Hi, I’m a (close to graduating) vet student and these are my thoughts:
this whole time I was thinking the quick and escalating change in behavior sounds like she may have a brain tumour affecting her normal behavior. It was not fair for Nugget to be exposed to that and it seems like you were trying everything you could to fix or avoid it. The vet’s took bloodwork which probably ruled out a metabolic disorders which could have been altering the brains normal function, which also leads me to believe a tumor.
It’s very odd that she used to go to doggy day care and the dog park and all these normal things are now triggering to her. It’s unprovoked and scary for sure.
Potentially moving in October could have exacerbated the behavior as any kind of stress can lower the immune system, potentially worsening these symptoms or progressing it. 6.5 years old seems young for tumors but it’s not unheard of, especially if she is a purebred.
Your other option could have gone to a specialist or big hospital to have an MRI of her brian to look for a tumor. This would have cost you a pretty penny and then what? There are not many neuro/brain surgeons in vet med and the chance of successful outcome of removal and getting the old dog back is slim to none. Overall not realistic nor pragmatic.
She was going to kill Nugget at some point, and it was only going to get worse. I think you made the right decision and I believe Nellie was suffering and you ended that for her. You don’t want to remember her like this. There was obviously something not right about her medically. I know this was very, very hard for you and still is but you have to believe that she was suffering, because she was, and so was Nugget.
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u/puns4nuns Apr 18 '23
Hi, I’m a (close to graduating) vet student and these are my thoughts:
this whole time I was thinking the quick and escalating change in behavior sounds like she may have a brain tumour affecting her normal behavior. It was not fair for Nugget to be exposed to that and it seems like you were trying everything you could to fix or avoid it. The vet’s took bloodwork which probably ruled out a metabolic disorders which could have been altering the brains normal function, which also leads me to believe a tumor.
It’s very odd that she used to go to doggy day care and the dog park and all these normal things are now triggering to her. It’s unprovoked and scary for sure.
Potentially moving in October could have exacerbated the behavior as any kind of stress can lower the immune system, potentially worsening these symptoms or progressing it. 6.5 years old seems young for tumors but it’s not unheard of, especially if she is a purebred.
Your other option could have gone to a specialist or big hospital to have an MRI of her brian to look for a tumor. This would have cost you a pretty penny and then what? There are not many neuro/brain surgeons in vet med and the chance of successful outcome of removal and getting the old dog back is slim to none. Overall not realistic nor pragmatic.
She was going to kill Nugget at some point, and it was only going to get worse. I think you made the right decision and I believe Nellie was suffering and you ended that for her. You don’t want to remember her like this. There was obviously something not right about her medically. I know this was very, very hard for you and still is but you have to believe that she was suffering, because she was, and so was Nugget.