wednesday morning batman Inbox X Reply Margaret Spear to Ed, Bertha, Carol, Ereign, Sarah, susan show details 8/1/07 the dogs didn't get up this morning until i just asked them to, then they bustled out to the kitchen and ate their breakfasts, still heavily weighted with tuna and dry cat food, to tempt batty and because i am out of dry dog food. when we went into the yard, batty hustled down to the end of the pool, jumped down a couple of feet off the retaining wall, and pooped in the geranium down there, much better placement than out in the lawn. then he jumped back up again onto the pool deck. he is still limping and still says his shoulder is sore, but obviously he's feeling much better. thank you, doggie aspirin. thank you to my amateur vet team. when he has recovered from this, if it recurs, i will take him to an actual vet for an opinion. until then, i don't know. there's no way to keep him from pulling a muscle again, if that is what this is. anyway - pretty happy dog this morning so i feel much better too. Reply Reply to all Forward Reply Carol Murphree to me show details 8/1/07 I am glad to hear the report that things are improving for Batty! Hooray! Clearly sounds like some kind of muscle or ligament or other soft tissue thing. I asked Matthew (who has a shoulder that pops out of joint more and more frequently, if we are to believe him) if it would be really obvious if a shoulder was out of joint. he said he didn't think it would be so obvious but you could probably feel it by examining the shoulder. But that it would hurt to touch it. BUT he says his hurts the worst after it has popped out of joint and then back in -- it stays quite sore for days sometimes. Don't know how credible his information is, or if doggie shoulders can "pop out" like human's -- but it seems to be one possibility. Matthew just saw an orthopedist who has ordered an MRI for his shoulder, to check for soft tissue damage. - Show quoted text - Reply Forward Carol is not available to chat Reply Margaret Spear to Carol show details 8/1/07 hmmm. it just seems surprising that anything could pop when i felt as if nothing could have happened at all, but certainly anything's possible. i took them this morning just walking around the short block and he wanted to go and he wanted to trot but i made him walk. however i probably shouldn't have done that as he seemed not so happy when we got home. anyway, when he was walking and when he was trotting, i was trying to observe him closely and it did seem as if his left shoulder seemed different, less obvious actually, than his right shoulder (left being the injured side). it's a little bit harder to tell because of all of his bumps. however, he hasn't minded having it felt all over. but if you were to squeeze, as in a hug, he would cry a little. guess we shall proceed in this way and hope it isn't lyme disease. if he doesn't get substantially better, then i'll have to rethink. anyway, it is interesting to hear about matthew's experience/opinion.