I picked up my baby girl this evening. The Endoscopy showed that
although there was  a bit of abraision in her oesopegous and bruising
in her stomach, there was no eveidence of stick, thank goodness. Rob,
the vet, said that it was probably bits that had passed through and
she is on antibiotics to make sure there is no infection. So, a very
lucky escape.

As for the hip X-rays....  Cara has severe hip dysplasia in her left
hip - the vet guesstimated a single hip score of around 25! That
explains the recurrent lameness. Cara's right hip is fine, however.
Through her back, she has very bad arthritis and some sort of
degerative joint disease that I forget the name of but causes problems
with the sciatic nerve in severe cases. Cara also has a slghtly
twisted pelvis and boney bridges between her spinal vertebre which
means that she's going to gradually become very stiff with little
spinal flexibility. Rob also said that had she been an agility dog,
his recommendation would be immediate retirement.

Still, she's on Metacam, Seroquin, Hills J/D food, Cod-liver oil and
controlled exercise and she's OK.   I did laugh at the vet - I said to
him after he had told me all the information about her hips
"Basically, you're saying I have a crappy collie?" he turned around
and said "No, there is NO such thing as a crappy collie! I have 2 BC's
and that's why I've taken over your case.... I try to deal with all
the collies, because I *get* them!"

Personally, I am delighted that Rob has taken over the case. Not only
is he a Border Collie man, but the main reason I didn't remember the
name of the joint disease that Cara has is because I was too busy
thinking how cute & good looking her vet was! He was very, very
nice....ahem...... ;o)

Thanks for all the purrs and prayers - you have no idea how much they
have helped.

Helen M and (a very stiff, wobbly) Cara.