you should find someone near you.

[lankeela]

Or let me know your area and I will ask on one of my dog groups for recommendations

[madmaggot]

Just to let you know; it turned out to be severe constipation! She was very 'bunged up' for some reason and needed meds to get her going again. Don't know why this happened, just one of those things!

[notasyoungasiwas]

Thanks for letting us know, so glad she's OK now.

[wolf63]

I bet she is much happier now that she has 'been' - I think that when you love your furry friend it is human nature to worry when they are ill.

Bet she's smiling now! ;-)

[madmaggot]

~She's really acting up; I think she's making up for lost time when she was feeling too poorly to do much!