A year ago Sam suddenly started limping- it was the week prior to a seminar that I noticed and gave him the week off so he'd be okay for the weekend. He came out of the car that afternoon limping even worse.In a year Sam has seen three regular vets, two specialists, three physio therapists, a massage therapist, and a T-Touch practitioner.
According to one vet he had a cruciate, another vet said that crate rest will fix it, and the specialists said that no- he has a herniated disc in his lower spine. Unfortunately I am not made of money, nor do I have a money tree in my backyard. All of my "savings" were spent on initial treatments. There is no possible way I can afford a surgery like that. So we do what we can to make him feel better. He gets a 1/2 dose of Derramax every four days, and sees Genie, a physiotherapist, once a week. April comes once a week to do Ttouch on him, and between all of those things he does not too badly.
He of course can't play agility, and rarely can do rally or anything like that. I have taught him lots of new tricks in the past year and just generally do what I can to keep his spirits up. We play fetch (but not traditional fetch) he stays, I throw, he tries to catch. We play hide and seek. I have taught him the names to his favorite toys, and he now knows scent discrimination.
It is frustrating of course. He is this super high drive, up and at 'em kinda dog who can't play. Most days he can't even go for a walk. He doesn't understand why he doesn't get to go anymore, but I try very hard to make sure that he still gets one on one time with me, and still gets his little "training" sessions.
It is very hard some days as I still struggle with decisions I have made for him. Some days he is in a lot of pain and those days especially I wonder if I've made the right choice for him. But mostly Sam is a pretty happy guy- he is still wild and crazy, and still banks of the couch and wrestles with his sister. All in all he's quite alright.
7 comments:
I can totally relate to your problem. My dog has been lame in the left rear leg since May. He has seen 3 ortho vets, 3 rehab vets and 2 regualr vets. No one has had the same opinion on what is wrong. The ortho vets all agree is isnt a cruciate tear because there is no swelling in the joint on xray. He has had multiple xrays and a bone scan. all normal. I was just going to have a lame dog when I decided to take him to Dr. Sherman at VetHab. He feels my dog has a muscle injury in his gluteal muscle. He is getting treatment right now. I let you know if it is successful or not. There are two sites on yahoo groups that provide a lot of info on cruciate injuries and are very supportive.
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/orthodogs/ This group I also think has funds that can help people.
2nd group is
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ConservativeManagement/?yguid=174063668
hope this helps , Diana
is depressing to hear that an active n high drive dog no longer gets to play agility...
Why Deramaxx only every 4 days if he is still painful? have they determined it really is his back? There are some more things that can be done for pain or for arthritis if it turns out to be a joint problem. My own dog suddenly dislikes jumps and I have never been able to diagnose anything wrong with him. It's wierd, he never limps and x-rays are clear. But he's lazy in his middle age so I guess it's ok.
because Deramaxx will kill him eventually if the dose is too high or too frequent. As with most pain meds it is hard on kidneys etc. All I want to do is manage his pain- not take it completely away with the meds.
You might switch to Previcox which has fewer side effects. But with regular monitoring in a young dog I would not be concerned to use it every day to keep him comfortable. As long as kidney and liver function are adequate and liver enzymes do not increase on the meds you should be in good shape. The thing you can't screen for is GI perforation or ulcers but I think Previcox and Rimadyl have had fewer incidences that Deramaxx-we stopped carrying Deramaxx actually. Also Tramadol is an opiod derivative that is not a controlled substance and although it works differently than NSAIDS in that it just blocks the pain and doesn't reduce the damaging inflammatory mediators it is cheap and safe and requires no monitoring. For a joint issue I would also use a supplement like Cosequin and prescription diet j/d-both of which can reduce the need for or lower the dose of NSAIDs required to keep him comfortable on a daily basis.
I will talk more to my vet about it- I didn't know there was an alternative that we less damaging. My vet had said that if I felt he needed to be on Deramaxx full time I could do a blood panel now, and then one every few months or so. I haven't decided if I want to go that route or not as his pain is mostly managed by physio and the deramaxx he does get. However- I will for sure look into a different type of med that won't affect him as much. Do you know anything about Prolotherapy?
I don't know much about it but it doesn't sound like something I'd try on my dog. Good luck!
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