Kyle and Aimee's Sam 7/2 conservative Havanese

Hello, welcome to Dodger's List! We're glad you found us. There are two treatments for IVDD - conservative or surgery. Conservative treatment consists of 8 weeks of strict crate rest plus meds to mask the symptoms. It is the crate rest - minimizing movement of the spine - that heals the disc, not the meds. Here are two links to help you with crate rest, and a link on conservative treatment: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/CrateRRP.htm
www.dodgerslist.com/literature/cratesupplies.htm
www.dodgerslist.com/literature/conservative.htm

Sam should be on a stomach protector such as Pepcid AC to protect him from the excess acid produced by the steroid. If the stomach is left unprotected, internal bleeding can occur. Please get your vet's permission to give 5 mg of Pepcid AC (generic is famotidine) Tell the vet you want to be proactive about protecting his stomach.

Since Sam still has a lot of neurological function, he is a good candidate for conservative treatment. Just practice STRICT crate rest so that disc can fully heal!

Is Sam in any pain?

Acupuncture and laser light therapy are excellent complementary treatments for IVDD. They both stimulate the nerves to heal and reduce pain and inflammation, and acupuncture has the additional bonus of inducing a state of well-being. These treatments can begin asap, as long as you can safely transport your dog to and from the appointments (crated). You can ask your vet for a referral to a holistic vet that does acupuncture and laser light therapy, or you can search for one in your area here: www.holisticvetlist.com/

The best way for you to help Sam is by learning about his disease. Here is a brief tutorial on IVDD: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/IVDDcourse/index.html . We have an excellent DVD available for only $3 including shipping. It's great to have on hand to show to family/friends/petsitters so they will know what they can and cannot do with your dog and how they can help: www.dodgerslist.com/store/DVDorder.htm

We look forward to hearing more about Sam

My name is Paula, what is yours?

This is very good if you are not seeing any signs of pain. Steroids are not a pain reliever. Do you see any - shivering, trembling, yelping when picked up or moved, reluctant/slow to move head or body, tight hard tummy?

Often it takes being at the anti-inflamamtory dose of prednisone pill (5mg 2x/day) for 1-2 weeks or even for some dogs more like a month before all the swelling is gone. On the taper the dose is lowered to less than the anti-flammatory dose and that is the time to assess just how well reduction of swelling is going by observing for pain.

With the long weekend coming up I am concerned your vet has not made any provision for pain pills nor at home oral steroids should pain resurface this weekend. Please call your vet and have a plan "B" Of course the hope is the one steroid shot will have gotten all the swelling and not a need for another round of steroid. Let us know what the vet says.

Read up on the typical meds used with a disc episode so you are completely "in the know" and can discuss things with the vet. www.dodgerslist.com/literature/healingpage.htm

We saw our vet again today and sat and talked with her about treatment and prognosis. Sam responded very well to the the initial steroid injection and is still doing pretty good. The vet noticed during her exam that his hind quarter and back is still a little tense and having some muscle spasms. On a good note, Sam didn't yelp, whimper, or pull away from the vet during the exam and he supports himself very well. The vet prescribed prednisone for 3 weeks with a tapered dose, Methocarbamol for 2 weeks, and pepcid daily. She also recommended 4 weeks of crate rest. I told her that we had already started strict crate rest and we are going to follow your recommendations of 8 weeks.  She feels that Sam's prognosis is very good since he came in walking on his first visit (I didn't let him walk in this time after reading all the education on Dodgerslist), he is not having any trouble with bowel movements or urinating, and his overall demeanor is good. I asked about pain medications as well and right now she doesn't feel like he needs them. She didn't feel he was showing that he was in very much pain but said if we start to see him acting like he is hurting or starts to yelp or whimper, that she will prescribe Tramadol.

Sam is starting to tolerate his crate much better already. I think he has learned that we aren't going to let him out just because he is grumpy and barking at us. We do move him around the house and outside to where ever we are so he is included in everything we are doing. Once again, thank you for all of the great education and information you provide and I ordered your DVD last night.

Thanks Paula for the encouragement. When I look at him and interact with him, he doesn't seem to be in any pain. It was only when she palpated his back and hind legs that she felt he was still a little tense, but I will not hesitate to ask for pain meds. His steroids [prednisone] are 5mg tabs. twice daily x3 days, 1/2 tab twice daily x3 days, 1/2 tab once daily x3days, and 1/2 tab every other day x9 days. Methocarbamol 125mg twice dialy x14 days. Famotidine 5mg twice daily while on steroids. We have also started glucosamine 250mg and chondroitin 100mg daily. I made a spreadsheet to check off doses as we give them so we can keep track of everything.

Kyle and Aimee

A little update on Sam. He is doing awesome. He is almost completed with his steroid taper. The problem we are running into now is his energy. He has too much. When this all started, our vet placed Sam on Methocarbamol to relax him some and relieve the tightness in his muscles. The last dose of that was on Monday and he has been a different dog since. He is constantly barking in his crate and trying to jump around. He puts his front paws on the crate door and stands on his hind legs. The only time he is happy is when we take him out to go outside to potty. We move his crate to where ever we are and try to spend lots of time with him, but he is just angry about his crate. I don't want him to aggravate his back again. What can we do?