Welcome to the Forum. Hi, my name is Paula, what's yours? I'm sorry to hear Opie is having a disc episode. A couple of things you mention should be attended to today.
--All anti-inflammatory drugs including Vetrprofen cause extra acids in the stomach. Red flag signs can happen fast: n
ot eating/drinking normally due to nausea, vomiting, loose stool, bleeding ulcers, red or black blood in diarreah. Getting Pepcid AC on board is a must today.
Proactive vets don't wait til there is lip licking of nausea, not eating, vomit, diarrhea leading to serious bleeding ulcers, red or black blood in stool due to the extra stomach acids anti-inflammatory drugs cause.
Pepcid AC (famotidine) blocks the production of acid. The usual dose of Pepcid AC (famotidine) with a disc episode for doxies is 5mgs 2x/day (0.44mg mg per pound every 12 hours.) Pepcid AC has a very limited potential for side effects.
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).
HEALTH ISSUES: “Mar Vista Vet reports: Pepcid AC has a very limited potential for side effects, the reason of release to over-the-counter status. The dose of famotidine may require reduction in patients with liver or kidney disease as these diseases tend to prolong drug activities. There have been some reports of exacerbating heart rhythm problems in patients who already have heart rhythm problems so it may be prudent to choose another means of stomach acid control in heart patients.”
marvistavet.com/famotidine.pml If it is not possible to contact your vet today and you are pretty certain Opie has no health issues, get Pepcid AC on board today and keep your vet in the loop on Monday when he reopens.
Good to hear the meds are providing round the clock, dose to dose relief from pain. It is good your vet gave you a range of frequency to dose. Would you tell us how often you actually dose: methocarbamol and gabapentin?
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY
For how many days course did the vet RX vetprofen? You will want to be informed about the stop date on this med and what your job will be. Please do back with us if any thing is not clear enough in this article:
www.dodgerslist.com/literature/healingsweling.htm--- also in regard to the test STOP of vetprofen which does your vet prefer regarding the two pain meds:
1) full stop of both pain meds on the stop of vetprofen OR.....
2) backing off of both pain meds on the stop a vetprofen?
POTTY
Do provide water and food bowls inside of his recovery suite. You'll likely be taking him out to potty/poop as many times as you did before the disc episode as he can let you know when he needs to pee.
Carry your dog to and from the recovery suite to the potty place and then allow a very, 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!
Just learning your dog was born with disc disease and not know too much about the disease can certainly be an overwhelming time. So glad to hear you are committed to caring for Opie as he heals his disc and goes on to live many happy years ahead with you. One thing that makes such a big difference in spirit and scary stuff your brain can conjure up is getting up to speed on IVDD.
Right you are in innately thinking visits for acupunture may be a risky thing of too much movement for a healing disc. IF you have a mobile vet who can come to your home that would be a safer option. Even so nerves do heal on their own and can do that with time.
Keep in mind the key word in the name of the disease is DISC.
#1 Take a look so you can visualize why the need to be strict about crate rest for the DISC is so important in preventing a surgery
#2 How/why meds are used while the DISC is healing. A good review of the many things your vet mentioned about his diagnosis, the Rx’d meds, crate rest, other stuff that you may not have fully processed during that short vet visit.
#3 The very best thing you can do for YOU, the caregiver, and for your dog is to read and learn as quickly as you are able. Calm your mind by being “in the know” how long each the 4 phases of healing is expected to take. What treatments for which phase? At what point would a surgery be considered? This is the page to bookmark and return to in the next days to have a full understanding of the now and the future of living many happy years ahead with your IVDD dog. Here is the link to bookmark:
www.dodgerslist.com/healingindex.htm
