Olivia's Rocco 4/8 conservative

Olivia, welcome to Dodgerslist. I'm sorry Rocco is having troubles. The good news is you are reading as besides the 100% STRICT crate rest 24/7 only out at potty times for 8 weeks reading is the best defense against IVDD.

Know all your options about surgery including that a surgeon who is board certified (ACVIM neurology) or ACVS (otho) is your best bet to know as a lay person the vet has the qualifications for this most delicate of surgeries. This is a must read: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/healingsurgery.htm

First things you need to deal with right away for the life safety of Rocco:
1. Throwing up and diaraeah are due to prednisone and possibly close use of another anti-inflammatory. What was the name of the pain killers given on Monday?  Waste no time, phone into the vet and let them know of the diarreah and vomit and do not take no for an answer.... Rocco needs a 2nd stomach protector PRONTO in addition to the Pepcid AC! Quickly read about sucralfate that it works differently than Pepcid Ac to bandaid the damaged areas of the stomach lining. www.marvistavet.com/html/sucralfate.html

2. His pain is not being adequately control. Pain control is not a one size fits all deal. It takes communication and working as a team with your vet with feedback on your observations.   If Tramadol is not being given at least every 8 hours that could be one adjustment as Tramadol has a short half life of 1.7 hours.

Another option to get pain under control is adding in gabapentin with the tramadol and robaxin. Vets are finding very good pain control success with this 3 way combo.

If you find urine leaks in his bedding or leaks on you when lifted, he likely has lost bladder control and needs to have manual expression of the bladder.

Let us know the names of all his meds, the dose in mg, how often you actually give them and the range prescribed.

Hang in there. I know this is overwhelming, but know you can do your readings, become a confident member of his health care team.... IVDD demands this of all owners. Have you started your readings here: www.dodgerslist.com/healingindex.htm

I don't think he has bladder control but it is hard for me to tell. He whined yesterday when he had to go so I picked him up and he peed a bunch. I don't think he has peed since. My husband is on the way to the vet with him so that they can show him how to express Rocco's bladder and to pick up the sucralfate and discuss adding the gabapentin. Rocco weighs 13 pounds. The doc says she thinks we should take Rocco off the prednisone for a day or two. It just seems like the nightmare is getting worse. Every time we take him to the vet he seems to get worse.

Thank you Paula and Pauliana

Thank you djaustin.
Update: my husband took him to the vet and they showed him how to express Rocco's bladder. She evaluated Rocco again and said he still has movement in his back legs. She said that he has not gotten any worse since she saw him on Wednesday. My question is will he get any better?

We decided to hospitalize Rocco for the next few days to get the bloody diaharrea under control but also to continue with the steroid treatment while they treat his stomach for any ulcers. He is now on dexamethasone. Today the vet said Rocco has some movement in his leg but he's not giving us a ton of hope about Rocco walking again.

No blood and no diaherrea yesterday and today. Yes they are giving him the sulcralfate since Friday 4/12. The doctor is dissapointed with his progress after two days of round the clock strong steroids. However Rocco can push his hind legs and I believe that is some progress. I have come to terms with the fact he could be paralyzed but I plan on giving him the best chances as possible to have a great life. Once he comes home tomorrow will I be able to start massaging his legs? Thank you so much for all of your help.

Thankfully Rocco's pain is under control. We picked him up from the hospital last night. He can move both of his legs and he wags his tail. He can poop and pee on his own but does not have control of the timing. No bloody stool! He has been under strict crate rest and thankfully has been very cooperative.

Right now he is taking 0.5 mg of Dexamethasone once daily for the next five days. Then every other day for the next five days.
Tramadol 25 mg every 6-8 hours.
Robaxin 125 mg every 12 hours.
Sucralfate 0.5 g every 12 hours.

Thank you for all of your help thus far. This site has been a tremendous educational tool and support system. I have seen three different vets during this traumatic experience and not one has stressed the importance of crate rest. Thankfully though we found a vet who was not afraid to give my baby a chance with more aggressive steroid treatment while also preventing any bloody stool.

After 2 sessions of acupuncture Rocco is walking. He is still under strict crate rest but we let him walk a few steps during his potty breaks. He is no longer in pain and we have been weaning him off of all his medication. He is so happy but gets very restless in his crate. He hates it. For everyone out there that can't afford surgery there is hope. What I did was immediately crate Rocco on the first day he showed signs of a back injury. Two days after we took him to a neurologist because Rocco's condition kept getting worse. By this time he was unable to wag his tail, could not walk and did not have control of control of his bladder. They said he needed surgery immediately and if not he would never walk. A $6- 8 thousand dollar surgery was not an alternative. They sent us home with prednisone and pain medication. We called around and was able to get him to a vet that hospitalized him and gave him strong doses of dethamexasone for three days. Rocco still could not walk at this point but was showing signs of deep pain sensation. We took him home to strict crate rest and medication. A week later I came home for lunch and found Rocco in his crate in a lot of pain and breathing fast. I took him back to the vet and they gave him a shot of pain medication. The vet suggested I try acupuncture. I took Rocco the next day and on his first round the pain subsided and on his second round he was able to walk. He is not a 100% but hopefully with 4 more weeks of crate rest and acupuncture he will be back to his old self. But the best part he is not in pain anymore. Now we just have to retrain him not to jump on furniture and to use ramps. Thanks for all your support dodgerslist!

Great update!