10 turning 11 yrs old mini with limpy front leg and weakened back legs, help!

by Yuan
(Scotland)

Hi everyone,
My precious little Kiko has shown some signs of arthritis such as shaky back legs and stiffeness over the past year, we weren't too concerned since it comes with age. She had a fatty tumour removed from her front left shoulder area and the operation was a success. The first few weeks after her recovery, she had her bounciness back, both front legs were perfectly fine and the same stiffness on the back legs. She gradually started to develop a wee limp in her back left leg, so we took her to try acpuncture hoping it might help since many of her friends have gone through the treatment and have helped them greatly. Unfortunately, things went down hill from there.

The vet who does acpuncture told us Kiko has arthritis in her back as well but can be managed with a couple of meds options which she would discuss with my vet but didn't.. Kiko had needles on her lower back and a couple in her front left.. After the session, Kiko seemded worse; her back legs were weak amd wobbly, she refused to walk. We thought it might be a reaction to the first session and she would be fine after some rest.. Unfortunately, after afew days of rests, her condition didn't improve and now her front left leg started to limp quite badly. Our vet was suprised to see how lame she was, they examined her left leg/pad, spine and back legs thoroughly but couldn't find anything. We were advised to rest her as much as possible and was given a course of antibiotics and painkiller. It was over a month ago and we went to the vet as her condition didn't improve much, a second vet thoroughly checked her again but equally mystified and they also checked her blood pressure which was fine. We were sent away with a stronger painkiller and told to return within a week if no improvement. Kiko s limp did get a bit better for a few days, then it went back to where we started. I started to video her movements to show the vets , they gave us a new type of painkiller and another 2 weeks of observation. If she does not improve much, then the only thing they can do is an MIR.

We are now in week 2 (vet told us to increase dosage if no improvement) and again she has been up and down, no significant change. We have been carrying her up and down the stairs, cold and hot compress, gentle massage, a wrist/leg support thing and small toilet walks only , but her condition still is up and down. We do not want to put her through general anithetic again for the scan, but frustrated with the unknown. I am utterly terrified when one of the vets suggested it might be nuelogical, such as a damaged nerve due to the operation she had. Has anyone out there expienced anything like this?! Please, please help, we are desperate. Thank you ever so much!
Yuan