Leg Pain

Question
Question?

Hi my name is Pat and I have a 4 year old male Rotweiler named Jordan.  For about a week, Jordan has been having severe pain in his back left leg.  He hollers out when he tries to walk on it.  My husband took Jordan to the vet and they said he had arthritis and prescribed some Rimadyl 2x a day.  He has been on the medication since last Friday and is not getting any better and they took a x-ray of his  back left leg and hip and found nothing.  Yesterday, we took Jordan back to the vet and they checked his paw (nothing found) and wanted to charge us another $200 + to put him back to sleep and get a back x-ray.  They drew blood to see if he had any dieases since they found alot of fleas on him and they treated him for fleas as well.  The blood work will be back in a couple of days.  

The vet finally admitted that she didn't think he had arthritis as stated by another vet and was unsure of what it was.  Jordan has not had any problems with his leg before, no limping, stiffness, etc.  He is in alot of pain and we are unsure what to do.  The vet wanted to do the x-ray of his back, but stated they "don't perform that surgery in their office".  

Is there anything that you know of that would cause these symptoms and even if Jordan has a diease from fleas, would it cause this type of pain.  What should we do.  My husband is considering putting him to sleep because of the possible amount of money that it will cost to diagnosis him.  

Please help,

Thanks,
Pat

Answer
HI Pat,
  I know that Rottweiler's being a large breed dog and all can have problems with there legs and hips. Usually they have hip dysplasia. The hips or hip can come out of socket. There is a surgery to repair or fix the dysplasia. If you want you can ask the vet. if there is a veterinary specialist in the area that can do the surgery and maybe take better x-rays. I know that where I live Virginia, there are vet. specialist who specialize in Radiology and certain surgeries. The surgery can be expensive, I think like $1000 where I live.
   Untill you can decide what to do, you should continue with the Rimadyl and give him strict "cage rest". No exercise. Only take him out on leash to use the bathroon. I have never heard of fleas causing such pain, I know that if there are enough fleas they can cause some anemia.
  Good luck to you and your doggie.