Jessica's Anya May 31 surgery NECK- Blk Rus Terrier - UK

Welcome to Dodgerslist, Jessica. So glad you’ve joined us all. We’ve got valuable information we’ve gleaned from the vets Dodgerslist consults with and our own experiences with IVDD since 2002 to share with you.

**Disc disease is not a death sentence! ** Struggling with quality of life questions? Re-think things: www.dodgerslist.com/index/SDUNCANquality.htm

We've seen many, many dogs go through neck surgery and seldom see complications. The purpose of surgery is to take the pressure off of the spinal cord by removing the disc material causing the compression. Surgical decompression allows a normal blood supply to return to the compressed spinal cord and for neurologic recovery to begin.

Deep pain sensation can be difficult to determine by tickling the pads of the feet. The fact that Anya can still wag her tail proves that she still has deep pain sensation.

There's a lot of helpful information concerning surgery on these pages:

www.dodgerslist.com/literature/healingsurgery.htm

www.dodgerslist.com/literature/surgery.htm

Anya will need to be on 6-8 weeks of crate rest following surgery so you'll need to set up a recovery suite for her return. Super tried and true tips for setting up the recovery suite, the mattress and more! —> www.dodgerslist.com/literature/CrateRRP.htm

STRICT for a post-op dog means: ◼︎no laps ◼︎no couches ◼︎no baths ◼︎no sleeping with you ◼︎no chiro therapy whys: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/chiropractic.htm
◼︎no dragging or meandering at potty times.
Post-op dogs will follow surgeon's directives for PT during post-op rest as the offending disc material was surgically removed.

If Anya does not have bladder control following surgery, you'll need to get a demonstration on how to manually express her bladder prior to leaving the hospital. Here's information on expressing for your review prior to the demonstration:
www.dodgerslist.com/literature/Expressing.htm

With Anya being such a large dog, you'll have more of a challenge should she not have bladder control when released from the hospital. It is important that the amount of movement to the potty place be minimized until your surgeon directs otherwise. Try a pee pad right outside the crate. Train to use a pee pad by placing urine from Anya or another dog or dirt where they've gone on a pee pad and praise Anya when she goes on pee pad. Add caster wheels to a wire crate and wheel down ramp over steps to outside. Place recovery suite right near door.

When Anya is released from the hospital, please let us know what meds she comes home on with the specific dosages in mgs and frequency given, how many weeks of post-op crate rest are prescribed and what PT is recommended.

Knowledge is the power to fight the IVDD enemy and win!! The very best thing you can do for YOU, the caregiver, and for your dog is to get up to speed on IVDD soonest possible. Begin absorbing the must-have overall sense of meds, care and how the treatment works. Your dog will be depending on your ability to learn - excellent video series here: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/theater.htm
 PRINT OUT this link and tape to your fridge: www.dodgerslist.com/literature/healingpage.htm
 use the printout as your roadmap to avoid dangerous detours in your dog’s care
 make notes/highlight to keep yourself on track
 follow all the links in the next days to become the IVDD savvy pet parent your dog needs. Use the “search box” to easily locate topics over at our Main www.Dodgerslist.com website: www.dodgerslist.com/index/searchBOX.jpg

The guest board is a temporary Guest courtesy to get immediate help until you can register. I encourage you to register and login. That way all the features of the Forum are available to you, making it faster to reply and get an email alert about replies. It also makes is far easier for us to track your dog and give the best assistance. Illustrated what to expect during registration: www.dodgerslist.com/forumads/RegisterFORUM/register.htm

Healing prayers for Anya. Please let us know of any questions or concerns. We're here for you and Anya and will help you through her recovery and onwards.

Good to hear that Anya made it through surgery, Jessica. The surgery had been planned for Monday. Did Anya's condition worsen?

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for allowing me to join this forum. We are currently going through an awful time as i'm sure you can all appreciate.

Anya is our Black Russian Terrier. She weighs 50kg and is 7yrs 10 months old.

Medical History:
Anya was diagnosed with arthritis is her right wrist in September last year. She also had a cyst that ruptured in the centre of her back in February of this year. Apart from that she is a little overweight but otherwise healthy. She is a very friendly, happy girl who loves to be with me, snoozing on the bed is her favourite pastime!

Medication:
Metacam
Current in hospital meds unknown

[Moderator's Note. Please do not edit 
50kg [128 lbs.
Metacam as of May 31: for arthritis
needs Pepcid AC® (famotidine)]


History of IVDD:
For the last 10 days Anya has been limping on her front left leg. We thought she must have overdone it on a walk and was having a flare up of her arthritis. We restarted her Metacam and she seemed happy in herself although she wouldn't come upstairs to bed and slept downstairs on her own. Thursday evening 28th May my husband said he thought Anya's back legs looked stiff but she was still mobile and in and out of the garden with us. Friday morning I got up to take Anya for a wee and she fell over trying to squat. I assumed it was that she was struggling because of her arthritis so arranged to collect her next bottle of Metacam from the vets. By the time I returned from the vets my husband told me Anya had collapsed trying to get to the front door. When we supported her up we noticed she was knuckling on her left hind leg. We took her straight to the vets who kept her in for the afternoon and told us they felt it was neurological and referred Anya to a local animal hospital that specialises in Neurology. Saturday we took Anya to the hospital where she had an MRI.

Diagnosis:
Following the MRI the vet called us to say that Anya had a 'slipped disc' in her neck. At this point she was knuckling o her front left and hind left legs. She could still wag her tail and could feel if I stroked the pads on both front and rear paws and could give both front paws when asked. She could not stand independently. Anya is quite an anxious dog and was panting quite heavily when she was with the vet. He told us that this concerned him as she seemed to be breathing from her belly and not her chest and this could indicate damage to the nerves in her chest wall. He advised decompression surgery at this point but said due to her breathing it was high risk and he would rather wait until Monday to perform the surgery. We agreed.

Surgery:
Our neurology vet called us Sunday Morning to say he was happy with Anya's improvement overnight, her breathing was normal and as such he would like to do the surgery that day. The surgery was performed by both our neurologist and an orthopaedic surgeon successfully and he was happy that all the protruding material had been removed. Anya was moved to ITU and when I called for a nursing update last night Anya was sedated and they were going to try her with some dinner a little later.

Day 1 Post Surgery:
Today [Monday, June 1] I feel as though I have been hit with a sledgehammer. The surgeon called this morning to say that Anya's neurological function has deteriorated. She had experienced diarrhoea overnight and would not eat. She now cannot use her back legs at all.

I think I was so optimistic after she made it through surgery, I knew we had a lot of long rehab to do but I just wasn't prepared to hear that she had got worse. Has anyone else experienced this and is there any hope? I know I can't allow such a big dog to live in a wheelchair, her front legs won't support her. Due to Coronavirus we aren't allowed to go and see Anya so I can't even go and offer her comfort. I'm absolutely heartbroken. I had looked at the grading of IVDD and believed Anya was in the middle group with good chances of success as her tail wagging meant she still had deep pain sensation but now I just feel lost and confused. any help would be really appreciated.

Thank you,

Jessica

We haven't been given any indication how long she will be in hospital. Our vet said he will call again to update us. I just am totally distraught. Is it normal to see deterioration after surgery? I am feeling really catastrophic at the moment and i'm struggling to do anything but think about her getting worse and not being able to say goodbye.

Thank you all so much, I have just called to ask for an update on Anya and the news is much better. She is wagging her tail and the nurse said they they are turning her regularly but when they go back an hour later she has moved herself onto her other side. The vet has just called whilst I was typing this and he said Anya is now better than when she arrived at hospital and tried to stand up when he entered her kennel x

Thank you for being so caring and responsive. No further diarrhoea and she has had a bath to clean her up after the episode last night. If i'm not sent home with Pepcid AC is it something I can buy without prescription?

Hi, I wanted to give you a pretty incredible update. We are now three days post surgery. We were told we could collect Anya from the hospital this afternoon. Anya walked out of the hospital unaided in a chest harness only. She has full bowel and bladder control, is using all 4 limbs pretty well and is delighted to be home. The vets notes say the following “Anya is ambulatory without assistance. There was a mild degree of paresis and proprioceptive ataxia of the thoracic limbs but none in the pelvic limbs. Anya is comfortable and her surgical wound is healing nicely”.

Anyas discharge medications are:
Gabapentin 400mg 3x daily
Paracetamol 500mg 2x daily
Cephalexin 1200mg 2x daily

She is allowed 3-4 ten minute walks on a chest harness and has a follow up appointment booked in 4 weeks time. I’m over the moon but also feeling frightened everything is going too well!

Hi, Anya is still doing well at home, her antibiotics and paracetamol have now stopped (last dose this morning so no missed doses at this point). She’s been doing her 4 very short walks to go to the toilet and apart from that spends most of her time resting on her bed. Yesterday I thought she may not be properly weight bearing on her front left leg (the same leg that her IVDD symptoms began in).

This afternoon we got her up to do her walk and she was clearly limping on the front left leg. Once she had walked for around 30 seconds she began weight bearing on the leg again and was walking well by the end of her 4 minute toilet break. I’m really panicking about this limping and have called the hospital to ask for advice. My husband is being much more pragmatic and thinks it’s probably normal to be up and down so soon after surgery. I wondered if anyone could advise of this can happen or if I’m right to be worried and should be looking to take her back into hospital? Thanks so much.

Hi, it feels strange writing here, especially after reading through my previous posts. I am writing to say thank you, over three years after Anya’s IVDD diagnosis she is here with us, walking around as if nothing ever happened. She’s an old girl now at almost 11, we feel incredibly lucky to have been given the chance to spend all this extra time with her. Our experience with IVDD remains one of the most traumatic experiences I’ve ever had, it was absolutely devastating but this forum gave me hope, comfort and a sense of control at the worst of times. The kindness you showed and the speedy responses provided much needed reassurance and understanding. I’ll always remember your kindness and hope you know the tremendous difference you make to people. Thank you so much, Jess and Anya x