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Post by hollyjean on Jul 12, 2013 10:25:07 GMT -7
I have a 4.5 year old mini doxie (Minnie) who was diagnosed with calcified discs via x-rays. She was put on Glucosamin back in 11-2012. In May of this year she began walking a little wobbly. I took her to the vet who prescribed previcox and tramadol for pain. He did not do any x rays and said it may or may not be the disc that is giving her trouble. He never actually gave me a true diagnosis. He could feel a bulge and she showed signs of pain when he touched it. 7 days later she was fine, 3 days after she was done with meds her walking got worse. I rushed her to emergency vet, they prescribed same meds and suggested crate rest. I followed directions, followed up with regular vet who thought that if she wasn't dragging her back feet she was okay - UGH! Again I rushed her to emergency vet and they suggested to switch to steroids to see if there would be a change but that I wourld have to wait 3-4 days to begin them. I stayed with the previcox and crate rest, and consulted a local doxie rescue who had me take her to a chiropractor. He did cold laser therapy on her and adjusted her. She got better every day, I took her off of her meds and kept her on crate rest. Now, she is at about 90% sometimes a little wobbly, I take her on short walks but I am being so careful with her that she is going crazy. All she wants to do is run, she thinks she can fly. If she is out she is always with someone, we don't let her run or jump. My husband says I am not letting her be a dog. I am just so fearful that she will hurt herself. 2 people have told me that is how their dogs re-inured themselves, they felt good after crate rest and meds and they don't know their limitations. Last Sunday she got away from my daughter and ran up a flight of stairs, I completely freaked out. All I did was watch her for 48 hours to see signs of impairment again. I guess my question is how do I go about not treating her like she is going to break?!! She is tired of the crate, her 8 weeks are up, we have another small dog who would love to play with her, but they have been separated because they love to go crazy, run, jump and wrestle. I cancelled our vacation because I am fearful that she will get hurt again while we are away and someone will not take care of her as I do. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as this is affecting my entire family! Thanks, Holly
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Marjorie
Moderator~ 
Member since 2011. Surgery & Conservative
Posts: 5,724 
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Post by Marjorie on Jul 12, 2013 11:42:07 GMT -7
The way I look at it, if a disc is going to bulge or rupture due to the disease, then it's going to bulge or rupture and there's not much that can be done about it. I believe these dogs need to live their lives to the best of their ability. Yes, we can take some precautions, such as no stairs and no lying on chairs or couch where they can jump off. We can do what we can to make our home dog friendly. But if they want to roll in the grass, then let them enjoy rolling in the grass. Let them run while they can because they may be spending quite a bit of time in periods of crate rest during their lives. I personally don't let my dog rough house with other dogs, but that's with strange dogs and I never know how that's going to play out so it scares me. But if I had another dog and they were playing together like they loved to do, I would let them. I would break it up if it got too rough, though. If you're not comfortable with that, then you can restrict your dog's movements as much as you can. And your dog will still find happiness in his life, because that's what dogs do. They adjust. My Jeremy just went down with his second disc episode. We had actually been taking it easy the weeks before this second episode since it was very hot weather and there wasn't much we could do in the heat. And he still went down. Nothing, absolutely nothing happened the day he started having pain. Just a quiet day at home. But for the last year and a half, he had a ball - ran and played and was a dog. I'm not sorry at all that he had that year and a half of freedom. And he will have that freedom again once he's out of the crate in 5 weeks. Of course, others may disagree with me, but that's how I feel about Jeremy's life. I gave him the surgery that helped him walk again and by golly, walk and run and play he will for as much of his life as he can.  Here's a posting written by Paula that I found to be very helpful after Jeremy's first episode: dodgerslist.boards.net/thread/410/living-fear-ivddAll the best, Marjorie |
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PaulaM
Moderator. 
Member since 2007: surgery, conservative . Montana, USA
Posts: 19,928
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Post by PaulaM on Jul 12, 2013 19:16:07 GMT -7
I agree with Marjorie in making your home as back friendly as possible (block of stairs with gates, block furniture and teach them to use ramps, encourage them to play new games that would be less stressful on the back.. Then you really do have to let them be a dog. Actually going on nice 1 mile walks and running IS an excellent activity. Helps to strengthen the core muscles which support the back. Dogs are born with this disease..disc episodes are not due to an injury. Some dogs have their discs prematurely age so that they may have just one disc episode or maybe multiple ones at the point when a disc is no longer flexible..it has aged too much. This is a disease that can't be predicted. We hope by making our homes back friendly we prolong the time between an episode. I can't take credit for the wonderful essay on living with fear, I just brought it over to this Forum so it would be easy for people to read it. dodgerslist.boards.net/thread/410/living-fear-ivddI would highly recommend getting up to speed on disc disease and place your energies there. www.dodgerslist.com/literature/chiropractic.htm [why your dog should not see the chirpractor] www.dodgerslist.com/literature/protectback.htm [Making your home back friendly] www.dodgerslist.com/literature/AfterCrateRest.htm [#8 IVDD friendly dog activities] |
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