The reason he is in pain is that the steroid, Dex, is now being tapered.
His pain meds still have much room to move up to provide full pain control. The Robaxin is VERY under prescribed. And Tramadol also has room to move up in mg. Make sure you are promptly giving Tramadol 3x a day.
Self education with this disease is critical. Knowledge is to make sure the right things are being done for best recovery. And for yourself, knowledge lets you step out of a very scary place…"the unknown" and the toll it takes on your emotions.
Get ready to fight this disease with this current episode and in the future by knowing all things IVDD.
So you are savvy about conservative treatment this page is a wonderful place to get a good overview of each of the phases of healing:
www.dodgerslist.com/literature/healingpage.htm Hope to hear you will be able to follow all the informative links and complete your readings in the next couple of days.
To expedite your readings to what is needed today, please skip to these right now:
www.dodgerslist.com/literature/healingsweling.htm explains how Dex, an anti-inflammatory, is used, what you monitor for at home. How long to stay on. I'm so sorry your vet did not give you a plan B for over the weekend when he was not open and you saw pain on the taper. If the pain is not being controlled, you may want to call ER to get the meds right.
Since you HAVE been given Pepcid AC and he is still not eating well, I would strongly advocate for getting a 2nd protector on board before things move to bleeding ulcers or worse. Read up on sucralfate at the Mar Vista Vet page:
www.marvistavet.com/html/pharmacy_center.html Are you giving 5mg of Pepcid AC 30 mins before Dex and thereafter every 12 hours?
You may wish to get an understanding of conservative vs. surgery in advance in case a time comes when surgery should be considered:
www.dodgerslist.com/literature/healingsurgery.htmAre you using a sling to help Dexter at potty times?
Using a sling (long winter scarf, ace bandage, belt) will save your back and help to keep your dog's back aligned and butt from tipping over. A harness and 6 foot leash will 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!
It is important to observe if he can still sniff and pee or whether manually expressing the bladder is the help Dexter needs.
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. Nails scuffing floor
4. Paws knuckle
5. Legs do not work (paralysis, dog is down)
6. Bladder control is lost
7. Tail wagging with joy is lost
8. Deep pain sensation, the last neuro function, a critical indicator for successful surgery. 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 vet that gets DPS wrong. So if surgery is an option for your family get to a neuro or ortho asap.
