Amanda's Brutus 9/11 Conservative NECK?

Welcome to Dodgerslist, Amanda  First thing to know is that it IS in the cards for your Brutus 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

Any Vet that thinks putting a dog to sleep is the answer is not the Vet for Brutus. He  does not know how to treat IVDD. There are two treatments, conservative treatment and surgery.    It would be a good idea to find a Vet that understands this disease. Here is some good info on how  to find them.. dodgerslist.com/literature/VetchkList.htm

In order to help you more, could you please answer these questions?

☐ Brutus needs to be on an anti inflammatory to work on the swelling that is pressing on the nerves of the spine.  This is VERY Important.   Steroids are generally used when the dog has lost the ability to walk.   NSAIDS are used by many Vets as well.  Never use both.. One or the other or there could be severe damage to the stomach and GI tract. 

What was the start dose IF on a steroid, date of taper?

Stomach protection is a must: Phrase the question to your vet this very particular way: Is there a medical or health reason my dog may not take Pepcid AC (famotidine)? If there is no reason buy Pepcid AC at the grocery store. We follow vets who are proactive against not eating, vomit, diarrhea, bleeding ulcers by giving doxie-weight dogs 5mg Pepcid AC (famotidine) 30 minutes before the anti-inflammatory and thereafter every 12 hours. Source: 0.44mgs famotidine per pound twice a day www.1800petmeds.com/Famotidine-prod11171.html

☐ Do you currently observe any signs of pain?

•restless, can't find a comfortable position

•slow or reluctant to move much in crate such as shift positions

•shivering-trembling •yelping when picked up or moved

•tight tense tummy •arched back, ears pinned back

•not eating due to painful chewing or in too much overall pain

•head held high or nose to the ground.

•looks up with just eyes and does not move head and neck easily.

•holds front or back leg flamingo style not wanting to bear weight

•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. You are seeing pain that means the pain  meds are not yet right and need adjusted. 

♦️"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.

☐ 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.

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.

www.dodgerslist.com/literature/slingwalk.jpg

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!

☐ Why Chiropractic is not recommended for pain for an IVDD dog: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/chiropractic.htm

The unknown is simply too scary a place to stay in. Are you 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

We are here for you!   

Sorry to hear about your dog...we are in the same boat. My dog Coco is similar in age and in size and symptoms to your dog. Coco also has no movement in her legs either, it just happened before Labor Day weekend, out of no where. Thanks to this site I have taken a crash course in IVDD. Still learning here, but your going to be getting a lot less sleep for now...I was up 7-8 times a night for the first couple of nights just pee'n and poop'n  Coco...I too was given the advice to put her down...and for me this was not an option unless the dog was completely out of it, which it is NOT! It's been over a week for our family and Coco now, still adjusting and figuring things out but we are coming along well thanks to the advice of the good people here. Surprisingly I have become pretty good at expressing Coco's bladder and if your having trouble, you'll get good at it soon enough. 

Coco is getting stronger and stronger everyday, and doesn't show any signs of pain anymore and it's only been 8 days or so since we picked her up from the vet. Stay strong! Do your best to take care of Brutus and follow the guidelines. Our dogs deserve better than to be just put down because they are hurt or sick. We're all in this together, it's going to be a long and rough road ahead of us but I'm happy that Coco is with me now and will be for the foreseeable future...and I hope Brutus will be too.

Amanda, Brutus is not on any anti-inflammatory  drug any more--- Meloxicam!!!!

 It is expected that is may take 7-30 days for meloicam to resolve spinal cord swelling. Please read and get with your vet for another course of Meloxicam: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/healingsweling.htm

If you did, indeed, observe pain during the night it is likley because, pain meds have been lowered!

Tramadol has gone from 25mgs down to 12.5mgs 3x/day!
Methocarbamol has gone down from 3x/day to 2x/day!

Have absolutely no patience with pain at all . When the combo of pain meds is corrrect for Brutus pain is masked in on hour or less and does not surface at alll--- in other words no pain dose to dose of pain meds. if you are seeing these specific signs of pain report to the vet and strongly advocate for the usual with a disc episode.

◻︎not their normal perky selves  

All pain meds are prescribed for every 8 hours (3xday) AND given at an aggressive range for a 16 lbs (7.26kg) dog meaning more like tramadol 50mgs 3x/day.
 nnnnnnnnThe usual in controlling pain is to Rx at the higher end of the mg range AND promptly every 8 hours for methocarbamol, gabapentin and Tramadol. Below is information for you as a basis to discuss using a more aggressive dose of tramadol, but not to self prescribe for Brutus.   

For how many days is the RX for meloxicam.  This 2nd course started yesterday 9/14?
How many mgs of Pepcid AC do you give?  Pepcid AC lasts for 12 hours so it ought to be given every 12 hours (2x/day) to give round the clock acid suppression during the days Meloxicam is used.

Let us known what the vet says with your phone calls reporting what you have observed regarding pain, changes to meds and that finally Brutus is not suffering anymore pain.

Did the vet think the disc to be in the neck or the back?