Not Sure About Our Vet...

[ESSIE]

Sarah took Dougie to the vet last week and she wants him to go off steroids. She says they don't have much bennifit after 2 weeks. I'm not sure about doing that. The kids are still giving him his steroid and stomache med twice a day and he has another follow up on this Wed. He is walking a little in his crate and when they take him out to potty.
The vet said he needs to be taken out of the crate to walk ect., but after reading so much on here, that doesn't sound right to me. I do know that when someone comes to the door ect, and he gets all worked up trying to walk even in his crate, he seems to suffer for it for a good while and seems to quit trying to do it again for a while. He's going into his 3rd week post injury and what the vet had proposed was giving him more pain meds, but cutting back the steroids. To me, that would make him more likely to push himself too much (due to not having the "warning" of pain) and it takes away watever edge the steroids may give him as far as healing his back. She actually told the kids she was looking on the internet about this.
The vet office has several vets and there are two that they like.Would it be rude to reschedule him to see one of them instead of this lady?

[Cindidoxiemom]

Hi Essie...
Glad you posted. I'm also glad to hear Dougie is doing better.
I don't think your vet is too far off the mark with the steroids.

Long term steroids can be helpful with arthritis and inflamitory problems, but for IVDD or injury...my opinion is that the most benificial time for the steroids is the first few days after injury.

Now...On the crate rest....my opinion would be that another two weeks wouldn't hurt.

How are Dougies bladder/bowel functions hon?
Good to see you again!
Cindi

[critters]

Buddy, my SCI boy, was on pred for several weeks and is now walking, running, and everything, albeit with wobbles and flops.

[Bobbie]

Make sure the steroids are tapered off- they shouldn't be abruptly discontinued.

I had the same problem with my dog when he had ACL surgery and I could not keep him calm in the crate or exercise pen. He just went ballistic when I tried to put him in or when anyone came. You might ask about tranquilizers to keep him calmer. The outcome will likely be better if you can keep him rested as long as possible. With Merlin, we eventually let him out of the confinement as he was doing more jumping in it than out, but he also ended up with a less than 100% satisfactory knee.

Bobbie

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

My St.Jude w/ shattered hips and shot front leg was 'confined' under the kitchen table with chairs on sides around, to keep him in and others out. There are OTC calmer downers out there, Bachs Rescue Remedy as well as a sprinkle on the kibble avail at Petmsart.
You find your comfort level. You do what your gut tells you, as no one knows your puppers like you do. If you have questions, ASK. They don't mind questions, I promise

[Dougie'sMama]

Hey guys. Looks like Dougie's grandma got here before I could!! We did take him to the vet, and it could be that I'm just an overprotective mamma but there were some things that just kinda concerned me. When we took him to his appointment before this last one, the vet had said that she was wanting to take Dougie off the pain medicine, to maybe go prn with it, and that she wanted to further the steroids. This last visit, she said that she wanted to continue the pain meds and quit the steriods until his bottles are empty(???). What a switch. Is this normal?
Bare in mind that this is not the same vet that had seen him from the very beginning, just these last two visits. She had said at this last visit that she didn't think that he would really ever really be able to walk around much, if at all since his injury was due to trauma. However the other two vets from the clinic that had seen Dougie from the get-go claimed that we were lucky that it was a trauma instead of a slip disk caused by walking, jumping etc. Boy am I confused!
The vet also said that we should let him try to walk around the house, avoiding stairs and such, so that he can strengthen his legs. She also suggested a doggie-cart or maybe even some cloth and to hold his hind end up while he tries to walk. The other vets had said to let him have 6wks of crate rest and had really emphasized this point. Quiet, calm, low lights and 6wks of crate rest. It's only going on three wks today.
Thus far, we've been continuing his ROM's, have tried to keep him from "walking" around in his box and have continued to give him the tummy protector and the steroid both in the morning and at night. He's still tucking his back paws under when he stands or "walks" and often sits scissored-legged. He wants out of that box so bad but I still think that he needs the RR in there.
Sorry if it seems as though I went off on a tangent here. I'm just worried about my Dougie and would hate to further any pain or injury on the little guy after all the improvement he's been making. Hope everyone had a great TurkeyDay! Hope to hear from you all soon!

[Cindidoxiemom]

I posted my opinion about the steroids above.

Other than that, I would say that since you have been seeing improvement, continue with what you are doing which is crate rest.
When you take him out to potty, if he walks a little bit to find a "pee spot" that is ok. I would have him on a leash to ensure he doesn't see a cat or bird and try to run on you.

I can't remember..did you have an MRI or CT to see exactly what the injury is? Knowing what is going on with the vertebre and spine specifically is always a help.

Glad to hear Dougie is making progress!
Cindi

[Dougie'sMama]

Sounds good. Thanks. We never had a CT or MRI. They just did an X-ray and said that it was a slipped disk, then they said that it was spinal shock (??). But they said that with the X-ray they couldn't see any fractures or anything, so his back wasn't broken, thank heavens

[Cindidoxiemom]

I'm sure you have already read this on the site; Xray's are not a diagnostic tool for IVDD (aka, disc rupture or "slipped disc). The xray can not see the disc material and therefore can not be used to diagnosis disc problems.

What we do seem to know in Dougie's case is that you are dealing with some kind of spinal trauma...either due to disc pressure or due to impact trauma. Either way, I think you are doing the right thing for Dougie.

Hang in there!
Hugs,
Cini

[Bobbie]

My understanding is that an Xray can sometimes show disk damage, it just cannot rule it out.

Bobbie

[Cindidoxiemom]

It can show differences in the distances between the vertebra, but it can not tell anything about the disc itself. (Well it can tell if it is compressed), but not if the disc is herniated or calcified. An Xray may suggest an issue, but a myelogram, CT or MRI is needed to really see what is happeing with the disc. This is how my surgeon...LOL well not my surgeon, Oscar's surgeon explained it to me.
Cindi

[Dougie'sMama]

thanks bunches guys!
Dougie's starting to wag his tail a bit now too! It's so nice to see him do that again. Before the accident, his tail was always curled around like a reg. pom, but after the accident he just kinda had it hang. It's so reassuring to see these things!! Standing up, a bit o walking and tail waggin!!
I do have a question though. One of the earlier vets had mentioned some kind of treatment for once Dougie's truly up and around. He had mentioned some kind of laser treatment in Stillwater, OK where the laser puts holes in the spine to releave pressure caused by fluids. He had said somethin to the effect that the disks in the spine are kind of like a jelly-filled donut and with a trauma such as Doug's, the "jelly" is either shot out like smashing the donut really fast and the jelly spews out (grossly descriptive) or the disk/"donut" is slowly smushed, causing the "jelly" to just ooze out (still grossly descriptive but I really got the visual). He said that the laser treatment (I can't recall the name for it) would be a one time thing, costing about a grand or so, and would help stregthen his spine in case there were ever the chance that something would happen later by either jumping or running or something. I know that this is something for waaaay down the road and might still be a bit to early to even consider, but since the vet had mentioned it, it sparked my curiousity.

[Cindidoxiemom]

I have heard of this surgery, but I'm not very familiar with it. It is designed , as you described so well, to clean up disc material after a herniation/extrusion. As you know this is IVDD.
I know information has been posted on Dodger's about it...let me see what I can find out.
Cindi