Brennan is my six-year-old Shetland Sheepdog, who I trained in agility, obedience, rally, and minor showmanship. She is pretty much my life, and my best friend. I love her very much, so when I found a firm lump on her tail that was never there before I scheduled an appointment with Doc as soon as I could.
The lump felt to be about the size of a marble, and I didn't know what it was, so I took her in. I try not to worry about these things until I know I have a reason to worry, so I just proceeded as normal. She sat in a cage in the back the majority of the day until it was her appointment time. It was weird since now I know how most things run, I did the majority of the prep work. I filled out the question sheet we normally ask the …show more content…
Brennan is around six and a half years old, so she's no puppy, but she's an athlete, and healthier than most dogs that come through the clinic's doors.
When Doc came in he checked out her tail. Brennan has always had a weird tail. It is crooked and has a bend in it. We never knew if it was from a break or from a genetic mutation in the vertebrates, but the lump was close to this weird spot in her tail. After doc looked at it and flipped her around a couple times to put her in different positions, he said he thought it was cartilage. While this was good since it wasn't a tumor, it could be bad because it might beaffecting the rest of her spine.
Basically, the disc where the vertebrae had butted up to each other in the bends forced the disc out due to age. It wasn't hurting her, but he still wanted to get full spine x-rays to see if there were any other problems like disc separation in the rest of the spine. He said it was optional, but recommended. The decision was up to me and my