I officially have a senior dog: The Results.

Good news: Oreo has gorgeous hips and knees. His anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL's) are spectacularly solid for a 10 year old as well.

He is also (obviously) Heart Worm and Lyme disease negative.

Not so good news: He has Lumbo-Sacral Stenosis with narrowing of the disc space and sclerosis (arthritis) of the end plates. This means that the disc has either been compacted or was never there and the result is that the last vertebra of his spine before his sacrum has become arthritic. This is also where the sciatic nerve branches off the spinal column and goes to the legs.

There is also bridging spondylosis of the L-S space and the cranial lumbar spaces. Meaning that bone is starting to develop between the two vertebra in order to stabilize the spine. Dr H is not worried about the thoracic bridging so much as he is in regards to the build up around the sacrum.

The disc space between L4/5 and 6 is also narrowed.

What all this means. He is on 50mg of Rimadyl 2x daily, this is a common arthritis medication. He is not far enough advanced to warrant surgery. We are going to see how much this helps him out and go from there.

I will say that the staff there are superb, and Dr H was pleasantly surprised that I knew where all the bits and pieces were, as in I could tell immediately that his hips and knees were clean. When it was time for the vet tech to get him the poor puppy growled at the girl when she opened the door. She came to see if I could get him to come out. He was wedged in the back corner of his kennel shaking in a huddled, pitiful ball. For all the pain he caused me last Thursday when he bit me, and as much as I swore at him, I would have rather he had bit me again than to see him like that.