Pets Archives - Walt in PA

The day before Reading was hit with more than eighteen-inches of snow, Syrus was acting a little strange. He seemed to be favoring one of his hind legs, at the time I simply thought he must have slept on it improperly and it fell asleep. After his morning outing, he came into the house walking on three-legs. The hind leg he was favoring was now tucked up under him and he was not using it to walk. I was not fond of the idea of taking Syrus to the Vet, the reason being I was not happy with the level of care he received at this particular office. While in work, my wife spoke with a friend of hers and got a recommendation for another animal hospital. Later that evening my wife called the Veterinarian and made an appointment for them to see Syrus and take a look at his leg. My wife and I were under the impression Syrus must have pulled a muscle and the technician on the phone agreed with this assessment. The following evening we were scheduled to take Syrus over to the Vet's office but had to reschedule due to a tremendous amount of snow and made plans to visit the office the following Monday. As the appointment grew nearer, Syrus was getting better. Over the course of a few days he began using his hind leg part of the time, and before long was running around as if nothing was wrong. When Monday rolled around, Syrus was running and playing as normal but wouldn't sit on his hind leg. He would sort of drop down onto his butt then lean heavily in on direction, almost as if he was lounging rather than sitting. This was unlike him, so we took him in to the see the Vet as planned. After a miserable experience with out previous Veterinarian, I didn't have high hopes for the visit going all that well. The same stigma that follows Syrus' breed apparently wasn't halted at the door of his previous Veterinarian, so my wife and I expected the same sort of smug attitude with this new care-giver. Amazingly, we were completely wrong. From the moment we walked into the waiting room, the receptionist was kind and praised Syrus the instant she laid eyes on him. Before long a second receptionist was leaning over the counter to pet and praise Syrus. A few minutes later we were making our way back into the exam rooms. The whole way back our technician was playful with Syrus and made not only him, but my wife and I, very comfortable. When we got into the exam room, the technician was on the floor patting and praising Syrus. After a little play and a quick pre-exam, she had all the information needed to present to the doctor. A few minutes later the Veterinarian entered the room and once again I was surprised by how kind he was. Before the exam, he was down on the floor scratching and patting Syrus to make him comfortable. Before leaving the office, the technician informed us that Syrus had a bit of a temperature. This information, paired with the problem with Syrus' leg lead the doctor to suspect he may have Lyme Disease. Before the blood test was to be performed, the Veterinarian checked out our pups leg to ensure that he had full range of motion and wasn't favoring one leg over the other. It turns out that Syrus' had a slight problem with his range of motion in his one hind leg and was putting more weight on his good leg. After the exam, the doctor left us and called on the technician to draw some blood and test for Lyme Disease. Despite Syrus' playful nature, he remained still enough to allow the technicians to draw the required amount of blood. While taking her sample, the technician made mention that Syrus couldn't have scored any higher for his ability to give blood. Our pooch didn't even seem to notice that there was a needle in his leg. After the blood was drawn, the technicians left us to wait while they tested the sample for Lyme. Syrus seemed bummed out that his new friends left him and he was moping around the exam room and whining quietly. After about ten minutes we were joined once again by the doctor. We were informed that Syrus' tested positive for Lyme Disease and that it was definitely the cause for his limp. It would seem that one of the symptoms of Lyme is a lame leg in addition to running a fever. The doctor gave us an antibiotic for treat the Lyme, pain medication to make Syrus more comfortable and reduce his fever, and a specimen cup for me to somehow collect a urine sample to be tested for full kidney function. After paying for treatment, my wife and I headed home. With Syrus sleeping in the back seat, we got to talking about our visit. We agreed that this Animal Hospital was the one for us and our previous care-giver was no longer going to see Syrus. Everyone from the receptionist, to the technicians, to the veterinarian, was kind and made sure that Syrus was comfortable and happy. We have a follow up appointment scheduled to check the progress of the antibiotics and see how Syrus is doing. After our first visit I no longer have doubts about it being a miserable experience and look forward to checking on Syrus' progress. If you ever find yourself in the Reading Area and need to have you animal checked out, I would highly recommend giving Willow Creek Animal Hospital a try. We were thrilled with the level of service provided to us and our pooch.