Julie's Jasper 2/2017 Conservative

Welcome to Dodgerslist, Julie! First thing to know is that it IS in the cards for your Jasper to get back to enjoying life whether immediately walking during the short 8 weeks of conservative treatment it will take a disc to heal or waiting on more nerve repair - IVDD is not a death sentence. Find out why that is true: www.dodgerslist.com/index/SDUNCANquality.htm

I am sorry you have had such a rough time.. Many  can't afford surgery.  Conservative treatment can work and thousands of  dogs have  healed their discs just that way!  

☐ Let us know you are on the same page about crate rest. The hallmark component of conservative treatment is the crate rest part. With little blood supply discs are much slower to form good scar tissue than it takes a blood rich broken bone to heal. That 6 weeks of a cast for a broken arm to heal is similar to the recovery suite being a kind of cast for the disc. 100% STRICT crate rest 24/7 for 8 weeks provides limited movement to allow good strong scar tissue to form. Super tried and true tips for setting up the recovery suite: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/CrateRRP.htm

STRICT means:
- no laps - no couches
- no baths - no sleeping with you
- no chiro therapy - no dragging or meandering at potty times.

Super tried and true tips for setting up the recovery suite: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/CrateRRP.htm 

What are the doses in mgs of the Prednisone, including the tapering information? What date was the Prednisone started?   What is the dosage of the Tramadol and how many times per day given?   Was there a 4-7 day  washout between the Carprofen and the Prednisone?   Here is more infomation on the pain meds given during a disc episode:  dodgerslist.com/literature/healingpain.htm   

Please include the all important stomach protector such as Pepcid AC. Phrase the question to your vet this particular way:" Is there a medical or health reason for my dog not take Pepcid?" If there is no reason, we follow vets who are proactive against not eating, vomit, diarrhea, bleeding ulcers by giving doxie-weight dogs 5mg Pepcid (famotidine) 30 minutes before Prednisone.

☐ Currently can your dog wobbly walk? Move the legs at all? Or wag the tail when you specifically do some happy talk?

☐ Can your dog specifically sniff and squat and then release urine or do you find wet bedding or leaks on you when lifted up?

☐ Eating and drinking OK? Poops OK - normal firmness & color -no dark or bright red blood?

Jasper is in pain!! Panting can be a sign of pain and also anxiety - These are the typical signs of pain during a an IVDD episode.  shivering, trembling, yelping when picked up or moved, reluctant to move much in crate such as shift positions or slow to move, tight tense tummy, restless, can't find a comfortable position. Ears pinned back, arched back. Holding front or back leg flamingo style not wanting to bear weight, head held high or nose to the ground. Not their normal perky selves. Full pain relief is expected in 1 hour and stays that way dose to dose of correctly Rx/d pain meds.
 Jasper needs his pain medications adjusted. Call the Vet right away, this can be done over the phone since Jasper has already been examined. Have no patience with pain, it slows down healing.  

"There is medicine and there is healing. Healing requires rest and comfort, and all patients should be kept as comfortable as possible. Studies have shown a correlation between less pain and faster recovery from illness, surgery, or injury." Barak Benaryeh, DVM, DABVP. Identifying Pain in Geriatric Patients. Veterinary Team Brief. NOV/Dec 2015.

Carry to and from the recovery suite to the potty place and then allow a very few limited footsteps. Using a sling (long winter scarf, ace bandage, belt) will save your back and help to keep a wobbly dog's back aligned and butt from tipping over. A harness and 6 foot leash is to control speed and keep footsteps to minimum as you stand in one spot. An ex-pen in the grass is an excellent alternative to minimizing footsteps with the physical and visual to indicate there will be no sniff festing going on!

www.dodgerslist.com/literature/slingwalk.jpg

The unknown is simply too scary a place to stay in. Are your ready to get up to speed on all things IVDD and fight the IVDD enemy? Excellent page to start with "Overview: the essentials" and then read all you can as soon as possible. Are you ready? Here's the link www.dodgerslist.com/healingindex.htm

Healing thoughts and prayers! 

Julie you have a pain emergency to report to the vet via a phone call now, asap, to get the pain meds adjusted:
---constantly pants hard
-- restless or can't find a comfortable spot for any length of time
--- whimpers if he moves wrong.

Learning the details of the med list allows us to make specific comments. So until you can fill us in in your next post, below are my general comments.


ANTI-INFLAMMATORY  needs STOMACH PROTECTION
If there has not been a space of 4-7 days since the stop of Carprofen and the start of Prednsone, Jasper's stomach is in a very, very dangerous situation!
---- VERY strongly advocate for not just Pepcid AC (famotidiine) being on board but also for an Rx for sucralfate.------- Pepcid AC can be purchased in a less expensive Brand X.  Look for one single active ingredient (famotidine) 10mgs 2x/day.  Give the Pred with a meal as added protection

PAIN MEDS
Tramadol alone will likely NOT control pain.  IF it has not been prescribed for every 8 hours AND is not at a high enough dose in mgs, it will not control pain.  ADVOCATE with the vet for 3x/day AND that the dose be close to two full 50 mgs tablets.  DO not ever self prescribe yourself.  We give you this information so that you have a reliable, credit worthy source of information to be able to discuss things with your vet:

Gabapentin and Methocarbamol There are three sources of pain with a disc episode so, very typically vets will used three different pain meds.  ADVOCATE for 2 additional pain meds to be added.

I am happy to hear that Jasper is doing better.
Some vets just don't know about IVDD. That is why we pet parents have to educate ourselves so we can evaluate the advice we are given. That is what you have done for Jasper.

Imaging is not really necessary if a dog is to be treated conservatively. Imaging requires anesthesia which can be dangerous for an IVDD dog as all core muscles of the spine would be relaxed and they can be injured if moved wrong or not handled carefully. Imaging is best done before surgery so the vet know where to operate. The conservative treatment treats all disks the same so that kind of detailed information is not needed. Imaging would be indicated if the vet thought it might be something other than IVDD.

Is Jasper on any meds now? Does Jasper pant only at certain times? Panting may or may not be a sign of pain. Is he showing any of the other signs of pain? I am listing them here for easy reference; - shivering, trembling, yelping when picked up or moved, reluctant to move much in crate such as shift positions or slow to move, tight tense tummy, restless, can't find a comfortable position. Ears pinned back, arched back. Holding front or back leg flamingo style not wanting to bear weight, head held high or nose to the ground.  If he is showing any of these signs along with the panting it is probably pain and the meds should be reevaluated.

Is he still on Strict crate rest?