Tiffany, welcome to the Forum! It is completely your decision on how to care for Bentley. What we have to share with you is our own IVDD experiences and observing vets and 15,000+ dogs for over 2 decades to see what works.
Owner IVDD knowledge is the 🔑KEY to fighting the IVDD enemy!
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The Forum's goal is to immediately expedite getting things right specifically for your dog's needs to ensure a good outcome on graduation day JULY 16. In other words— those things that make conservative treatment work for many disc episodes.
Lastly the longer term, helping you to get up to speed on disc disease to live many happy years ahead with your dog.
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"Vet" the information you'd rely on for at home care:
-- Dodgerslist list teams up with veterinarians to teach about IVDD:
dodgerslist.com/2020/04/20/education-team-ivdd -- Owners comment about learning to care for their dog at home:
dodgerslist.com/success-storiesThe single most important care with conservative treatment is very STRICT rest so the disc can heal. Lots of good tips and ideas for making strict rest go smoothly:
dodgerslist.com/2020/05/14/strict-rest-recovery-process/ If your dog moves around too much, the disc cannot heal. With pain medications to mask pain, dogs will not be in pain and want to be more active. So it is up to you to restrict your dog’s activity for them.
i.postimg.cc/3rLH7g7X/320still-healing-disc.jpg **
Let us know you have been and are on the same page about strict rest: - no laps - no couches
- no baths - no sleeping with you
- no chiro therapy - no dragging or meandering at potty times.
- only out of recovery suite for expressing times and most urgent of vet appts that can't be handled via the phone.
- At home laser or acupuncture for severe neuro damage is best so as to limit transport movement of the back.
Nerve healing. Calm your mind about nerve healing, know the facts:
dodgerslist.com/2021/02/06/nerve-healing-after-disc-episode/QUESTIONSPlease tell us about your dog. Answer the questions below.
With your details of event dates, etc., we'd know best how to help. We'd feel awfully bad to mistakenly assume anything ... delaying help for your dog.
★1 Is there still currently pain? List ONLY the signs you observe.
There should be no sign of pain from one dose of meds to the next. Have no patience with pain as it does hinder healing. Phone your vet and report any of observations asap to get meds adjusted.
⚙︎ shivering-trembling ⚙︎ yelping when picked up or moved
⚙︎ tight tense tummy ⚙︎ arched back, ears pinned back
⚙︎ restless, can't find a comfortable position
⚙︎ slow or reluctant to move in suite such as shift positions
⚙︎ not their normal perky interested in life selves
➕if a neck disc:
◻︎ head held high/ nose to the ground
◻︎ looks up with just eyes and does not move head and neck easily.
◻︎ not eating due to painful chewing or in too much overall pain
◻︎ holds front or back leg up flamingo style not wanting to bear weight
★2 __How much does your dog weigh?
What is the list of meds your dog is taking along with the dose in mgs and how often given.
With prednisone we'll need the original dose info Rx'd on 5/21. For how many days was the original dose usually given 2x/day given? The day the taper starts is the day you should be monitoring for surfacing pain.
Learn your job and all about prednisone use during a disc episode:
dodgerslist.com/2020/04/18/steroids-vs-nsaids/ • how pain meds are handled on day 1 of prednisone taper
BENTELY's MEDS
Prednisone as of 5/21 ?mgs tablet: ?mgs ?x/day for ? days, then a test taper for: _pain / _neuro
gabapentin ?mgs tablet: ?mg ?x/day
diazepam ?mgs tablet: ?mg ?x/day
Pepcid AC ?mgs tablet: ?mg ?x/day
★3 List any red flag signs of stomach damage you are currently observing:
Not eating, vomit, loose stool, bleeding ulcers, red or black blood in diarrhea?
Why is Bentley on a bland diet? ★7 Does Bently stay dry in between expressing sessions? Does he dribble?
Usually while on prednisone a dog would need to be expressed every 4-6 hours once having achieve a good degree of proficiency in expressing.
Manual bladder expressing is necessary for health reasons to prevent bladder infection. How to:
dodgerslist.com/2020/05/05/bladder-bowel-care/★8 Describe what you observe currently about neuro functions. Can your dog....
-- wobbly walk?
-- Move the legs at all?
-- Do the back paws knuckle under? Can he right a knuckled under paw (not at all? slowly?) On a Mobile device?
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