Madeline's Wolfie 1/24 conservative - Pom GRAD 3/20

Welcome to Dodgerslist, Madeline. So glad you’ve joined us all. We’ve got valuable information we’ve gleaned from the vets Dodgerslist consults with and our own experiences with IVDD since 2002 to share with you.

**Disc disease is not a death sentence! ** Struggling with quality of life questions? Re-think things: www.dodgerslist.com/index/SDUNCANquality.htm

You have a pain emergency that must be addressed ASAP this morning. Do you have an ER that you can get Wolfie to? Getting pain under control should not wait until Monday when you can reach your regular vet. Shivering, trembling when moving, not wanting to move are all signs of pain. Meloxicam is not a pain med, it's an anti-inflammatory. Pain meds are needed, IVDD is most often very painful. Pain meds used with IVDD are Tramadol as a general pain med, Methocarbamol for the pain of muscle spasms and Gabapentin for nerve pain. Sometimes all three pain meds are needed to control the pain.

PEPCID AC: Anytime a dog is taking an anti-inflammatory, stomach protection must be added. Ask if your dog has any health issues to prevent use of Pepcid AC (famotidine)? (doesn’t need it, we wait til there is problem…are NOT answers to your question!) If you get a “no health” issues answer, then go to the grocery store to purchase over the counter Pepcid AC containing one single active ingredient (famotidine). canigivemydog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/can-i-give-my-dog-pepcid-ac-300x300.jpg 
Doxie weight dogs: 5mg Pepcid AC (famotidine) every 12 hours. NOTE: Pepcid AC (famotidine) for dogs is 0.44mg per pound, 30 mins before the anti-inflammatory and thereafter every 12 hours for as long as your dog is on the anti-inflammatory. www.1800petmeds.com/Famotidine-prod11171.html

A laundry basket is not a safe place for Wolfie during conservative care. When he starts to feel better once his pain is under control, hopefully today, he could get out of a laundry basket or it could tip over. Too much movement and the damaged disc could tear or rupture, possibly leaving him paralyzed, possibly permanent. An ex-pen or playpen or crate are needed to keep Wolfie safe from harm. Think of the recovery suite as a cast for the spine. More on that below.

For how many days is Meloxicam to be given?

The only way for you to tell whether Wolfie has bladder control is to carry him to a spot where he's peed before (or a pee pad if he's trained to use one), support his hind end but not under his belly and see if he can release urine on his own. If so, he has bladder control. If not, you will need to get a hands-on-your-hands demonstration today on how to express his bladder. It may be that he's in too much pain and is holding both his urine and poop. You'll be better able to tell if he has bladder control once his pain is under control. More on expressing: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/Expressing.htm

If you can't afford surgery, conservative care is an option for treatment.  Neither x-rays (which don't prove IVDD but only to rule out other diseases) or an MRI are necessary with conservative care.  The hallmark component of conservative treatment is the very STRICT crate rest part (no PT, little movement). With little blood supply discs are much slower to form good scar tissue than it takes a blood rich broken bone to heal. Those 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, the mattress and more! —> www.dodgerslist.com/literature/CrateRRP.htm

STRICT means: ◼︎no laps ◼︎no couches ◼︎no baths ◼︎no sleeping with you ◼︎no chiro therapy whys: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/chiropractic.htm ◼︎no dragging or meandering at potty times. ◼︎no PT for conservative dogs during 8 weeks to heal disc ◼︎At home laser or acupuncture for severe neuro damage is best. Transports are always a risk to the disc of too much movement. Vet visits must be weighed risk vs. benefit for dogs with little to mild neuro diminishment.

DOGs with BLADDER CONTROL: 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 

Knowledge is the power to fight the IVDD enemy and win!! The very best thing you can do for YOU, the caregiver, and for your dog is to get up to speed on IVDD soonest possible. Begin absorbing the must-have overall sense of meds, care and how the treatment works. Your dog will be depending on your ability to learn - excellent video series here: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/theater.htm
 PRINT OUT this link and tape to your fridge: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/healingpage.htm
 use the printout as your roadmap to avoid dangerous detours in your dog’s care
 make notes/highlight to keep yourself on track
 follow all the links in the next days to become the IVDD savvy pet parent your dog needs. Use the “search box” to easily locate topics over at our Main www.Dodgerslist.com website: www.dodgerslist.com/index/searchBOX.jpg

Fundraising is an issue on the forum for several reasons. So many here have not been able to provide surgery due to the dog's health, personal finances or just the desire to try the least invasive treatment first. Because so many members are heavily burdened with unexpected vet bills themselves, it is not likely you will find people in a position to help you financially. What the forum has to offer is priceless and that is support, creditable IVDD information to help you care for your dog and to work closely with vets. I do feel your stress and anxiety to raise funds. So let me mention this alternative to posting about fundraising as outlined in our posting guidelines dodgerslist.boards.net/thread/32/posting-guidelines-forum

Please let us know what is prescribed for Wolfie today to get his pain under control and confirm that Pepcid AC is now on board. Healing prayers for Wolfie.

Update on Wolfie:

He's doing better this morning, though he still wants to walk around (struggles to move). We are keeping him on a sofa cushion on the floor instead of the hamper until we can get a playpen.

My Dad has just gone out to get Famotidine 10 mg, and we are feeding Wolfie breakfast right now.
(✙Famotidine acquired! How much should I give Wolfie? He's a 7.8lb pomeranian)

I am not working or in college at the moment, so I am with him 24/7.

The vet checked all along his spine and both his legs (during our visit), and didn't find any indication of pain. (Which lines up with you telling me that meloxicam is not a pain med, just an anti-inflammatory)

He still chirps every time he hears the doorbell, and he was very interested in barking at and going after a fly on the wall (which is his usual reaction). Would it be safe to say he wouldn't do these things if he was in pain?

Wolfie finally peed late last night, and so much of his shaking and fidgeting has been drastically reduced. I brought him to his puppy pads and tried to express his bladder. He was shaking and stressed out by the movement, so I carried him back to his cushion. Less than a minute later, he peed where he was laying.

The meloxicam is for 5 days. After today, he will have two doses left.

I will take him back to the emergency vet on Monday to get him on pain meds, it's the best I can do. I just don't have the money to take him today.

Thank you very much for the support. Wolfie seems to be very interested in resuming his usual napping schedule, so he's having a nice, quiet morning. In a few hours, I will try to express his bladder and bowels again.

Should I be worried about his fidgeting? Is there any way to stop him from doing that? (he shifts around to try to find the best position to sleep in)

Another big thing that concerns me. We are currently here in St Louis on vacation, and we need to go back to our home in Chicago, IL on the 14th of February. What precautions can we take to make sure the traveling goes smoothly? Is it possible to give him four weeks of conservative rest here in St Louis, and then do the other four in Chicago? or would that disrupt his progress? Would him being in a crate or doggie car seat during travel help?

What size playpen should I get for him? Cloth or metal?

Wolfie is my emotional support dog, so he's used to being with us (me and the family) pretty much all the time. How do I help him adjust to Conservative treatment?

Added Info: reading now that the x-ray is unhelpful, what about an MRI? Is there anything that can give us a clear picture of where the issue is and what kind of issue? (herniated, collapsed, bulging, etc) And I called the vet late last night, they want me to bring him in before they prescribe him any pain medications.

Madeline,

Reading reference:

Madeline, kudos to you on your success in advocating for pain meds. Hopefully since Wolfie is having less pain just the one pain med will mask the last bit of pain still existing. Expect in one hour all pain to be masked. If not call back and update on the pain signs you specifically see. Normallly with a disc episode there are three different sources of pain and each source needs masking.
- - Tramadol as the general pain reliever. It has a short half life of 1.7 hours and may need to be prescribed at a minimum of every 8 hours.
- - Methocarbamol treats painful muscle spasms. Also prescribed every 8 hours.
- - Gabapentin for nerve pain. This pain med also every 8 hours.

Pretty much a vet would not have time to give all the details about the treatment, the meds, etc.in the short time of a vet visit. So it falls to us owners to be up to speed on IVDD. This allows us to ask the right questions and understand better what the vet is saying. Sometimes it allows one to learn a vet may not be that comfortable in their knowledge of IVDD and the need to find a new vet for Wolfie's IVDD  health care team.   Highly recommend this terrific page to bone up on IVDD (IVDD 101) over on our Main Website: www.dodgerslist.com/index.htm

Expressing for poop
The safest for the delicate tissues of the anus is to avoid the Q-tip method.  This method is kind to the thin tissue and gives you the feed back you need when expressing for poop

Timing is key for bowel expressing: 

When you can let us know the gabapentin dose/frequency and if fully out of pain.

Madeline, look on the bottle to see how many mgs of gabapentin are contained in one mL of liquid. That way we'll know how many mgs of the med gabpentin he takes every 8 hrs.

Best to not mix meds in with food as then if he doesn't eat all his dinner, he could be short changed on gabapentin mgs. Sounds like the peanut butter method will be a good one for liquid meds.

Likey a surgeon would not want to do a surgery on a dog who has the ability to move one of his back legs but due to the other's weakness finds it a challenge to do walking motions with hind legs.  It never hurts to establish your own self insured savings account would a day come with a future disc episode to be ready.

You will find this article can bring you up to speed on conservative vs. surgery:
www.dodgerslist.com/literature/healingsurgery.htm

As damage to the spinal cord increases, there is a predictable stepwise deterioration of functions. When nerve healing begins, often it follows the reverse order.
1. Pain caused by the tearing disc & inflammation in the spinal cord
2. Wobbly walking, legs cross
3.  YES Left hind paw Paw knuckles under
3a. ?  RIGHT hind paw status?
5.  ? Weak/little LEFT leg movement, can't move up into a stand
5a ?  RIGHT rear leg  status?   can move in a walking motion?
6. ? LEFT Leg does not work at all (paralysis, dog is down)
6a ? RIGHT rear leg status?
7. NOT YET LOST: Bladder control is lost. Leaks on you when lifted. Can no longer sniff and then pee on that old urine spot outdoors.
8. NOT YET LOST: Tail wagging with joy is lost when you specifically do some happy talk
9. Deep pain sensation identifed ONLY by a Neuro or Ortho sugeron!. The last neuro function, a critical indicator for nerves to be able to self heal after surgery or with conservative treatment.
    If surgery is not an option (for whatever reason) then the best option is conservative therapy.

   Surgery can still be successful in the window of 12-24 hours after loss of deep pain sensation. Even after that window of time, there can still be a good outcome. Each hour that passes decreases that chance. Precious hours can be lost with a general DVM vet that gets DPS wrong. Trust only the word of a neuro (ACVIM) or ortho (ACVS) surgeon about DPS. So if surgery is an option for your family get to a neuro or ortho for a consultation when bladder control has been lost as the next easily identifable neuro function to go is inability to do a happy tail wag.  Then it is time to have the referral in hand to a neuro or an ortho where a $2000+ MRI picture would be taken as a means to plan a maybe $4000+ surgery.  No sense doing an MRI if financially a surgery is not an option. Many a dog has healed their nerves  with time with the disc being healed with conservative treatment.

Madeline, ask the clinic how many mgs of gabapentin are in one mL of liquid. That will give the info necessary to calculate and liquid dose (mL) prescribed such as 1.5mL, 2.0 mL, etc.

Overflowing is what a dog does when they have lost bladder control. The body's relfex is triggered when the bladder becomes overfilled. Not the brain, but reflex causes the the bladder's sphincter muscle to open. The problem is reflex can not void all the urine. Quickly the remaining urine in the  bladder becomes a breeding ground for bacteria (UTIs).  If lifting your dog causes urine to be released on you that is by reflex. The brain would control the bladder not to release any urine til in an appropriate spot (outside).
  Let us know what you observed when you carrried out the "Sniff and Pee Test" when you think he ought to have to go to the bathroom.  Test was explained in a post I made about 8 hrs ago today unter the heading "BLADDER CONTROL"

Use your hands to support his hind thighs so he can  move abit to smell the old pee spot you set him on in the grass.
    A sling is used as back up to catch a wobbly dog's butt and prevent twisting the back. Any sling needs to be accompanied by a front harness and leash to control speed to the very slow minimal footsteps at potty time especially during conservative treatment or the post-op crate rest period.

A figure 8 DIY sling works especially well for the male dog anatomy at potty times.  A front harness is to control Woolfie's speed and desire to maybe dart off. An expen in the grass? Then you do not need  harness as the fence lets the dog know there will be no sniff festing nor darting off.

If you have the money now and it turns out deep pain sensation has been lost not much longer than 24hrs by the neuro or ortho, then surgery might proceed.  Since Woolfie has had tail leg issues making it difficult now to easily interpret where he is neurologically, a consult (if you have the money now in hand) with a neuro or ortho could be in order to be in the 12-24 hours window from the loss of DPS.

If you don't have the means for a surgery, then there is no use in getting an MRI. It makes no difference to know which disc with conservative treatment. All the discs get limited movement of the spine. The one that is damaged will use those 8 weeks to form strong scar tissue.

Surgery only treats the compression problem by removing the offending disc material pressing on the spinal cord causing nerves to loose function. Surgery does not heal nerves. Conservative treatment does not heal nerves.There are no meds nor treatments to heal nerves. The body has the ability to self heal nerves with time whether with a surgery or under conservative treatment.  heals nerves. Think in terms of months rather than days/weeks for this slowest part of the body to heal and bring back as much nerve function as possible. 

Part of the healing that goes on in conservative treatment is the body's natural response to contusion. In addition an anti-inflammatory drug is also prescribed to reduce compression from swollen tissues in the spinal cord area. Often with time the disc material may also be able to be reabsorbed/shrink back enough to no longer press on the cord and aggravate it. The body does this by breaking down the herniated material by a process called phagocytosis. This relieves the compression on the spinal cord.

There are no meds nor treatments to heal nerves. The body has the ability to self heal nerves with time whether with a surgery or under conservative treatment. Meds are used to provide comfort from pain, protect the GI tract, and help the body reduce painful inflammation.

Please do explore further — all of the comparisons to help you discuss, ask questions and sort out a surgery or conservative treatment approach: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/healingsurgery.htm

Hi there Madeline, its seems you are right on track regarding Wolfies' treatment.

The crate should be fine as long as when he is in it it is stable.

Dealing with Ivdd is quite daunting in the beginning.
Once you get into the flow of things it gets better. A daily schedule will help you both.
And please remember o be kind to yourself as well.
Take breaks and do normal stuff like having tea and reading a book.  
I found these articles quite helpful in how to introduce your dog to a crate 

therehabvet.com/2017/04/introducing-your-dog-to-the-recovery-crate/
 
as well as www.dodgerslist.com/literature/CrateRRP.htm

"Entertainment

Place the crate near a window with a view, on the coffee table in front of couch where you sit. Place the crate so the dog will be in the middle of family activities, near your bed at night. Secure crate to a flat moving dolly (or put casters on plywood) to easily move the crate room to room. Fill a kong with a slight slather of soft dog food and freeze. Put part of the dog's total daily dinner kibble in the kong to lengthen time to consume dinner. Good low cal snacks are carrots, apples, or frozen green beans, licking a frozen low sodium broth ice cube."

There are a lot of helpful hints in both these articles to make you Wolfies crate stay easier.

I hope you find it informative. 

Madeline, the brain is where dreams happen. Thus if he was dreaming and then the back legs started to move, that happened because the brain's dream sent a message down to the back legs. Likely Wolfie probably still has deep pain sensation.

From our supplies list (do follow the link for ALL the helpful tips in doing crate rest ( www.dodgerslist.com/literature/cratesupplies.htm )

---Add crate casters to wheel from room to room. Available from local pet shops, or here is just one of on-line vendors


A consultation with a specialist can run somewhere around $200, maybe a bit less.

For how many days Meloxicam is to be used? This is important to know the number of days in the Meloxicam presceription ( such as a 7-day, maybe a 14-day course). When the course ends that will be the test to find out if Meloxicam completed its job.  You will want to be prepared ahaead of time in knowing what your job will be.  This is excellent reading on that topic: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/healingsweling.htm

Madeline, how scary all that thrashing, etc.  Please keep us updated as the day continues on that Wolfie dodged the bullet of a disc relapse.  That is his pain might increase if the disc re-tore. His neuro functions could have gone downhill, more diminishment. I understand witih his issues this  could be hard to discern.

Meloxicam Test stop on Jan 29 (QUESTION: Meloxicam + meds have been extended til Feb 13th? ?)
A five day course of Meloxicam is a short one and perhaps not likely to have yet fully resolved all painful swelling by Wed, Jan 29.
   The best time to start a steroid is within hours of identifying neuro loss with a disc episode. Before there is death of nerve that make self healing a long process of perhaps months, the steroid can have the ability to turn around that neuro diminishment.  I have seen this with my own eyes for my dogs and my vet confirmed that is the case.
  Now it has been 5 days of the neuro diminishment of knuckling (also not clear to what extent his neuro dimishment actual is due to his other issues), the steroid would be quite a consideration as to the benefit VS risk to the GI tract,  washout ,etc..  Other times there can be a need to move to the more powerful class the steroid class is if there is pain that is very difficult even with max pain meds on board — but this is not the issue with Wolfie.  Best you bone up on NSAIDs vs Steroids so you are able to join in discussion with vet and ask the pertinent questions. www.dodgerslist.com/literature/healingsweling.htm
      These powerhouse meds do wonders OR they can be dangerous. Vets who practice safe medicine and owners up to speed on medications make all the difference. Did you get all four questions right?

Madeline, easier to digest things have little to no  fat/oil in them. Small amounts and more frequently. So you can see how his tummy accepts the food then an hour or two later another small amount.
   A good choice that has nutrients is a microwaved and mashed sweet pototato with defated chicken broth you'd  make yourself. (Dogs do not digest rice well and not very much in the way of nutrition in rice). Boil up a chicken part (couple of wings or a thigh or a drumstick) with bone with a teaspoon of lemon juice or vineagr to leach the goodies out of the bones.  When cool remove disc fat at top and trash the bones and fatty skin.  What is left is jelly like bone broth that the watery boxed broth in the stores do not offer.  You can serve it over the mashed taters warmed a bit. 

For dosing his liquid med, do you have a simple syringe you can slip inside of his cheek to dispense the one mL (approx 2/10 of a teaspoon) and forgo coconut oil, and other fatty substances?

All oral pill can be compounded such as was done with the gabapentin to be in liquid form.  

All meds have side effects. All anti-inflammatory (NSAIDS or sterods) then have side effects. The safety in meds is a vet who uses the in a safe manner such as getting a bloodpanel to know health of organs to take NSAIDs or  steroids) The other important safety factor is owner knowledge of each med their dog takes.  I reallly LOVE this vet's drug directory for looking up all my dog's meds:  www.marvistavet.com/pharmacy-center.pml

It seems a good idea to discuss the pros and cons of two options with your vet :
  1) Perhaps another course of  Meloxicam, a short one of maybe a 5-day or 7 day course for a non-senior dog.  In light of just getting gabapentin on board 1/26, it could well be unrealistic to count on all swelling to be gone.  

  2) or since 5.5 year old Wolfie has not had a blood test to check his organ health should the Meloxicam go ahead and be tested with a stop on 1/29 plus a full stop of the gabapentin 1/29 to provide a very quick access as to whether pain is still there and then knowing for sure if another Meloxicam course would then be definately in order.

Let us know how the sniff and pee test goes later in the day and also how Wolfie is feeling/doing since all that trashing around this am.

Madeline, using his back legs to attempt to move around is a good sign that nerve function is coming back.

The reason to not pinch his paws is for the same reason we say only take the word of a neuro (ACVIM) or orth (ACVS) about the the last neuro function called deep pain sensation. Most DVM who give the neuro test for deep pain sensation very often do not correctly identify it. So you are not likely to learn anything new yourself, but may accidently cause Woolfie too much movement to his back. Since it appears Woolfie can move his back legs during a dream, it would go without saying then in order to do that he would of course already have deep pain sensation.

It is a little bit difficult to confirm bowel control. Often dogs do not sniff before a poop. Still wanting you to observe what he does with pee. Maybe wanting to circle, maybe sniff an old pee spot AND THEN urine is released is what you would wish to see in order to confirm bladder control.
--- do you have a long narrow piece of fabric. Cut two holes wide enough apart for his legs. Then the fabric should be long enough for you to stand and be able to hold on to the two ends.  Notice how the long scarf can be held by the person. And the sling can be relaxed when the dog attempts to lower their body to release urine.

Madeline, is there an old towel, pillow case, maybe old sheet in the scrapbag.  Then you would be able to  rip or cut  a long strip of the fabric.   Two holes for spaced apart where each back leg would  go in.  Below is what you are aiming for.  Most male dogs do not like a belly band because it is too near or even touching their penis.  The Figure 8 sling with a picture posted on Jan 26 (scoll back up to view it) or the long strip of fabric with two leg holes is much preferred by males at potty time.

-----------------------------------------------------
                             O O
----------------------------------------------------- 

Keep your ER vet updated on your specific observations when you are concerned or have a suspicion might be pain signs.  The vet can't know how his Rx's are working or not working without your eyes and ear to report stuff to him.

There are no "safe" medicines.  The safety factor comes with a vet who uses drugs in a safe manner and calls for a blood panel test to see the health of organs.  The other huge safety factor are the owners to read up on each of their pet's meds. They learn what benefit is to be expected, what the serious adverse side effects are to be on top of vs side effects that might normally come with a med. And what other meds would be contra-indicated.   Personally, I love the Mar Vista Veterinary website for their drug directory:  www.marvistavet.com/pharmacy-center.pml

You may not have to order a wire crate +shipping, have you priced the ones at shops in town?

IF if  Meloxicam were to be extended by your vet for say another 7-day course, that would  mean the test stop date would fall about  Feb 5.   And of course the hope would be to see no pain surfacing. So then Woolfie would not kept any med until Feb 14th.  In fact if all pain is really gone, then you know that conservative treatment works and really not a need to keep that Feb 14th ortho appointment.  

CALMERS
Using any oral calmer in combination with a Pheromone diffuser seems to work best.  It takes several days for these to start working - it isn't immediate but they are a much better option if you can avoid heavy duty prescription sedatives (ACE, alprazolam or trazodone). Of course always keep your vet in the loop on all things you give your dog.

Place a DAP pheromone diffusor at floor level where the recovery suite is:
--DOG Adaptil (DAP) wall plug in diffuser 48ml www.adaptil.com/

Use DAP diffusor with one oral calmer from below:
Oral calmers 
1) ANXITANE® S chewable tabs contain 50 mg L-Theanine, an amino acid that acts neurologically to help keep dogs calm, relaxed www.virbacvet.com/products/detail/anxitane-l-theanine-chewable-tablets/behavioral-health
2) Composure Soft Chews are colostrum based like calming mother's milk and contain 21 mg of L-Theanine.
www.vetriscience.com/composure-soft-dogs-MD-LD.php

DOSING FREQUENCY
Nurses in hospitals wake their patients in the middle of the night for meds. You are Woolfie's nurse. 
Give meds promptly on time and observe that no sign of pain appears from one dose of meds right up  to the next dose.

Readings:

Making a sling out of a tank top sounds like a smart idea.

It is good to have a regular vet to work with you through the course of Wolfie's recovery. If you are comfortable with the way your local vet is treating Wofie, meaning willing to prescribe the meds needed to keep his pain under control and has an understanding of how conservative treatment works, you may not need to see a specialist. Although seeing a specialist always remains an option for you.

A customized crate with multiple doors should make it easy to move Wolfie in and out for potty time and cleanup. If it is too large, simply pad the excess space with rolled up towels.

Please keep us up to date as to what the vet says.

Such wonderful news that Wolfie has bladder control, Madeline! So very glad to hear it. That, coupled with the movement of back legs, is a good indication that you're on the right path with conservative care.

Any vet at the ER should be able to pull Wolfie's records and give direction as to meds, it doesn't have to be the exact same vet who originally saw Wolfie. If you can get direction as to meds from them, then it wouldn't be necessary to transport Wolfie to a new vet today and risk too much movement of the spine. A test stop of all meds may indicate that the compression of the spine has resolved at this point, Meloxicam may have already done its job and no more meds would be needed (proved by no sign of pain). If there is still pain, then the meds would be needed for a bit longer.

As for signs of pain, if this is something Wolfie has previously done when picked up, then it's most likely not a sign of pain. You would need to find a second sign of pain to confirm.

If you believe this might be a neck injury, there are some things that you can do to help a neck injury heal and it wouldn't hurt to them in the event this isn't a neck injury - more info here:
www.dodgerslist.com/literature/cervical.htm