Eda's Zeytin 1/10 conservative Lab/chihuahua

Redirected to the Forum on behalf of Eda: 

Hi Paulina, sorry to get back to you so late, today completely wiped me out and I am coming down with the flu along with my husband. We took Zeytin to the emergency pet hospital in Berkeley called Pets Referral Center. In typical emergency room fashion we waited over 2 hours to see a doctor. They could see my boy in clear pain and I told them it was an emergency, but all for not as we still were forced to wait in an emergency room that had only 2 other people waiting and an army of nurses working. I did manage to get 2 more meds prescribed:
Metacam
Methocarbamol.

Tomorrow we will head over to Walnut Creek to see the neurologist, Dr Adamo for a consultation. I'm praying that he's not gonna need an urgent surgery but just in case he needs it's an option even though I'm on disability and my husband is the only bread winner in the house. I would do anything for my baby. Dr. Adamo doesn't accept care credit but maybe he could do some payments. We will try to look into fundraising. I was wondering if you guys know any good web site about it. My husband started one from giveforward.com but I really have no idea what would work. Right now all I care is to put my baby out of misery.I can't thank you enough for the support. Your email about meds helped me a lot, we discussed it with the vet and went thru there. So thank you again.

Eda

hello all,

I am sorry to reply so late, but the flu got the best of me. today is the first day I can hold my head up, sit up and actually see clearly. last couple days were a nightmare, but hopefully we'll be better soon. my dog zeytin is doing much better. after many days of pain and suffering, he asked for food for the first time and drank water today. I am very happy, yaaaay. poor thing as soon as he felt better he wanted to play with his toy. which I did not let him to. we are taking very short walks actually my husband carries him down the stairs, puts him on a lawn until he's done. then back upstairs. I don't ever let him jump on couch or bed. so basically he is restricted. had hard time laying in his own bed for 2 days but I think now he is getting used to. because normally he loves to sleep on our bed. even though we have stairs he would never use it. so from all this I understand one thing, I need to train him for create and stairs. I should be prepared for anything bad can happen.

now when it comes to his health situation, I would like to give you more detailed information. I am sorry last time I didn't mention Pepcid but I actually read a lot and knew that I should give him anyway. so briefly all from the beginning I will tell you what happened so that people in the bay area can know where to go, what to do :

my dog zeytin's pain started last Friday night. he suddenly started shaking very badly. this is a symptom that we have never experienced before. that's why I did not understand what was wrong with him. so that night I couldn't tell if it's IVDD or something else. the next morning he was still shaking bad, he did not want to come out of under the table, didn't want to eat or drink or even didn't want us to touch him. I called his primary vet Dr. Han from Richmond veterinary pet hospital and got an apptnmt right away. it was for 4 pm and time did not pass for us. he was in great pain. Now I regret for something so much that I did not ask to Doctors assistants if he had any IVDD experience or not. because instead of losing time like that I could have taken him to another doctor where we could get better help. Dr. Han is very good vet don't get me wrong, he was concerned, he cared, he listened to me very carefully but unfortunately didn't know much about IVDD. he examined zeytin very carefully, checked his fever and read the report from his previous doctor Kim. but he couldn't tell if he was in pain because of his back or not. and I could not either because didn't recognize the symptoms this time. anyway he asked me if i'd like to try tramadol. I accepted and went home with 50mg. tramadol, half every 12 hrs. unfortunately it didn't work on him. his shaking became even worse, his back swell. because it was sunday I took him to Pets Referral center at Berkeley. that place has annoyed me off sooo much!!!! even though there wasn't many pets around with emergency we had to wait 1,5 hrs! he was shaking, panting, his legs were weaker and crossed. he did not want to lay down at all, I think he was not comfy like that. so after my questioning the receptionist couple times in front of other pet parents I think they were annoyed and took us into a room. there we had to wait another half hr until the real doctor saw us after a nurse who took the vitals. the doctor talked and talked and talked. even though I told him that we set up an appnmnt with a neurologist tomorrow and all he had to do was examine him and give some stronger pain meds and anti-inflammatory meds, he tried talking us into some other treatments that would be costly. at the end of the 2.5 hrs we could leave the place finally with some methocarbamol 500 mg and metacam. Thank God! so we went home I gave the meds to zeytin right away. he felt better after couple hrs. but still was not eating or drinking. I squirted water at times and the Pepcid as well into his mouth with a syringe. he hates it. first two days he didn't do anything but on the third day he tried to bite the syringe

the next day, on Monday his back was still swollen but at least he didn't have as much pain. we took him to the East Bay veterinary specialists and emergency in walnut creek to see Dr Adamo. he is a neurologist and we read great reviews about him. He really deserves all that. he is a very good doctor and could tell he knew what he was doing. after 3 days of suffering I felt for the first time that we are in good hands and my baby is going to be ok. they will take good care of him. the building is nice, clean and airy. there are many nurses and vets around. it is pricy but I think he deserves it. before he examined zeytin in the room he took us outside to see how he is walking. zeytin was walking ok because he was not in much pain anymore and some what happy. and he examined him in the room. checked his reflexes, legs, paws and back. than they took him to take an x-ray. he came back with good news that he didn't need an emergency surgery and will be ok with conservative treatment with activity restrictions and meds. in the report he wrote says: T12-T13 narrowing of the intervertebral disc space. no signs of vertebral tumor or disc infection. then he explained all the treatments and restrictions and medications. it was so relieving to now that my baby will be ok and because he still young he might not need a surgery yet or at all if we are very careful with restrictions. thanks to Dr Adamo. I recommend him to everyone who is looking for a good neurologist. he answered all our questions very carefully and he was very nice.

now zeytin is on:

tramadol 50 mg tab 1/2 tab twice daily for 2 weeks
methocarbamol 500 mg 1/2 tab twice daily for 2 weeks
metacam oral suspension once daily based on 37lbs for 10 days which is like 20 ml
gabapentin 100 mg cap 1 cap 2-3 times daily

I still give him some Pepcid but zeytins stomach is good an started eating so I am not forcing him much.I regularly check his poop to see if there is any change.

finally thank you so much for your support again. It meant so much for me. I was following dodgers list from facebook to hear the good stories of dogs who survived and to have hope for my dog too. I knew that I won't be left alone and you guys proved it. thank you so so much. I will gladly help to anyone in the bay are who seeks help for an advise or refer a doctor. we will move down back to South California to orange county in couple months. i am hoping to find a doctor as good as DR Adamo. I will check the lists from now just to be prepared. i hope it won't happen again but we never know. god bless and have a good night

hello paula,

zeytin is doing much much better that he wants to play. i feel bad to turn my back to him when he wants to but we have to suck it up for awhile. he is unfortunately not in a crate rest. we tried before many times but he refuses to be in it. if it takes hours to get out of it he doesn't mind crying for hours. so he has 2 different beds in different spots in the house, fresh water is always available, no playing, no extra walking, no jumping. about the syringe of Pepcid, i have to do it otherwise there is no way he would drink it up. i know my dog very well. when i rescued him 6 years ago, he had kennel cough, neumonia and an operation. he didn't eat for 1 month. whatever we tried on him was not successful except the syringe. he is a very smart and stubborn dog. so i really have to do the syringe to protect his stomach. which we are doing ok now. he doesn't want to bite anymore i will go ahead and do the vet recommendation right away.

thank you for your answer and have a good weekend

hi Paula,

thank you for taking time and writing all the information. i used to give some rescue remedy to zeytin time to time when he'd get anxiety from fire smell. so i'll get some more. i love anything that is not chemical, all natural is always good. 

he is doing much much better. i don't think he is in pain anymore at all but we will finish all the meds of course. he's doing very good job to lay in his bed and rest. as you mentioned as well, i just turn my back at him or go to another room if he wants to play with me. it must be very hard for him to accept his disease, not sure even if he knows what is wrong with him. he is such a good soul, everytime i say good night to him i cry and i think he understands that he needs to stay in his bed.

i am keeping close eye on him. can't wait to see him happier.

thank you very much for all the suggestions again and again, they are worth the world to me

eda