register for free
View our sister sites
Our sister sites
Our sister sites
Our sister sites
Maureen19
Dogsey Junior
Maureen19 is offline  
Location: Banff, Aberdeenshire
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 24
Female 
 
19-07-2010, 05:09 PM

Pain management for spondylitis


Hi I have just joined this site hoping to find anything out about others who have dogs with Spondylitis.

I have a 5 year old bitch dobie who has just been diagnosed with bad - as the vet described it - spondylitis and I am trying to manage her pain.

Its so upsetting. and sudden and only 5 years old too.
Maureen.
Reply With Quote
ClaireandDaisy
Dogsey Veteran
ClaireandDaisy is offline  
Location: Essex, UK
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 14,147
Female 
 
19-07-2010, 06:09 PM
Spondylitis is quite common in older dogs, and there`s a lot you can do. A bony spur grows on the vertebrae and tends to pinch the nerve and also causes inflammation round it. Then the body tends to adjust, so you`ll find the condition appears to come and go.
With my old boy, I found warmth, rest, gentle excercise (not getting overtired) and a soft bed were essential. He had supplements like glucosamine and chondroitin, plus MSM and cod liver oil.
Alternative treatments worked well - he had acupuncture for the pain and a chiropractor when he had a really bad back. The vet showed me how to massage gently down either side of the spine. kneading the muscles. You`ll feel where the tension is.
And he had anti-inflamatories when he needed them.
Swimming was good too. As long as he was dried off after so he didn`t get cold. And he had a coat in winter.
Reply With Quote
Magic
Dogsey Senior
Magic is offline  
Location: uk
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 359
Female 
 
19-07-2010, 08:56 PM
If it is spondylitis as opposed to spondylosis, you may find tramadol can be good for the spinal neurological pain in combination with plt or nsaids if the pain is very bad. I'm not too sure of your dog's particular condition, but it may well be that once the spurs are established,the pain will lessen.

Good luck.
Reply With Quote
Maureen19
Dogsey Junior
Maureen19 is offline  
Location: Banff, Aberdeenshire
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 24
Female 
 
19-07-2010, 09:56 PM
Hi Magic,

Chloe is a 5 year old doberman, she has had spondulosis/litis for a number of years according to an old Xray my vet did of her for something else when she was around 2 years old (but I was never told of this).

Now at 5, she was showing signs of pain to me and I took her to vets they xrayed twice and compared to the old xrays and they can se that the spurs have grown in two places and tell me that they are almost fused on one of them. My vet says that the pain almost stops once fused, but until then he put her on Rimadyl which I dont like from when my last Doberman was on it for 4 years with arthritis in the legs and feet.

My Dobie didnt really get much pain relief with Rimadyl so today I spoke to vet and he has got her now on Metacam and I think (fingers crossed) that this seems to be giving her more relief as she has chased a couple of rabits and seemed to be better when out walking.

I exercise her 4 times a day, 3 of those on short limbering up walks which seem to free up the pain a bit. But the mornings are the worse, she wont eat and looks miserable but is a different dog around 3 in the afternoon when she get her walk in the forest every day.

I am doing my very best as she is only 5 and i am trying to massage her spine too, although I have yet t learn how to do this properly.

I love her and she will be my last dog and had hoped she would go on to around 10 when at this age my others have always died, Dobermans are very short lived dogs and if you manage to get one to 11 you have done something right or luck was with you.

I dont know how this will pan out, I will get her xrayed again in 8 weeks to see if these have fused and also if any other vertibrae are growing spurs (I hope not) although my vet told me one of his own dogs, a spaniel had spurs on every single vertibrae and lived until 15. So hope for us all.

If anyone has any good ending stories about their own dog with this conditon and how they managed it long term I would like to hear some good news. For now I am not going to go down the acupuncture route as right now she needs definate pain relief as she is a tough girl so if she is showing signs of pain, it must be bad.

Thanks to all who have answered me.
Maureen.
Reply With Quote
ClaireandDaisy
Dogsey Veteran
ClaireandDaisy is offline  
Location: Essex, UK
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 14,147
Female 
 
20-07-2010, 08:07 AM
Originally Posted by Maureen19 View Post

If anyone has any good ending stories about their own dog with this conditon and how they managed it long term I would like to hear some good news.
For now I am not going to go down the acupuncture route as right now she needs definate pain relief as she is a tough girl so if she is showing signs of pain, it must be bad.

Thanks to all who have answered me.
Maureen.
The Acupuncture isfor pain relief, and can be done while the dog is on other pain relief medication.
Here`s my boy (the Pointer) who developed Spondylosis when he was 7 or 8. This is his 15th birthday party in the Park with his friends. The vest harness was to help him up and down steps., and he wore that for his last 6 months. .

Reply With Quote
Borderdawn
Dogsey Veteran
Borderdawn is offline  
Location: uk
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 18,552
Female 
 
20-07-2010, 09:19 AM
Are you sure its Spondylitis and not Cervical Spondylopathy?
Reply With Quote
Maureen19
Dogsey Junior
Maureen19 is offline  
Location: Banff, Aberdeenshire
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 24
Female 
 
20-07-2010, 10:11 AM
Originally Posted by Borderdawn View Post
Are you sure its Spondylitis and not Cervical Spondylopathy?
well I can only go on vets advice and I have seen the spurs on the xrays myself.

Many thanks Maureen
Reply With Quote
Dobermonkey
Almost a Veteran
Dobermonkey is offline  
Location: Leicestershire
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,402
Female 
 
20-07-2010, 11:16 AM
What was she xrayed for originally? I would be going stratospheric if my vet never mentioned something like that at the time?
Reply With Quote
Maureen19
Dogsey Junior
Maureen19 is offline  
Location: Banff, Aberdeenshire
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 24
Female 
 
20-07-2010, 12:19 PM
Originally Posted by Dobermonkey View Post
What was she xrayed for originally? I would be going stratospheric if my vet never mentioned something like that at the time?
hI, when she was young she used to have a problem sometimes swallowing so this is what the xray was done for... and yes when last year we found out that Spondylitis was detected back then b ut nothing said to us, my Husband went bananas to them. But like all things what is done is done and its true it was so minimal back then and the vet concerned is no longer at the practice.

So its the now we are thinking of more than anything else.

She is doing better on Metacam these last 2 days and when she walks yuo wouldnt think anything was wrong with her and when you consider that one of them is at the point of fusing (so v.painful) and the other is almost at this point she is doing very well.

From my experience of Dobies though and have had 6 of them over the years and GSD and Corgi too, the Dobies are tough dogs, never showing pain and I think this is why the Military used them and still do. Which is good in one way but bad in another as I had no idea she was so far along with the spondylosis as she hid it well.

She is getting lots of care and I hope to have her for a long time yet as only 5 just gone now, but who knows, these things can suddenly get worse and I would never put myself befor any of my pets, I would never ever let them suffer if nothing could be done to stop the pain, but hopefully that wont happen,

Thankyou for your reply though... its kind of you to care.
Maureen.
Reply With Quote
Dobermonkey
Almost a Veteran
Dobermonkey is offline  
Location: Leicestershire
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,402
Female 
 
20-07-2010, 12:43 PM
im pretty sure one of the dobes on the dobermannrehoming forum have spond'something' maybe have a look on there? Ill go and have a look for you anyhoo x
Reply With Quote
Reply
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 >


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools


© Copyright 2016, Dogsey   Contact Us - Dogsey - Top Contact us | Archive | Privacy | Terms of use | Top