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Hypersensitivity in knees
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I wonder if anyone has any advice.
About a month ago, Tyson snapped at my husband when he touched his knee. He has never snapped before. The behaviour is extraordinarily out of character. He did not try to make contact with his skin. No limping, no licking, no favouring any leg. A few days later, I touched his other knee while absently patting him in our laying on the couch vegetation mode. He growled and bared his teeth.
We took him to our vet who could find nothing. No swelling, no warmth, no nothing, no stretched tendon or tear in his CCL. Our vet prescribed Metacam (the doggy advil) and rest for two weeks. We dosed him and rested him. He was and is fine doing everything except having either knee touched while lying down.
We took him back to the vet and he submitted as at home to everything, except growled and bared teeth at the vet only once during the thorough exam, and did not replicate it when touched in the same spot later. The x-rays showed no abnormalities in his knees and a slight wear on his hips that was ruled out as causing the sensitivity. We are concerned that he is in pain and just dealing with it. We took some cell phone videos of his reaction to being touched when at home. Our vet, who has known Tyson since he was 3 months old cannot reconcile the behaviour. She referred us to a team of specialists closer to Toronto. After the neurological and internal and musculoskeletal exams, they could not find any reason for the bi-lateral reaction to touch, which is limited to his knees. They prescribed two weeks of gabapentin, which are up tomorrow.
There has been no change on these meds. In every way, he is his usual happy self, no lameness, no excessive fatigue, no problems. He is loving, exuberant, goofy and playful. He has never reacted to anyone at daycare (where his is daily) or when the cats molest him by rubbing all over him, including his knees.
The specialists suggested that if the gabapentin did not work, the alternative is a heavy behaviour-modifying drug, which looking at his general health they would not recommend and would not have recommended the gabapentin had they not seen the videos.
We are just at a loss about what to do. I cannot believe it is behavioural, but will do anything I can to help him. We have put him through some terrible pain and agitation in fixing his problems and injuries over the last few years, including a happy tail incident that had us changing dressings several times a day for an extended period of time. He has never been aggressive in response and even after growling now, wags apologetically and licks faces and hands afterwards.
Has anyone ever heard of anything like this?
No, sorry. I did have a Rotti once who bit someone who pushed him aside (bone cancer in leg) which was also very out of character. Wonder if it is behavioral? Maybe a memory to something that hurt him a while back? What if when he is laying with you and you very slowly work your way towards his knee. I have done that with dogs that don’t like their paws touched to let them get used to it. Could rule out it being a memory of some sudden movement that hurt?
Athena sometimes snaps and growls at us when we touch her belly or hind legs when she’s asleep, or laying on her bed. But it’s sporadic and happens only once. If we touch her again afterwards she doesn’t react at all.
This is very weird. Have never really heard of something like it.
Enjoy Toronto traffic. We’ve been going back and forth to the Toronto Eye Clinic several times with Athena’s vision issues (since resolved)
Forever Weimanamanama
wow, that is very strange. I wish I had any ideas to help you, I will keep thinking about it. You know him best and I think you would have the best idea of if it is behavioral or physical. It seems physical because it is only with his knees, but its so hard when they can find nothing wrong!
Thank you all for the thoughts and advice. Still no change. After a long and frank visit with out vet yesterday, she suggested that maybe this just means that he has a no-go zone.
Again, he is just so loving and affable that I have a hard time accepting that. But all these tests would have shown if it were something physical, right? A part of me thinks that it will manifest a year or so from now and this would have been the time to do something about it. I know, paranoid.
BasG, when did Athena start responding like that? Could it be a weim thing. (My office is in Thornhill and I drive into downtown TO a few times a week which has become ridiculous since the QEW etc closed. I can’t imagine having to do it every day….poor souls)Dogs can have no-go zones. That’s not uncommon at all, just like cats. I have no idea if there would be any underlying cause.
I’m not entirely sure when Athena started doing this. “A while” isn’t really helpful, is it? It’s been at least 6 months. Maybe even longer. She can be very temperamental about some very specific things. When she’s lying under my desk, I’m not allowed to wedge my feet under her back end to keep them warm. She’ll growl and find another spot to sleep. I’m not allowed to “rub” her with my feet either. But I’m allowed to bend over and rub her with my hands, though. When she’s sleeping in bed I can’t rest my feet on her when I’m reading. She’ll get snappy and move away. When she’s sleeping in bed I can’t touch her belly. Her chest is fine, but touching her belly will make her angry. She even nipped me a few times with some of these particular things.
At first I thought she was having tummy aches or something, but during the daytime she loves to have a belly rub. It really seems to be a mental thing, and not a physical thing.
Forever Weimanamanama
It is actually really comforting to read this, BasG. Assuming every physical cause is ruled out, then we can work on it. I wonder if there is such a thing as ‘only child syndrome’ in weims and if it is possible we just pay too much attention to him.
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