Hello. i have a dobie/shep mix. he is small. about 48 pounds. 6 years old. last week he unexpectedly started limping on his left rear leg. the hock area was swellen a little. he kept limping so took him to the vet. vet thought at the time it was a strain, soft tissue injury.
then he started to limp on left front leg. the wrist joint was a bit swellen also. so took him back to the vet telling him he was getting worse. they checked him over very well. suggested basic lab work. valley fever test. lab work ok. valley fever test neg. so tested for tick fever. also neg. at this point we are takin a more conservative approach and tring prednisone. started it tonight. the past few days i was giving him rimadyl and it really helped with his mobility and pain. the rimadyl was also used temporary to find out what is wrong and to keep him comfortable.
my vet is guessing at this point he has lupus. says there is a test for lupus but its not intirely accurate and i dont' want to spend money i dont' need to. if the prednisone doens't work then my vet is recommending a specialist after that. if the pred works my vet says its lupus.
is there something more natural, holistic, i could try instead of all these other drugs vets use? i really dont' know what else to do after the pred. cept these specialist they recommended. its hard to see my boy down like this when last week he was running around after his ball ball. 
