Dachshund with herniated disc
Hello,
We are new here and could use some advice, encouragement and help. So here is our story, questions, and current information.
Teddy is our 6 year old mini
dachshund. He is an active perky little guy and our little 8 month olds best buddy.
On Wednesday
[11/13] night I noticed Teddy was shaking some. I attributed this to being cold because the temperatures had dropped so suddenly. The next morning he seemed pretty normal and he went upstairs with me to get my baby. He was laying on the floor and didn’t quite look right but when I called him over he wagged his tail and looked “normal.” Over the course of the
next hour he digressed to not being able to walk with his hind legs. I took him to the vet
[11/14] and he was diagnosed with a herniated disc. The vet is at a veterinary hospital if that makes a difference. She did some pinching of his toes etc and determined that he still had feeling in his toes. I can’t remember what kind of pain she said it was but it’s wasn’t the deep pain. We were given the following medications and sent home.
Prednisone 5 mg- 1/2 tab every 12 hrs
Methocarbol 500mg 1/4 tab every 8-12 hrs as needed for pain
Gabapentin 100 mg 1 capsul every 8-12 hours for nerve pain
[Moderator's Note. Please do not edit
weight?
prednisone as of 11/14: 2.5 mgs 2x/day for ? days then test taper
Methocarbamol 125mgs which exactly? every 8 or 12 hrs?
gabapentin 100mgs which exactly? every 8 or 12 hrs?
Tramadol- 25mgs which exactly? every 8 or 12 hrs?
Prazosin HCI .5 mg- every 8 hours
no GI tract protector, Pepcid AC, on board w/prednisone! ]Teddy had not gone to the bathroom all that day and when I tried to get him to go on Friday morning he still didn’t go. He did poop but no pee. So I took him back to the vet. She tested him again and said he was starting to have some deep pain on just one side of one of his legs. The vet has been in contact with a neurologist to help give us some advice as well. They did a
cathader to empty his bladder. The neurologist believes because of his herniated disc we will need to do this. It’s still to be determined whether the neurologist believes this will be resolved with time or will be an ongoing issue. She suggested giving him medication to soften the bladder and then us hand expressing the bladder.
Teddy also
continued to shake in pain so they added another medication.
Bladder med: Prazosin HCI .5 mg- every 8 hours 30 minutes before bladder expression
Additional pain med: Tramadol- 50 Mg 1/2 tab every 8-12 hrs for pain
I’m very overwhelmed and not sure what to do and anxious for the future.
It seems no matter what meds we give him he
never seems quite comfortable. Is this normal for day 2 of his diagnosis?
For those who were in a similar situation is there hope he’ll regain control of his own bladder?
The vet
has us doing exercise to simulate walking with just his legs. She
wants us doing these PT exercises 2-3 times a day. But after reading this forum and seeing no exercise I’m not sure what to do...suggestions?
Based on previous experience what are our chances of him living a semi normal life.
At what point do most see a turn for the better?
Thanks for any and all help!