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Foot Chewing 2 Years After Surgery
Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 5:27 pm
by swald
Hi Everyone,
Our dog Benny is two years out from his surgery for IVDD/slipped disc. Although he had been doing fairly well, a few months ago he began chewing his left rear paw. He was not responding to gabapentin so we had been using a little booty and/or collar when needed. He had never gone after his right rear paw until yesterday. He chewed it up in the exact same place as he does to the left - the second digit paw pad. Since it was the exact same location as the other paw and he has never done it before, I am fairly certain this is a nerve issue and not allergies or some other irritation. Does anyone have any experience with this behavior so far out from surgery? Any other recommendations since the gabapentin hasn't been effective?
Thanks for the support.
- Sam
Re: Foot Chewing 2 Years After Surgery
Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:57 pm
by CarolC
Hi Sam,
I do not know what they use when gabapentin doesn't work. Would a different dosage of gabapentin be an option?
There was someone who posted here who had been caring for her dog for 4 years when the dog started chewing. I had never heard of that happening so long after an injury. The dog chewed her feet, and the owner doctored them and they were getting better, then when the owner left her alone so the dog could eat, unfortunately the dog injured herself to the extent that the owner felt it best to put her down. I am giving you the link but it is really sad. It's the only case I know of where this happened kind of out of the blue after several years.
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=12506&p=64984
Someone here made some good leg protectors out of PVC pipe and velcro [correction : electrical conduit and tape].
viewtopic.php?p=15290#p15291
Re: Foot Chewing 2 Years After Surgery
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:20 am
by critters
So far, nobody in my herd has failed gabapentin; we've only had failures at stopping it. We've used large doses, too; I don't know what to use if gabapentin doesn't work, either.
Re: Foot Chewing 2 Years After Surgery
Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 1:48 pm
by CarolC
Bobbie reminded me there are 2 other meds (I don't know anything about), Keppra and felbamate.
Bobbie!
EDIT: DISREGARD, SEE BELOW
Re: Foot Chewing 2 Years After Surgery
Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 2:10 pm
by Bobbie
I thought you meant for seizures. Not for foot-chewing.
Re: Foot Chewing 2 Years After Surgery
Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 2:44 pm
by CarolC
Oops!
I thought I remembered another med being mentioned maybe one time, for chewing, and didn't remember the name. So I sent Bobbie a PM asking what worked when gabapentin doesn't work without specifying I was talking about chewing. My question was very unclear. Sorry!
Re: Foot Chewing 2 Years After Surgery
Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2014 3:41 pm
by HaleyBear1015
An acquaintance of mine said this happened to her dog about a year out of spinal surgery. I did not realize this was a common problem. My dog is only a couple weeks out of surgery. Why would gabapentin help this? Just wondering.
Re: Foot Chewing 2 Years After Surgery
Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 2:22 pm
by critters
Gabapentin is commonly used in both humans and critters for nerve pain, including pain and "funny feelings" from nerve damage.
Re: Foot Chewing 2 Years After Surgery
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2015 6:20 pm
by mmcamar
I'm uncertain whether my reply is not coming too late for this question. An alternative to Gabapentin is Pregabalin. It works beautifully.
Re: Foot Chewing 2 Years After Surgery
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:35 pm
by HaleyBear1015
Thanks for answering. Are these safe for long term use? She's on gabapentin 150mg twice a day and no complaints or nerve pain.
Re: Foot Chewing 2 Years After Surgery
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 9:28 am
by mmcamar
Chewing is a sign of nerve damage. Human patients will beg for foot amputation in order to get rid of the intense itching and pain.
Pregabalin is as safe as Gabapentin, as far as we know. You might want to consult with a specialist in pain management (usually vet anesthesiologists, and the best friend a chronically sick dog can have) - these drugs build tolerance, and it is common to change regimen or switch drugs after a while. And of course, you want to make sure your dog has not become diabetic and is suffering from diabetic neuropathy.
If you have access to supplements coming from Europe, you might want to try Keltican (link below). Nucleotides have been used in neuropathic pain cause they are thought to help recovery of the myelin sheath (also see links below). My dog uses it for over a year now. I have been unable to decrease dosage cause chewing returns whenever I try to do it. So I am convinced it helps. I was unable to find similar supplements in the US. So if you find them, please let me know.
Best of luck to your dog.
http://www.koelnerliste.com/no_cache/en ... 5D=Produkt
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24835269
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1445472
Re: Foot Chewing 2 Years After Surgery
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 9:39 am
by critters
We've used gabapentin long-term with no problems. We always did periodic stoppages to see if it was still needed.
Re: Foot Chewing 2 Years After Surgery
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2015 12:03 pm
by CarolC
mmcamar wrote:I'm uncertain whether my reply is not coming too late for this question. An alternative to Gabapentin is Pregabalin. It works beautifully.
Having the information on the forum is a huge help to anyone who reads this topic. Thank you!!!
mmcamar wrote:Chewing is a sign of nerve damage. Human patients will beg for foot amputation in order to get rid of the intense itching and pain.
Pregabalin is as safe as Gabapentin, as far as we know. You might want to consult with a specialist in pain management (usually vet anesthesiologists, and the best friend a chronically sick dog can have) - these drugs build tolerance, and it is common to change regimen or switch drugs after a while. And of course, you want to make sure your dog has not become diabetic and is suffering from diabetic neuropathy.
If you have access to supplements coming from Europe, you might want to try Keltican (link below). Nucleotides have been used in neuropathic pain cause they are thought to help recovery of the myelin sheath (also see links below). My dog uses it for over a year now. I have been unable to decrease dosage cause chewing returns whenever I try to do it. So I am convinced it helps. I was unable to find similar supplements in the US. So if you find them, please let me know.
Best of luck to your dog.
http://www.koelnerliste.com/no_cache/en ... 5D=Produkt
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24835269
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1445472
Re: Foot Chewing 2 Years After Surgery
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2015 1:45 pm
by critters
mmcamar! I didn't know that Pregabalin is also being used for nerve problems.
Re: Foot Chewing 2 Years After Surgery
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2015 11:32 pm
by HaleyBear1015
Wish I could find this in the states
