Travis' Frank 9/28 surgery

Travis, welcome to the Dodgerslist Forum. 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! Know more about us and how we team up with veterinarians:  dodgerslist.com/about-team-dodgerslist/

Very often within the window of 12-24 hrs since loosing DPS, the outcome of relieving pressure off the spinal cord will give those nerves a good chance to self heal. As you point out with the slowest part of the body to heal (the nerve department) only mother nature and time will tell the degree of nerve healing. It is in the cards for dogs to get back to enjoying life again and family activities after the post-op rest period whether that be walking or with aid of a cart while waiting on more nerve healing to take place. 

 I bet your mind is flooded right now with concerns, questions. Now is the time to jot those things down. Here's a starter list of questions to which you can add some of your concerns to ask your surgeon so that no question goes without an answer: dodgerslist.com/2020/06/03/discharge-day-list/

This page is good reading by Dr. Isaacs, ACVIM (neurology) as he explains many post-op questions for our IVDD community: meds, crate rest, PT and discharge day. dodgerslist.com/2020/05/12/dr-isaacs-surgery-answers/

See if there are any other things you can do to make post-op crate rest go smoother with these very useful tips and ideas in setting up the recovery suite and supplies to gather up:
dodgerslist.com/2020/05/14/strict-rest-recovery-process/

When your handsome Frank is back home fill us in so we know best how to help you guys at home.

QUESTIONS

❖1 Is there still currently pain now at home?
☐shivering, trembling ☐Arched back
☐yelping when picked up or moved ☐can’t find a comfortable position
☐reluctant to move much in crate such as shift positions or slow to move
☐tight tense tummy
☐Holding front or back leg flamingo style not wanting to bear weight
☐Not their normal perky selves?

Full pain relief is expected in 1 hour and stays that way dose to dose. If not in control your vet needs to know asap to adjust meds.

❖2  …A Please list the exact names of meds currently given, their doses in mgs and times per day given.
     …B If on a steroid….what was the start date & dose? Date of steroid taper? If on a NSAID, for how many days has it been prescribed for?
     …C PEPCID AC: 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).

Pepcid AC (famotidine) for dogs is 0.44mg per pound, 30 mins before the anti-inflammatory and thereafter every 12 hours for as long as your dog is on the anti-inflammatory. www.1800petmeds.com/Famotidine-prod11171.html

**

❖3 GI track problems due to stress, anti-inflammatory drug, nerve damage?
—Eating and drinking OK? No nausea/not eating, no vomit?
—Poops OK? Normal firmness & color -no dark black or bright red blood indicating bleeding ulcers? No diarrhea?

❖4 Post-op crate rest is to allow the surgical sites to heal.
      
STRICT for a post-op dog means:
◼︎no laps ◼︎no couches
◼︎no baths ◼︎no sleeping with you
◼︎"no chiro therapy whys": dodgerslist.com/2020/04/22/chiropractic/
◼︎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.
   1. How many weeks did your surgeon direct for post-op rest?
   2. What did your surgeon direct for at home PT?

❖5 Can your dog specifically sniff and squat and then release urine which is bladder control – OR- do you find wet bedding or leaks on you when lifted which are indication of an overflowing bladder and loss of bladder control?
        Overflowing bladders need to be expressed to avoid UTIs. Review video then get a hands-on-top-of-your-hands expressing lesson. dodgerslist.com/2020/05/05/bladder-bowel-care/

DOGs with BLADDER CONTROL: Carry to and from the recovery suite to the potty place and then allow a very few limited footsteps unless surgeon has directed some walking PT. 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!

❖6 Currently can your dog wobbly walk? move the legs at all? or wag the tail when you specifically do some happy talk?

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 on the Main Dodgerslist Website:  dodgerslist.com

Travis, as you get news and updates about Frank, we'd LOVE to hear too.

Travis, glad to hear Frank is home! And good to hear he is eating, that is important good news.

While he is on pred and you are learning a new skill, look to be expressing every 2-3 hours. As he stays dry session to session, then you can try expressing every 3-4 hours. When off of pred you can easily by then with having developed good skills, find he stays dry expressing every 6 hrs and at night 8 hrs.

After a good night's rest, let us know tomorrow is a better day for you both....it does take time to get into a new routine of caring for Frank, then things settle down and are easier to handle.

Hi Travis, 

Welcome to Dodgerslist, I'd like to add to the good information that Paula and Julie have given you.

There are four stages of healing during a disc episode. 
Check out this link and in particular the button for nerve regeneration. 

dodgerslist.com/healing-the-disc/

No two dogs are the same, we have had cases here of dogs who recovered very quickly and dogs whose healing may have taken as long as a year, but they still recovered. 

Also check out our success stories, and never give up!

dodgerslist.com/success-stories/

Wishing Frank the best with kindest regards

Mary

Thank you all for the kind words and advice.  Today has been pretty tough.  Frank is more awake/with it today, and he has taken to whining for attention.  I have gotten a little better about expressing him today, but I am having to do it almost every hour and a half.  He has a very narrow urine stream, so it takes quite a long time to get all the urine out, if I'm getting it all out at all.  The next problem I've run into is that his penis seems to be stuck in the out position.  I called the vet after my attempts to coax the skin back up around it failed.  They advised me to use KY or another type of lube to help.  I just did this for the first time, and it hasn't seemed to help.  Will keep trying.  I've stocked up on baby wipes and I've been using those to help keep him clean when he wets himself.

I'm not able to feel his bladder most of the time.  I've usually been feeling around til I find the right spot that makes the pee flow.  He's been drinking a ton of water, so I'm sure it's just that he has such a large bladder.  The biggest challenge right now is that he has such a small stream, it takes quite a while to get all of the urine.  Usually he will get anxious and try to get away, or the pee will start spraying onto the back of his front feet which causes him to try to move and makes me have to start all over again.  I'm 

I've been using the KY as the vet told me since yesterday, and I've noticed a big improvement.  

Today, 10/3, his fentanyl patch came off.  I switched him over to a half a Tramadol (25mg) every 12 hours for now.  It makes him sleepy for a few hours but it seems to work well.  My biggest concern today is that aside from a few little nuggets, he hasn't pooped since last Sunday, just before this all started.  The vet said it will come on its own, and he doesn't seem to be in any distress, and he's eating fine, but that just seems like a long time to go.  

Hello, update here.  It's been 10 days since Frank came home.

We've kind of settled into a routine at this point.  I had been having to change/clean Frank up almost on an hourly basis, because he would constantly dribble urine, or have little squirts when he barked or things like that, even with the expressing.  I ended up buying some belly bands for him and lining them with some extra heavy maxi pads.  This works well to catch the little dribbles, and has made things a LOT easier.  In the first 4 days he had been home, I had burned through two 50 packs of wee pads...that has slowed down quite a bit.  It also helps his skin, as before he had been almost constantly sitting in his own urine, and now it's contained pretty well inside the pads.  I'm happily pleased with how well the belly band/pad combo seems to be working. I have gotten better at expressing his bladder as well. I've also used the green tea trick a few times to clean him, and help with the urine smell.  That also works quite well.   The biggest challenge now is actually keeping him still while I do it.  I am going to follow up with the vet regarding Prazosin, part of the problem is that his stream is so small it takes quite a while to completely empty the bladder. He has also gotten very regular with his bowels, he seems to have a BM the first time I express him each morning.  

The biggest challenge for me now that the pee issue has been somewhat sorted is to keep his mind occupied.  He has never been a dog who liked toys.  He had started barking and crying out quite a bit when I was home and not paying attention to him.  I think part of this comes from the fact that he had been so used to always sitting next to me on the couch, etc.  Now that I have the bands and I don't have the urine leakage to worry about, I am able to take him out of the pen and let him sit next to me for awhile while we watch TV.  I also purchased a dog stroller and have been taking him for a walk in the evening.  Those two things have helped quite a bit, but he still gets riled up sometimes.  The only meds he is still on are the prednisone, pepcid, and tramadol.  

As for Frank's actual progress, there isn't much to tell.  The surgeon had recommended standing Frank for 2-3 minutes every 4 hours or so.  I've gone to having him do it every time I express him or clean him up.  Either way, he isn't able to show any sort of control over his back limbs yet.  I also tried the sniff test yesterday, which he failed.  He was very interested in sniffing, but was unable to urinate on his own.  I'm still hopeful though, as Monday will only be 2 weeks since surgery.

Once again, I want to thank Paula and everyone, this has been a very hard time, but your advice has helped me a lot.

Travis, during the 4 weeks of post-op crate rest, Travis should only be out of the recovery suite for PT and potty time. He went through a very serious surgery only two weeks ago so do be cautious with how much you allow him to do. It's best to keep him safely in his crate except for PT and potty time until he has healed from the surgery. As Julie said, dogs so often do the unexpected and go flying off of a couch. Only a couple of weeks left of post-op crate rest so do remain diligent.

As for the stroller, that should only be used inside the house to wheel him from room to room while he is on post-op crate rest. Outside use should be put off for another couple of weeks and even then I would check with the surgeon to see when that can be done. Inside the house is a smooth ride but outside can be bumpy and uneven and you don't want him to jostle around too much.
dodgerslist.com/2020/05/17/pet-stroller-conservatve-treatment/

Expressing until the bladder is completely empty can take some practice. Often as the bladder gets smaller as it empties, it can slip away. You'll need to find it again, usually back by the pelvic area, and keep pressing until it feels almost like your fingers are touching and you only get out a dribble. I think that as you get more and more familiar with the feel of the bladder and become proficient in expressing completely, you'll need those belly bands less and less. Also you should see improvement once the Prednisone stops since Prednisone causes increased thirst and urination. While he's on Prednisone and until you become more proficient with expressing, you should be expressing every 2-3 hours.

For a bit of entertainment, fill a Kong with soft dog food and freeze. Put part of the dog's total daily dinner kibble in the Kong to lengthen time to consume dinner. Good low cal snacks are carrots, apples, or frozen green beans, licking a frozen low sodium broth ice cube. Good thick low salt/no fat chicken broth is full of cartilage-building proteins and amino acids. Freeze it up into cubes for easy access as you need it. Fun and keeps the body hydrated: place cubes in a bowl for licking.

Hello all,

It's been a little while since I checked in.  About 2 weeks ago, Frank got a UTI, and he ended up on Bayrtil, 44mg twice a day.  This seems to be clearing up well.  He had his post-op appointment this past Thursday 10/29, to get his staples out.  The surgeon told me that he still does not seem to have deep pain sensation, although he does have improved muscle tone in his back legs compared to when I took him home.  He is now clear to start physical therapy.

**


The biggest issue for me has been my job.  I am a single guy, and I work in the medical field, so there are times when toileting Frank or being able to give him PT was going to be an immense challenge.  Thankfully I found someone who does dachshund rehab in her home, and I was able to take him to her.  She is confident that she will be able to get him to walk again.  Fingers crossed that Frank improves as much as he is able to.