Paulette's Henry 5/3 conservative - Beagle mix; GRAD 6/28

Hello all. Henry and I are doing well. Tomorrow starts week 5. Still no pain meds or prednisone. Still fingers crossed that we can maintain. He’s such a good boy and tolerating this so well. He’s the best little beagle. Continuing with his [name of?] Chinese herbs as described above, weekly acupuncture and the Assisi loop twice a day here at home. We are maintaining and hopefully healing. 🙏

Hello all. Today starts Henry’s 6th week of healing. He is doing very well and still I am happy and grateful to get through every day. I am looking forward to what comes next. He has an appointment with his neurosurgeon on June 28 and I am sure we will get some direction for “what’s next”. I am selling all of his stairs that I built for him on Facebook and buying a hybrid style ramp- so not so steep as ramps but with little bumps on it so he cannot run down it , when he is allowed this activity again.
www.amazon.com/dp/B08V5FP5Y2?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_4HNN1Z7377HRR7GA1K1R
So for today, all is well here and thankful every single day for Henry’s great attitude for recovery and his recovering. We are a great team. I am also thankful for this group and your loving, caring and knowledgeable supoort.

Most of the websites in your attached are not active any longer.

Would this be better?
Topmart High Density Extended Foam Dog Ramp&Steps 3 Tiers,15.7" High,Non-Slip Dog Stairs,Soft Foam Dog Ladder,Best for Dogs Injured,Older Cats,Pets with Joint Pain a.co/d/jc46jc7

Thanks

Paulette, you know Henry was born with IVDD. Some dogs could have multiple disc episodes during a life time. You might be able to prolong or maybe avoid a disc episode with this prematurely aging of the discs disease.

Jumping up or down impacts the discs.  A prematurely aged disc is then likely to tear and could impact the spinal cord nerves.  This disc episode was in the neck and fortunately did not impact the nerves!

Have you a method to prevent Henry from even thinking he might jump up on furniture or take some stairs/steps if you have them in your house?  DIY Ideas for blocking off furniture: dodgerslist.com/2020/07/09/home-protect-ivdd-backs/

Looking forward to graduation day to share with you many more ideas in living with Henry many happy years ahead.

After graduation, both nail trimming and baths are safe.

Paulette, we aren't vets.  However, you don't have to be a vet to recommend what we recommend.

Have you known of someone with a back injury? Even though the doctor said take it easy with no lifting, bed rest, in a few days they feel better. The human starts to do activity the doctor said not to do. Their back hurts again.  Humans can relate activity to increased pain. The human will take it easy again--if not they pay the price with a worsened back condition, maybe a surgery. 

Dogs do not have the reasoning ability human's have. Dogs depend on the smarts of their owners. If you say go on a walk, they are all in on your idea.  However, the recovery suit is necessary to keep Henry from doing the things which have a great potential to make his disc worse. Which in turn could impact the spinal cord functions.

What happened to the single most important care you can give Henry when you last wrote: "Henry and I are approaching graduation at the end of the month"

Carrying out strict rest until graduation day of 6/28  is your choice to make. No vet can make it for you and neither can we. I can tell you from my 15 years here at Dodgers and watching over 15,000 dogs and length of crate rest time that nothing good ever comes from cutting 8 weeks of STRICT rest short. Henry is relying on you to make the hard recovery suite decisions on his behalf right now.

THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT CARE
The hallmark component of conservative treatment is the very STRICT crate rest part (no PT, little movement). With little blood supply discs are much slower to form good scar tissue than it takes a blood rich broken bone to heal. Those weeks of a cast for a broken arm to heal is similar to the recovery suite being a kind of cast for the disc. 100% STRICT crate rest 24/7 for 8 weeks provides limited movement to allow good strong scar tissue to form.

STRICT rest to allow the disc to heal means:
◼︎no laps ◼︎no couches ◼︎no baths ◼︎no sleeping with you
◼︎no chiro therapy WHYs: dodgerslist.com/2020/04/22/chiropractic/
◼︎no meandering or walking at potty times. Only minimal/fewest of footsteps to take care of business.
◼︎no PT for conservative dogs during 8 weeks to heal disc
◼︎no going on walks.

Henry graduates tomorrow and also has a neurosurgeon appointment. I have a list of questions a mile long. The little guy is doing awesome. ♥️♥️♥️What an experience this has been. Geez!

When a dog is released from crate rest, he should be re-introduced to activity slowly. The idea is to gradually give more freedom under controlled conditions. Henry should not have free rein of the house and yard immediately. Take a look at our information and then come up with a plan to gradually increase activity over about a month's time following the end of crate rest. There is a sample schedule to slowly introduce your dog back to family life and physical activity here:
dodgerslist.com/2020/06/15/back-friendly/

I know you are using ramps now, this is excellent. Furniture blockers also stop jumping up and threfore strain on the back. I am not sure if you have had a chance to look at the tips we have here:
dodgerslist.com/2020/07/09/home-protect-ivdd-backs

Research out of Oklahoma State, on a small number of dogs,  has found laser disc ablation helpful. One thing to keep in mind is that the surgeon does not usually zap all the discs, but only the ones most likely to be problematic. Because of this, Henry's back should still be protected with ramps, furniture blockers etc.

Henry can enjoy himself with back-friendly-fun activities. These are fun, and my dog loved to play games like this.
We invite you to hop on to our educational bandwagon team. Education about disc disease is our number one mission! We wish we did not have to hear of another dog that was put to sleep because of disc disease nor one denied the correct principles of STRICT rest to help them heal. We would like all of our members to pay forward for the help they have received with their dog by helping us educate! Pick what suits you....
-- "Share" our FB posts www.facebook.com/Dodgerslist

Paulette, glad to hear the procedure went well. We do look forward to hearing from you with future updates. Often the dog patient is not followed up for the long term, so that would be good to hear from you how Henry is doing with LDA.

For your browser's bookmark here is Henry's link for easy return in the future. dodgerslist.boards.net/thread/8602/

Yes, all anti-inflammatories, including Carprofen cause excess stomach acid so a stomach protector is still needed.

First, verify your dog has no health issues (heart, liver, kidneys). If no health issues, purchase at any grocery store.

PEPCID AC (famotidine) The usual dose during a disc episode for dogs is 0.44mg per pound 30 mins before the anti-inflammatory and thereafter every 12 hours. Give the anti-inflammatory with a meal as added protection. www.1800petmeds.com/Famotidine-prod11171.html

24lbs X 0.44famotidine = 10.56mgs famotidine. Round down to 10mgs. Give every 12hrs (2x/day)

Hello. I just wanted to let you know that Henry is doing great after his disc ablation. It’s been three weeks now.

Also, is there any way I can change my settings so that I only get responses to my thread? Right now I am getting an email every time there is a new thread or response to it. Thank you.