Question about DDD in my GSD Ailsa.

Hi, you might remember that Ailsa had her operation 5 weeks ago. She was diagnosed with Degenerative Disc Disease on the thursday and operated on, on Friday. She was on ABs and tramadol for 3 weeks and seemed to be coming along nicely. Once she started to walk on the lead her back legs seemed to be the straightest they had been for a long time. However, after a week or so she seemed to deteriorate and is now back completely to how she was pre op. My Vet (who didn't do the operation, that was done at an animal hospital) now says that her symptoms, draggy leg, nails scraping, cross leg, drunken walking are now to do with pain in her hips. These were the exact symptoms she had the major back op for, although the x ray did show up the fusion in the spine. She has put her on Metacam (similar) and back on tramadol. She is on her 5th day of it all now and despite not being in any pain (presumably) her walking hasn't improved and she tends to slip on the tiled surface in the house. Logically if she isn't in pain anymore then her walking should improve shouldn't it? but it hasn't. I have been told that the back operation can take months to heal but also have heard of other dogs who have benefitted from the same op being up and running after the one month recovery time; clearly they were not in the same condition as Ailsa who was being treated initially for arthritus for the first 3 months of the problem. I am beginning to think they have dealt with a problem which although was clearly there wasn't the cause of her initial lameness and now she has recovered enough from the operation and off the meds. the original issue remains the same.
If this all sounds v. confusing it is......does anyone have any experience of this operation? I just don't know what to do, I have a terrible feeling I am going to lose her, she is coming up to 8 years old. It's heartbreaking watching her - I don't want to put her through any pain or stress, she clearly isn't one hundred percent happy with the way things are but she hasn't given up the ghost yet. Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Sounds more like DM( Degenerative Myelopathy) than anything else

Oh I feel so sorry for you and your dog. I have no personal experience of dogs with hip dysplasia or DDD. But I do have friends and family members who have recently undergone surgery for both.

I was surprised to learn that pain in one place could indicate a problem in another (and I assume the same could be true for dogs - with the additional problem that the dog cannot 'tell you' exactly where it hurts)

My neighbour had unbearable knee pain. It was actually his hip causing it but his hip didn't hurt! He had a hip replacement and the knee pain vanished. He took a long, long time to recover and is still in some pain, 2 yrs on. Another neighbour has recently had a hip replacement too. She was up and about in no time and now, just weeks later, she is using no aids to walk, swimming with me twice a day and is back to work full time in her shop too. They are of similar age 60 - 70. Just shows how different the outcome and recovery can be for two different people.

My son recently underwent spinal surgery - he has bad degenerative disc disease. The op he had was to relieve the pain and problems in one leg (he could hardly walk and was losing sensation in it too) he still needs another spinal op to fix the problem with his spine - the cause of the problem with his leg! Discectomy for the leg problem. He will need total replacement artificial disc for the back problem.

I was a bit confused that you said they could see 'fusion' - I thought from what I read that once they 'fuse' the problem isn't so bad?

You really need to speak to whoever diagnosed your dog in the first place and maybe ask why the other problem (if there is one) was not seen or pointed out.

Just really saying that I was confused about all this stuff a while back (still am a bit). Of course there is always the fact that just because you've got ONE thing wrong with you doesn't mean you can't have ANOTHER thing wrong with you too.

In your case it seems that whatever it was they 'fixed' it has not got rid of the symptoms that were the reason for the op? I'd be puzzled by that too. If the symptoms are the same.

Going to have a read up about that now JoedeeUK!

I agree with Joedee have you done the knuckling under test with the paw turn it under if she doesn't straighten it that is usually a sign of DM. Or did the vets try this ? The scraping of nails is also another sign how does she do going up kerbs if she struggles or can't co-ordinate them well that too can be tell tale sign.

There are no tests that can be done with all the wizadry equipment that animal hospitals keep to determine DM they just have to rule everything else out first and then it is the conclusion that it is DM.
Ollie's was not picked up till PM although his was in his neck and a rare strain not the usual Sod1 strain .

I hope it is just the recovery of the op for her and that she soon starts to pick up.

Yes I too am hoping that it is just that she is going to be like my first neighbour and taking a long time to get over the op.

Initially the vet was worried that it was DM but having x rayed her she spotted the disc problem and pointed it out to me. She then sent the x rays over to the animal hospital to ask the vet there who carries out all these type of operations whether her diagnosis was correct. He confirmed it was and we went on from there. I have had a dog with DM so am well aware of the symptoms, also that it is quite hard to diagnose as there are other problems which give the same symptoms DDD being one of them as Lynn has said already. I am going to take her back to the Vets but have a feeling she is just going to say as she did last time, that they fixed one problem but she still has other problems! she has HD and arthritus but neither of these seemed to be the cause of her bunny hopping and leg dragging which were the original symptoms....it seems to be that the operation was a complete and utter waste of time and money and put Ailsa through a trauma she didn't really need to go through bless her.

Its an awful feeling but don't feel that way yet you have gone on advice given so don't give up hope she may just be taking a long time to recover from the op.
The x-rays confirmed the disc problem and yes she may have other problems too but you would be feeling bad if you hadn't had the op done.

I felt bad putting Ollie through the trauma of strangers being in hospital for 10 days undergoing test after test only for everything to come back borderline. Goodness knows how I would of felt if I hadn't done that for him in the hope he might be cured or managed. At least in the end it drew a line under it and we knew we had done our utmost best to give him a fighting chance same as you are your girl.
Life can be very cruel sometimes.

Thanks Lynn, yes of course you are right. I couldn't have lived with myself if I hadn't given her the chance with this operation. If the vet tells you it's the way to go , then you go for it don't you? I have been speaking to another vet online who we deal with occasionally on the Animal Rescue side of things and she has said that if the nerve damage around the disc was extensive then this could also be a factor in her not recovering as we had hoped. I am going to wait until my husband returns next Friday to see how she is and then take her back down if she hasn't improved. I suppose I haven't asked about her prognosis because whenever we've gone down she has been treated and of course I hoped that each treatment would work. Will let you know how we get on. xx

Fingers crossed.