Photo of atrophied muscles on Enzo’s head
Enzo did really great at the vet on Friday. I had been a little bit concerned because Enzo likes to take his time to decide if he likes you or not before friending up to you. He never did completely warm up to the vet but there were no growls or anything.
So, after listing and describing the possibilities of what is going on with the muscles on Enzo’s head, and repeatedly mentioning that he didn’t want to send us for an MRI at this point because it costs so much ($3000!), he prescribed a steroid for Enzo to start taking and we would reassess in two weeks.
During the descriptions of the possibilities, it became apparent that one of the main symptoms of all but one included both sides of the head, which Enzo is not experiencing. What one does that leave? Well, the tumor, of course, and after the way Enzo was on Monday, I think my dog’s expiration date is much sooner than his normal life expectancy would indicate. My heart is breaking.
On Monday, Enzo spent most of the day on the bed sleeping. This is not unnormal, really. The dogs go on their morning walk, come home, eat some breakfast, then take naps throughout the day until we go for our evening walk. Sometimes, we will play during the day, but Monday was not one of those days. Lance assures me he didn’t notice anything different with Enzo on the morning walk.
When it was getting close to the evening walk time, I took the dogs outside to go potty and wander while Lance and I got ready to go. The second Enzo took the steps to go outside, I knew something was off. He didn’t seem to have his balance. I watched him walk around outside and it quickly became apparent that he was disoriented, definitely was not balanced on his feet, and he wanted to just lay down. Even when Lance’s brother came over, Enzo did not get up. Seeing as Enzo has decided that he really likes Travis, Enzo not getting up is something to pay attention to.
I knelt on the ground next to Enzo and checked for any swollen glands. Nothing. After talking about it for a bit, we decided we would go ahead with the walk and see how he did. Maybe he just needed to get going. It wasn’t far into the walk that it became apparent this was not going to be our usual walk.
All three dogs are usually clipped onto Lance’s belt when we walk. For this walk, I had to separate Enzo out because he wasn’t keeping up and he was getting tangled in the leashes. No biggie. I took his leash and we walked together, only much slower than Lance and the other two. My poor dog really wasn’t doing very well. We strolled to where we usually throw the ball for the dogs. Enzo barely played.
Now, Enzo loves to play but definitely is not as…obsessed with it as his brother Achilles is. He will go get the ball a few times then decide to lay off to the side with his ball for a few minutes and then get up and play some more. Monday, he tried. I was throwing gently for him so it was easier for him to get. Enzo noticed and took the ball to Lance to throw. Lance threw it and watching my poor off balance dog carefully choose his steps as quickly as he could, trying to show us all was well even though it wasn’t, was heart breaking. After throwing the ball usually comes the meat of the walk. Monday, after throwing the ball for the dogs, we headed back to the van. There was no way Enzo was going to make it through the whole thing.
At one point as we were walking back to the van, I started messaging my friend. She used to work in a shelter and has unbelievable amounts of knowledge. After telling her how Enzo was, she asked me a number of questions, then suggested a simple neurological test to try. The test was a little uncertain in outcome – right in the middle of that’s good and uh oh. Realizing I was panicking about my dog, I let my friend know that I was going to call the vet in the morning.
After letting the vet know how Monday had gone for Enzo, the vet said it was time to schedule an appointment with the neurologist. Crap. I don’t have that kind of money. I can’t borrow that money, either. If I came up with it and they confirm Enzo has a tumor, I sure as hell wouldn’t be able to afford whatever treatments they would suggest. There are a lot of what they would advise to deal with a tumor I just wouldn’t do, anyway, but I know I wouldn’t be able to pay to have the tumor surgically removed unless I found someone to buy one of my well used kidneys.
We have decided to look into CBDs for Enzo. Honestly, with the research I’ve done so far, I am starting to think giving CBDs to all three dogs isn’t a bad idea. I still need to talk with the vet and I am continuing to give Enzo the steroids with my fingers crossed.
Dragonfly Gypsy USA 