Ambers ben diagnosed with lumbar sacral diease.

Hi after an mri scan , we were told by the speacialist that amber had a spinal tumour, then it changed when her scans were sent to the royal vet college, in london! They said it was lumbar sacrel diease, the surgeon has said amber needs the dangerous risky surgery but at the moment shes doing so well we dont want to put her through it.
She doesnt shwo pain, which i worry about as reading online, it says the dog with it are in pain, and atm shes not on any pain killers, she is okay , running in the field for an hour each day, and climbing the stairs, ok , she will climb on tot he sofa with no problems. She is 7 and was a working obedience dog, but is now retired, has anyone else experienced this with their dogs, the olnly symptoms she has is a slight hind leg weakness and she wont sit , other than that she s not showing anything!

So sorry to hear about Amber's diagnosis. I have no advice or experience, but hopefully someone will be along who has, and who you can chat to. I hope Amber remains comfortable and happy for a long time to come, without surgery if at all possible.

You should have been given some specifics eg is it S7 and L1? Is it something that might change if the bone fuses?

Has something like Gabapentin plus anti inflammatories been discussed?

Have you been referred to orthopaedic specialist at AHT or say The Willows who deal with many spinal surgeries.

It may be that in the area that this is it is not suitable to operate, also have they discussed the very long after care protocols required?

hi the disc that has gone is in the l7 area, near the hips, we have visted bath vet reffarls and seen the neurologist there, and this is where she had the mri done, and we were given the spinal tumour diagnosis , he sent off the scan to royal vet college in london for 2nd opinion and they came back with lumba sacarl diease, also a cyst was found and we already knew she has spondylosis there to!

My physio vet did mention gabapentin , when we thought it was a tumour but when asked if she needed pain killers now she said no, also the bath vet has said amber doesnt seem in pain , but it scares me when all i have read about disc diease says that dogs are in pain !

as i said in other post she isnt showing major pain signs she will jump onto the bed, she will run up the stairs, and is happy running around a huge field for an hour, with no apprent problems, the only things we have noticed is she doesnt sit, and shes not playing with our young gsd as she used to.

our vet in bath has said the surgeon in london has said amber is a candiate for surgery but we are concerend as our own vet here locally has said the op is very risky obv being in the spine, its not a nice recovery having to be cage for twelve weeks, something amber will hate .

she had the cdrm dna test done, to which the results came back as carrier which only means she cud pass it on if she had pups which is a no cos shes spayed, they needed to check she didnt have it incase we go ahead with the op.

im not aware that this sort of thing can be cahnged by the bones fusing as its the disc substance that has come out and its pressing on the spinal cord and nerve, we were told theso called tumour, was growing around the spinal cord, but royal college have said its lumba sacrel diease!

If your dog is in pain you will see this, she may lead a very long happy life as long as you do not ask her to jump, run after a ball (twisting etc) and other "gymnastics" required to compete at top level obedience.

I expect your vet will be able to provide the relevant medications should they be required, on and as and when process.

Sometimes you have to make dynamic risk assessments as you go along when you have a dog diagnosed with a condition such as this.

You could divert your interests into tracking etc.

thanks, amber was retired as soon as the vet thought it was a tumour, and when we go out , she carries her ballie, but we never throw,it if she drops we always send her back to get it and she loevs working for it!

She wont be doing any other sport for now, just having a enjoyable retiremnet as she is 7 , she will countinue if she can to come to obed shows with me and mum as her two gsds still compete, and amber like sto see her firends, and have arun around etc.
am seeing my physio vet tommrow, for water treadmill and will ask abotu pain relief, although i dont know if she will have it.

we are being reffered to london to see speailist up there hopefully beg of june, to clairfy whats wrong and what we may or may not do about the op.

the worst that will happen is that amber cud end up paralyzed if the disc comes out , and tha wud be an emergancy then, so we need to way up the pros and cons of it all.