Sefani, welcome! Our main goal is to help you become educated about IVDD so you can better work with the vet you’ve hired, protect your dog and give proper care during this episode, but also to be able to live many happy years ahead with the disease your dog was born with.
The mind can find it hard to absorb all the vet communicates and translate correctly into at-home care with short time of visits. Our aim is to learn all about Sammy in order to provide you with comments specific to Sammy's situation to help you at home.
#1 The single most important of care upon any suspicion of a disc problem is to crate at once to protect the disc from damaging the spinal cord. With pain only, Sammy has a good chance to heal the disc with conservative treatment.
Let us know you are on the same page about STRICT REST: - Water and food bowls are in the crate.
- Carried to and from the potty place. Very minimal footsteps to take care of business.
- no laps - no couches
- no baths - no sleeping with you
- no chiro therapy - no dragging or meandering at potty times.
POTTY TIMES for dogs who can still sniff and pee
Carry to and from the recovery suite to the potty place and then allow a very few limited footsteps.
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!
dodgerslist.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Potty-leash-harness400-19kb.jpg **
#2 Pain must be in control round the clock, nearing next dose of meds and when needing to move in crate or out for potty time.
Sammy not wanting to move to get food and your having to take food to him sounds like he is not being fed in his crate. The vet needs to know Sammy's meds are not perfected in dose/times per day yet.
Please fill us in on all of Sammy's med details and the vet's diagnosis Novox started on 6/11.
Dose in mgs? How many times a day? For how many days?
Methocarbamol ?mg ?x/day
Gabapentin ?mg ?x/day
Pepcid AC (famotidine) for the duration of Novax.
Let us know ?mg ?x/day Learn "WHY" acid suppresser Pepcid AC: ==> dodgerslist.com/2020/05/06/stomach-protection/
Getting up to speed on IVDD10min
Shortcut thru IVDD:
dodgerslist.com/2020/06/26/time-and-ivdd/Med Chart- Useful tool for quality communications with your vet.
A medication chart is useful to see patterns, have dates and specific facts handy as you discuss things with the vet. D/l a sample and a blank form to use with your dog's meds
dodgerslist.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/med-chart-printable.pdfLearn how to set up a “recovery suite” with room service for your dog! ==>
dodgerslist.com/2020/05/14/strict-rest-recovery-process/Calm your mind.
Gain a realistic idea of how long it takes to heal. This is one of the most frequent questions asked. Here is the answer along with two tools to help you during your dog's recovery time:
==> dodgerslist.com/most-asked-disc-disease-ivdd-questions
We will be watching for your post to update us on his meds, pain fully in control, and the answers to the questions above
in pink.
