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Dog back pain - possible surgery

LeslieLW

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Hi, @Dr. Jeff, My little Coton De Tulear Lexi is 7 years old. Recently she started having a back pain issue. She was in the ER for a whole weekend.
She does have luxated patellas however, no orthopedic cause was found for her back pain.
She was put on Gabapentin for pain. Eventually, she seemed better for a few days. Then the same pain issue happened again.
This time my regular vet gave her Prednisone.
Eventually, she seemed better again for a few days.
Now the issue has started again. My regular vet today gave me Gabapentin and Prednisone. She gets some relief with the pain meds and bed rest but I need to get her better.
Is there anything I can do to fix this? Thank you.

Dr. Jeff wrote:

Hi Leslie-
I'm sorry to hear about your pup!
Yes, there definitely are strategies to help back problems.
Depending on the exact problem (a prolapsed disc?) she may need up to 6 weeks of crate rest.
Do you have a vet chiropractor, acupuncturist or rehab. facility nearby? What do you feed? Has she had other health challenges like diarrhea, skin stuff or prior back problems?

Leslie wrote:
I took Lexi to my vet today. He thinks that she has a disc problem in her back. She is now taking Prednisone, Gabapentin, and Robaxin-V 500 mg. She finally ate a meal and drank some water today after getting the Robaxin-V. My vet told me that if her back pain continues, taker her back to the ER. He mentioned she might need surgery.

Thursday, she has an appointment at a different vet clinic for Accupuncture for the first time. I was told that she would be evaluated at that time to see if their chiropractor could help her.

She has luxated patellas but other than that has not really had many other health issues. She has been a healthy girl. She generally hasn't really had diarrhea, skin stuff or prior back problems.

Can disk issues be cured without surgery? If she does need surgery, I would do that for her, of course. But if she can be cured without invasive surgery, that would be preferred.

I welcome your advice.

Thank you, @Dr. Christina, @Dr. Sara .
 

Dr. Jeff

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Hi Leslie-
I'm sorry to hear about your pup!
Yes, there definitely are strategies to help back problems.
Depending on the exact problem (a prolapsed disc?) she may need up to 6 weeks of crate rest.
Do you have a vet chiropractor, acupuncturist or rehab. facility nearby? What do you feed? Has she had other health challenges like diarrhea, skin stuff or prior back problems?

1. Yes, the symptoms from a disc prolapse can be resolved.

I advise rest and vitality improvement (which you start right away with fresh food, CHE, and ideally homeopathy.

Your answer to the questions (in bold above) will help determine what you do.
 

LeslieLW

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Lexi ended up at the emergency vet Wednesday morning. She was in a lot of pain. She was given a shot of Buprenorphine. Her diagnosis is "suspect IVDD". I was given prescriptions of Buprenorphine, Methocarbamol to add to her Gabapentin and Prednisone. I was advised to rest her for 10-14 days. She is not crate trained but I am resting her on the bed, which is her usual sleep space. Today she is heavily medicated but comfortable and she ate breakfast and dinner and has been drinking her water. Her appointment today did not include Accupuncture. Instead she was treated with a K-Laser. I purchased an Assisi Loop to use on her at home but so far she does not like it and gets up to change position before the full treatment completes. I have an infrared medical device of my own that I have been using on her. Sometimes she tolerates it, sometimes she gets up to move out of the treatment area. The vet at the emergency clinic told me that she could suddenly lose function of the rear limbs and/or be in awful pain again which would require emergency surgery. So I found the name of a surgeon who operated on a good friend's dog for a similar problem. My friend thinks he was wonderful so I am going to reach out to him tomorrow, for a consultation appointment, I guess. I need a plan in case things get worse. I have an appointment with a doggie chiropractor tomorrow for an evaluation although none of the 3 vets now were encouraging that chiropractic treatment would help in this situation.
 

LeslieLW

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Btw, I usually feed her boiled chicken, or cooked ground turkey, or once in a while some lean steak. She also gets Organix brand canned food and kibble. I usually put a spoonful of unsalted bone broth over the kibble. I offer her green beans, wild blueberries, apple pieces but she very rarely wants to eat any of it.
 

Dr. Jeff

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Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear about Lexi's worsening back problems.

You may want to try reducing her kibble as much as possible, and increasing the lightly cooked fresh food.

Try some of the wild blueberry-kale smoothie to see if she likes it. The key is keeping her as lightly medicated as possible (to keep her comfortable) while working on her happiness (does she like slow head to tail petting?).



 

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