Thank you so much to all of you who put him in your prayers.
We saw a specialist today. Joints are all okay, bloodwork looks good. No obvious signs for the discomfort/pain he is in. What did come up was an irregular heartbeat and signs of atrial fibrillation. However, he's in pain and atrial fibrillation does not explain that. For those that don't know, atrial fibrillation typically just makes you feel lightheaded, dizzy and just "off" in general. He responds well to pain medication so while the atrial fibrillation might be related, there's something else going on.
Next steps are going to be an EKG and an echocardiogram and most importantly (in my opinion) an X-Ray. He's very large (175lbs) so we'll be taking him to a local university as soon as they have a slot open. In the interim, it's just going to be keeping him as comfortable as possible with pain medication and love.
I humbly ask for you to keep him in your prayers. I love my boy and I'm very worried this could be something serious. He's too damn young (4 years) for me to lose him.
Very good question, HCAZ. I researched this breeder very, very carefully. But what you allude to is absolutely right, American breeders have ruined many a breed. Most purebreads in this country have so many more problems than mutts because of bad breeding practices by bad breeders.
My other dog is an Australian Cattledog which up until recently has not been a popular dog here in the States. Consequently it's a very healthy genetic line. But now i'm seeing the breed become more popular and that means American breeders will inevitably ruin the genetic line. I dream of a day where I can line up these shitty breeders and backhand them all one by one.
Imaging for my boy's heart is next Thursday. I'm hoping we find out some meaningful info then. On a positive note, he did sleep well last night and even wanted to go for a 45 minute walk tonight. So today is a good day :)