Welcome to Dodgerslist, Nancy. We are glad you’ve joined us all. We’ve got valuable information we’ve learned from the vets Dodgerslist consults with and our own experiences with IVDD since 2002 to share with you! Learn more about us and how we team up with veterinarians:
dodgerslist.com/about-team-dodgerslist/
Disc disease is not a death sentence!
Struggling with quality of life questions? Re-think things
dodgerslist.com/2020/04/18/hope-quality-life/
What medication is Willow taking? Please provide exact name, dosage and frequency of all meds.
How much does she weigh?
Is Willow currently showing any signs of pain? The signs of pain we look for are:
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
If you are seeing any of these signs, let the vet know what you are seeing right away, as pain meds may need to be adjusted. Pain only slows the healing process.
Can Willow currently wobbly walk? move the legs at all? or wag the tail when you specifically do some happy talk?
Does Willow have bladder control? By that I mean can she hold her urine until in an appropriate spot, sniff and then release the urine, or are you finding wet bedding or leaking when lifted?
There are two ways that urine can be released. One is where the brain sends a message to the bladder down the spinal cord and which allows the dog to choose when to release urine….that is bladder control. The other way is when the spinal cord is damaged and no messages can be sent, the body will use reflexes. Similar to your pulling back your hand without thinking when touching a hot stove. Reflexes for a dog can kick in when the bladder is overstretched and full of urine. This is called overflowing. Overflowing will invite bladder infection, and all the overstretching can permanently ruin bladder tone. Overflowing means the dog's bladder needs to be manually expressed so the dog stays dry.
If Willow does not have bladder control, she must be expressed to avoid urinary tract infections (UTIs).
Expressing is a matter of physics. Pressure is applied to the bladder greater than the strength of the urinary sphincter to push the urine out. Sometimes you have to hold that pressure many seconds longer than you think before the sphincter is overcome.
Expressing can be a bit tricky to learn. The best way to start is by getting a hands-on lesson from your vet.
Review the information below to better understand how it works.
dodgerslist.com/2020/05/05/bladder-bowel-care/
Post-op crate rest is to allow the surgical sites to heal. If a dog is too active during this period, it could aggravate the incision and surgical area. Did the surgeon mention how long Willow will be on crate rest? The crate rest post-surgery is less strict than crate-rest during conservative treatment. This is because the surgery removed the part of the disc that was pressing on the spinal nerves. It is still very important. Some tips on setting up the recovery suite are below:
www.dodgerslist.com/2020/05/14/strict-rest-recovery-proc
Tips on helping your dog adjust to a recovery suite are here:
dodgerslist.com/2020/02/24/tips-to-help-with-recovery-suite
Dr. Isaacs, DVM, ACVIM (Neurology) addresses Dodgerslist members' questions on surgery
dodgerslist.com/2020/05/12/dr-isaacs-surgery-answers/
You mentioned Myelomalacia. Myelomalacia is a terrible disease where the spinal cord starts to die from the point of injury. However, Myelomalacia usually begins about 3-4 days into recovery. Although it is still possible, Willow is well past that time now.
It is very scary when our dogs have IVDD. It becomes less so when we learn all we can about the disease. A lot of information can be found at our main website:
www.dodgerslist.com
