Shay's Swisher 9/6 conservative

Welcome to Dodgerslist. My name is Paula what is yours? And what is your pups name? I'm sorry see you have a vet that is not comfortable in treating a disc episode (crate rest not prescribed and now dangerous mix of meds). This means you will have to step up into the position of being the Captain of your dog's health care team in order to protect him. As we all have had to do, we read, read and read some more. Please start right away on this page as it will give you a very good overview of what you are dealing with with meds, with the treatment, etc. www.dodgerslist.com/literature/healingpage.htm

To help get things right for your dog, here is a summary of things to attend to right away.
1. He's been given a very dangerous combo of meds, well documented in veterianary literature and warned against on the predinisone and the prevacox package. Steroids and NSAID are double jeopardy to the GI tract and should not be given together. Please STOP previcox…as you can't stop a steroid it needs to be tapered off. 

Glucocorticoid hormones should not be used in combination with medications of the NSAID class (ie aspirin, carprofen, deracoxib etc.) as the combination of these medications could lead to bleeding in the stomach or intestine. Ulceration could occur."  www.marvistavet.com/html/body_prednisone.html

It is also unacceptable to concurrently administer steroidal and nonsteroidal anti-inflammtory drugs (NSAIDs) to disc disease patients, as this combination increases the chances of severe gastrointestinal complications.  Curtis W. Dewey, DVM, ACVIM Neurology Cornell University. A Practical Guide to Canine and Feline Neurology 2nd ed Blackwell Publlshing 2008 Chapt 10 "Myelopathies: disorders of the Spinal Cord"

Never give aspirin or corticosteroids along with an NSAID to your dog.  www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/AnimalHealthLiteracy/ucm196295.htm

2. Cimetidine is  an older version of the newer, more effective stomach protector…. Pepcid AC does not have the LONG list of contraindicated meds as does Cimetidine.  With the double jeopardy your vet has exposed your dog to, highly consider switching to Pepcid AC (famotidine) right now, asap this morning.  Get it at your local grocery store.  5mg Pepcid AC (famotidine) every 12 hours.  Then get on the phone and STRONGLY advocate for a 2nd stomach protector called sucralfate it is an Rx item. We know sucralfate does work to really protect the stomach quite well as this is what vets use all the time with IVDD meds. It is not known if diarsanyl would be as effective.  This is not the time to experiment on your dog's tummy… he needs protective help right now.

The place we use most often to look up our dog's meds is the Mar Vista Vet web page. This is how we protect our own dogs by learning what the med is for, what it should not be taken with and what adverse signs we need to monitor for.  I keep this page  bookmarked:  www.marvistavet.com/html/pharmacy_center.html

3. Let us know that pain is fully under control dose to dose of the one pain medication, methocarbamol. There should be no shivering, yelping, no tight tummy, no reluctance to move/turn in his crate. He should be his normal perky self.  

4. Did you get a hands on top of your hands lesson on how to manually express the bladder? Read and review and go back for another lesson if necessary.  It is a real health issue to be expressing..  you want to avoid UTIs and preserve the tone of the bladder.   While on pred you will likely need to express every 2-3 hours as you will be learning a new skill.  www.dodgerslist.com/literature/Expressing.htm

5. Consider hiring a vet who knows IVDD and can support you during this disc episode and as support in the future years.  It makes all the difference when you have a vet who knows IVDD.  If you can't change vets, then your self-education becomes all the more necessary to monitor the vet, know when to say no thank you to harmful advice or treatments.  www.dodgerslist.com/literature/VetchkList.htm

Hang in there…this is a bump in the road… I know you can take the bull by the horns and get things right for your dog.  Once the meds are right, the stomach  protected and pain at bay, expressing the bladder... the 8 weeks of crate rest will have the disc healed…. and the nerves will also be able to heal.  We anxiously await hearing from you again.