When we got home from work tonight, Barkley couldn't/wouldn't come up the stairs outside. We tried bribing him, coaxing with food ... no go. I opened the gate to take him around to the front of the house when we saw that his right rear leg was dragging ... actually he was walking on the knuckles.
Whipped him right down to our amazing vet (I love those women...seriou sly) where they saw us without an appointment.
It's one of two things.
Either he's injured himself today while we were at work, in which case keeping him quiet and comfortable tonight and allowing the steriods to work on the swelling.
However, she is also concerned that it could neurological in that a tumor or gland could be swollen to the point that it's now pressing against nerves causing him to lose control of his hind quarters. If that's the case, then he will still be in the same (or worse) shape in the morning.
She said if that was the case, we would probably need to talk about euthenasia tomorrow.
We both have to work tomorrow - totally unable to take the day off. I have a meeting that I'm chairing and presenting at, and people are coming from all over the province to attend. My husband is an elementary school music teacher and one of his schools has its spring play tomorrow. I have been able to take as much time working at home during this whole ordeal, and now this. My mother in law will be here all day tomorrow, and the vet has also offered for us to drop him off to her tomorrow if we need or want to.
I'm just really hoping that he will prove us wrong once again this week. I'll update tomorrow.