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Post by Melissa & Zero+Bowie+Huck on May 10, 2020 22:05:27 GMT -7
Hi all. I can't believe I'm writing this but we have another baby that is having a neck episode. I wanted to know how best to start a thread for him. His name is Bowie. Do I start a new account? Please advise when you have a free moment. Thank you!
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Post by Melissa & Zero+Bowie+Huck on May 12, 2020 14:27:16 GMT -7
Hi All! Thank you for starting this thread for us! I never know how to do it for another pet. Anyway yes I was frantic Sunday night as we couldn't get Bowie's pain under control. Happy to report by the morning (Monday, 05/11) and some adjusting of meds with our vet, he's MUCH better. On Saturday night, 05/09, after dinner Bowie started to walk very slowly and had his head lower than normal. I noticed the gingerly walk and tried to help him and he lunged at me. The back story of our little tripod dachshund is that he has osteosarcoma. He was diagnosed in June of 2018 and had his front right leg amputated. The cancer was eating his humerus. He has been without lung meds and doing amazing for the last almost 2yrs, with mostly weekly rehab and acupuncture. Until Saturday night!! So after that moment when he became aggressive with me on Sat evening (he was like that with me when he had his nasty leg from the horrible pain he was in) I became suspicious that it was either a disc issue or the cancer rearing it's ugly head. I was hoping it was disc as the cancer isn't usually an acute occurrence such as we were dealing with. We gave him some more Gabapentin, up to 300mg for the night dose (he's been on 200mg of it 3x/day for the last 2yrs), kept his Methocarbamol at 125mg for the night dose (he's been on 125mg 3x/day for the last 2yrs as well) and confined him to a pen for sleep. Per our vet's instructions, we were approved to go up to 300mg of the Gaba when he got the cancer for whenever he seems to be in some sort of pain for the future. Luckily we've never needed to do it until now. I was hoping he would be better in the morning but unfortunately he wasn't. I slept next to the pen all night and he didn't move. Nose into his bedding and looking up only with his eyes. He adjusted himself frequently to try and get comfortable. So we decided to take him to the ER that morning, Sunday, 05/10. I didn't want to wait until Monday to see our vet as he was clearly in so much pain. The vet gave him a Hydromorphone shot and waited for it to kick in to do a neck area X-ray. Even though it wasn't going to show any disc issues, we wanted to rule out any bone issues, i.e. the cancer being the cause of any of this. Luckily they were unremarkable. We were advised to continue the 300mg of Gabapentin 3x/day, Methocarbamol 3x/day and add Carprofen 12.5mg 2x/day, Famotidine 5mg 2x/day as well as Hydrocodone every 6-8hrs depending on his pain level.
[Moderator's note: please do not modify
11 lbs
Carprofen as of 5/10: 2.5mg 2x/day for 14 days, then Sun 5/24 test stop _pain/_neuro
Hydrocodone ?mg 3x/day 8hrs since Sunday, 05/10
Gabapentin 300mg 3x/day.
Methocarbamol 125mgs 3x/day
famotidine 5mg 2x/day]
For the rest of Sunday he was uncomfortable. What prompted me to write to you here that evening was him shrieking when he moved his head. I was a nervous wreck all night and then after a few hours sleep, he woke me up at 6am on Monday, 5/11, barking and wagging his tail. The meds and rest were working! They are still working I'm happy to say. We saw his primary vet today and she said his neck is really sore and also his low back so we will continue resting him for the coming weeks. Because of this Covid-19 situation I was only able to talk to her on the phone after and completely forgot to ask how long we should be on the Carprofen so I have an email sent asking that specifically. Thank you all for being here and I hope that Bowie continues to feel better. I will keep you posted! Oh and he weighs just around 11 pounds. Please let me know if I've missed any pertinent info!
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Post by Romy & Frankie on May 12, 2020 15:05:31 GMT -7
I am sorry to hear that your other little guy is having disc issues. Also, happy to hear it was not cancer.
Being an educated pet parent, you knew to crate Bowie right away. Eight weeks of strict crate rest is what can heal the disc.
Are there any neuro deficits or is pain his only symptom?
Neck disc are typically very painful. This is because the dog will move his head when any other parts of the the body move. Is his pain under control with the current meds now? I am putting the signs of pain again here for easy reference: ☐shivering, trembling ☐yelping when picked up or moved ☐reluctant to move much in crate such as shift positions or slow to move ☐tight tense tummy ☐can’t find a comfortable position ☐Arched back ☐ Holding front or back leg flamingo style not wanting to bear weight ☐head held high or nose to the ground ☐Not their normal perky selves? Full pain relief is expected in 1 hour and stays that way between doses. If not in control your vet needs to know as soon as possible to adjust meds.
Pain will only slow Bowie's healing. When pain is controlled he can relax in comfort while he heals.
Review the information we have on neck discs below: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/cervical.htm
Healing thoughts for Bowie. |
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Post by Melissa & Zero+Bowie+Huck on May 12, 2020 15:19:04 GMT -7
Thank you! Yes I'm confident his pain is very controlled thankfully. He was/is not showing any neuro deficits (also thankfully!), confirmed by both the ER vet and our regular vet, strictly pain.
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PaulaM
Moderator. 
Member since 2007: surgery, conservative . Montana, USA
Posts: 19,565
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Post by PaulaM on May 13, 2020 7:41:04 GMT -7
Wonderful to hear the pain management is doing a good job for Bowie.
When you get a chance fill us in on the carprofen and hydrocodone:
Carprofen as of 5/10: 12.5mg 2x/day for ? days, then test stop _pain/_neuro
Hydrocodone ?mg ?x/day
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Post by Melissa & Zero+Bowie+Huck on May 13, 2020 17:27:17 GMT -7
The Hydrocodone is on a "as needed" basis every 8hrs. We've been doing it every 8hrs since Sunday, 05/10. The Carprofen is 2.5mg 2x/day for 14 days. The Hydrocodone are 5mg tablets and he gets 1/4 tablet every 8hrs.
[Moderator's note: please do not modify
11 lbs
Carprofen as of 5/10: 2.5mg 2x/day for 14 days, then Sun 5/24 test stop _pain/_neuro
Hydrocodone 1.25mg 3x/day since Sunday, 05/10
Gabapentin 300mg 3x/day.
Methocarbamol 125mgs 3x/day
famotidine 5mg 2x/day]
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Post by Romy & Frankie on May 14, 2020 13:35:26 GMT -7
Even though your vet prescribed the Hydrocodone on an "as needed basis" you are right to be giving it on schedule every 8 hours. It is much harder to get pain under control than to keep it at bay. This quote from an article by Michael Richards DVM explains why Another way of thinking about pain, is like a seesaw. You can put a rock on the high end of seesaw and it might not cause it to go down. If you add a second rock that might not move it, either. But eventually you will reach the point where the weight on the upper end suddenly causes the high end of the seesaw to fall, this is how pain threshold works. You really don't feel pain even though something has the potential to cause it until there is enough "weight" to tip over the pain threshold -- then you feel it suddenly. www.vetinfo.com/dpain.html |
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Post by Melissa & Zero+Bowie+Huck on May 14, 2020 16:51:43 GMT -7
Yes! Agree. We’re dealing with stomach upset now. The day we went to our vet’s (Tuesday, 5/12), they gave him a bunch of house treats (he never gets anything but freeze dried chicken or veggies) and he started having some upset yesterday, Wednesday, 5/13. He vomited twice in the morning and then last night he had some diarrhea and also vomited once.
So far today he’s good, eating only chicken and rice, no vomiting or diarrhea, but he’s not his normal self. Could he be on too many meds? Should I be advocating for any specific stomach meds other then the famotadine he’s on?
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PaulaM
Moderator.
Member since 2007: surgery, conservative . Montana, USA
Posts: 19,565
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Post by PaulaM on May 14, 2020 18:10:50 GMT -7
Change in food is not a good idea.... then you don't know the reason for the vomit/diarrhea. Is it:
----Very serious stuff of carprofen toxicity needing to add in an Rx for sucralfate to the famotidine or
----merely an upset tummy from new food/treats that should go away in time by itself?
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Post by Melissa & Zero+Bowie+Huck on May 14, 2020 19:23:39 GMT -7
We had to. He wouldn’t eat his normal food all day yesterday while showing symptoms and wouldn’t take his meds no matter what we tried. We let him belly rest all day yesterday without food or meds but he was extremely grumpy of course due to no pain relief. So we cooked him chicken and rice last nice and he ate a little. Today he wouldn’t take his food still so we couldn’t the chicken and rice so at least his stomach had something in it to take meds. He did take his meds today luckily. Our vet prescribed Flagyl so we just started that. Stressful!!!
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Marjorie
Moderator~ 
Member since 2011. Surgery & Conservative
Posts: 5,724 
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Post by Marjorie on May 15, 2020 5:13:31 GMT -7
If the Flagyl doesn't help Bowie today, please speak to the vet about adding Sucralfate instead of Flagyl. Sucralfate works well to bandaid the damaged mucus lining and also promotes a healing environment. Continue to give the Famotidine.
Giving meds in food can be tricky since, as you've seen, if they don't eat the food, they don't get their meds and it's very important that meds are consistently given. Here is a video on how to give pills to Bowie:
If that is difficult to do or if he struggles, which you don't want him to do with his neck injury, try the three treat method. 2 treats with no meds inside PLUS the med ball. Give plain treat while holding med ball in front of eyes. The idea is your dog will be greedy after the first treat to get the 2nd. Immediately hold the 3rd plain treat so he will hurry to swallow the med ball to get to treat #3. Use a small mashed banana ball, a cream cheese ball, liverwurst ball or a sticky marshmallow.
Prayers that Bowie's stomach will settle down today and that he'll be able to eat his regular food and that you're able to give him meds. Please keep us updated on his status.
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Post by Melissa & Zero+Bowie+Huck on May 15, 2020 8:43:56 GMT -7
Good morning! Bowie is better thankfully. No diarrhea or vomiting overnight or this morning! He seems to be in better spirits as well and ate a bowl of half his food and half chicken/rice. I do have Sucralfate on hand should we need (from post Zero’s surgery last month) and will be checking in with my vet for the next few days as to Bowie’s progress. I wish we could pill him like that video but he’d lash out at us. He’s a grumpy dachshund when being forced to do things he doesn’t want to do and especially being in pain, forget it! We’d pay for it!!! But thank you for sharing. Will update you all as to how he’s doing, fingers crossed he continues to be well!
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Post by Melissa & Zero+Bowie+Huck on May 17, 2020 8:31:17 GMT -7
Hello all!! So Bowie has been doing great, poops back to normal, eating his food like a champ and just in good, overall spirits.
We went to potty this morning as soon as we woke up and he went to shake his head and he squeaked. Assuming that was pain. He pottied, we carried him back to his pen and then I gave him his morning meds (Gabapentin/Methocarbamol) + Famotidine, pre breakfast. My question is since the night time meds were basically out of his system at this point of squeak, can I atttribute it to that? Would the 6-8 weeks now start all over again at this point? Thank you.
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PaulaM
Moderator.
Member since 2007: surgery, conservative . Montana, USA
Posts: 19,565
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Post by PaulaM on May 17, 2020 8:54:03 GMT -7
Melissa, showing a hint of pain nearing the next dose of meds, means the meds got too low in the body and allowed pain to be exposed. As long as he was not rambunctious to cause too much movement, the early healing disc is just continuing on its way of forming scar tissue and no disrupted scar tissue happened. Graduation date should then remain the same at July 6.
Are hydrocodone, gabapentin and methocarbamol still given every 8 hrs?
Do monitor if any other signs of pain are surfacing nearing the next dose of those pain meds.
If there would still be some hint of pain as the date for the test stop of carprofen approaches on Sun 5/24, then of course there would be no need to stop to test for pain. Instead your vet will likely order another course of carprofen, maybe a shorter 7-day course or maybe longer. It is all guess work as it could take carprofen in the range of 7-30 days to resolve all swelling.
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Post by Melissa & Zero+Bowie+Huck on May 17, 2020 9:07:22 GMT -7
Ah ok!! All understood. Yes, Hydrocodone, Gabapentin and Methocarbamol are still given. I didn’t mention the Hydro only because I wait to give that after breakfast with the Carprofen. Thank you so much for responding! I will monitor diligently. He’s rolling over for tummy rubs right now so seems to be good  . |
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