Friday. Poor Rex. Rex is a huge Shiloh Shepherd with a skulking, wolf-like walk and an equally nervous disposition when around strangers.

Rex came in yesterday for a routine set of X-rays. He had started limping over the weekend and it had progressed over the course of the week. His knee seemed painful so I was pretty worried that he’d have a cruciate ligament problem (one of the most common causes of sudden limping in big dogs). We took a standard set of X-rays under anesthesia and I found no smoking guns. In fact, for his age, breed and size, Rex was remarkably free of degenerative changes. Almost no arthritis. Perfect knees. Yet still painful. Only a little better with pain relievers.

Poor Rex. Today I took his X-rays over to Dr. Wosar, our friendly neighborhood surgeon. At first he said the same thing: Don’t see anything. Re-take in two weeks if the condition persists. Then he backed up and said: ,Wait a sec. Yep. Looks like we have a problem, Houston.,

Sure enough, it looks like Rex might have a bone tumor. A very subtle X-ray change was noted: a faint darkening of the bone above the knee. Compared to the other knee (same exposure, same position) the bone was indeed darker.

Poor Rex. Rex will have to see Dr. Wosar this afternoon for a bone biopsy. I sure hope it’s not what it looks like.