Slipped Discs

Fleet is a 12 year old English Setter with the sweetest of temperaments.

He has been undergoing tests to find out why he is drinking so much water and at the same time he has developed skin problems.

As if this was not enough, at 5 am on Monday I got up to find one of his back legs was all mishapen and dangling loosely. I thought it was a dislocated hip. Rushed him to the vets where he was xrayed and it revealed spinal damage - possibly 2 slipped discs.

One of the vets scared me with tales of £1500 for an MRI scan, major surgery and a long stay in hospital. However, I decided to sleep on it (well not very well)

I visited him in hospital and he could weight bear on both back legs which was an improvement, but he was miserable and didnt want to eat.

I went back the next day and my own vet supported my decision to act conservatively and treat the problem with medication, rest and managed exercise.

Fleet is home now, able to walk and possibly a little better.

He is still not a well boy with this undiagnosed problem but one thing at a time.

Has anyone any experience of slipped discs treated in this way rather than by surgery ? How did your dog get on. Fleet is too elderly and poorly to put him under the stress of being away from home and the surgery. We just want him to be stress and pain free for the time he has left.

Thalice's (and Fleet's) Mum

My Weimaraner bitch suffered a slipped disc just over 2 years ago. She was 10 yr 3 months at the time. It just started off with her waking up one morning and not wanting to get out of bed, she did get up but something was not quite right. To cut a long story short, we turned down MRI scan as the 2 hour journey wouldn't have been fair on her. My vet said an op could a) make her better b) make her worse c) leave her the same and agreed with my decision to try rest and medication.

She started off on metacam and tramadol with some ABs as there was a high temp indicating infection. The tramadol had to be increase to maximum dose and the metacam replaced with steroids for a few weeks. I spent 3 months sleeping on the sofa to be near her as she couldn't get up stairs, she only went out to toilet with help. this lasted for several weeks but slowly slowly she got better.

She eventually got off all meds except for metacam which she is still on at a lower dose. It is now 2 years 2 months since it started. She will always have a slight weakness in her back end but apart from that she is fine, the light of my life and is almost 12 1/2

I meant to add that I got so close to having her PTS because she was in so much pain and it was someone on another forum saying that you have to give a month before you start to see improvement which saved her life.

This led me to do a google search which brought up the same advice from lots of different sources.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

No experience sorry.

Sending (((hugs))).

Thank you Joto. Fleet has been home for 24 hours now and there has been marginal improvement. He is in Metacam and I was offered Tramadol but we had a nasty experience with that with the late and lovely Thalice. It's narcotics based and I think it gave her hallucinations. I have opted for co-codamol with Fleet. We are taking it in turns to sleep with him 24/7 but we are quietly confident that he will keep improving.

This was one of the options I had to consider on Monday night - I'm glad I didnt. You only want to do the very best for your dog, dont you ? You obviously did the right thing and I take great heart from your experiences.

Thank you, Lynn

Hugs very much appreciated and needed at this time.

Maud

So sorry to hear this
I opted for the surgery with my last GSD (he was 8 yrs old) - 2 ops, £10,000, 6 months later I had to have him PTS
The slipped disc was fixed with the surgery, it was the scar tissue that thickened and pressed on his spinal cord that resulted in the 2nd op and then it happened again.
That is an encouraging story from joto - fingers crossed that you see improvement on the meds x

Thank you Tokiayla

Just spent a lovely evening cuddling Fleet and he has now gone to bed in a big plush bed along with his (equally rickety) brother Flash. He seems much more mobile, does not appear to be in pain, and has actually been hungry - so I am hoping I have made the right decision. I am so sorry about your boy but I am sure you made the right decision at the time, its a difficult choice, but if Fleet had been younger I too would have opted for surgery.

Maud

I went through this with my spaniel. The thing is there's no text book case so what works for some doesn't work for others as every case is different depending on the severity. Your dog might do absolutly fine on the complete rest and painkillers so please don't worry.

Have a google of Intervertebral Disc Disease in Dogs.
I read quite a bit when my spanial was first diagnosed with a disc problem so was well aware of how things could go.
The first indication of a problem i got was she wouldn't come down the stairs. We managed ok for 3 weeks with carrying her up and down and resting etc but then her legs started to wobble it was new year 10. I spoke to vet and asked to be refereed asap and asked for a rough price and have to say what you were quoted is very cheap i was quoted between £2,500-£4,500. I did say yes whatever money doesn't matter but it wasn't to be as the next morning she was completly paralized with loss of bowel and bladder functions so i knew it would be absolutly major surgery with a 50% success rate and she was nearly 13 so couldn't put her through it.

Have a read up and you will see not all dogs go on to have major problems. Good luck with Fleet i have my fingers crossed for you.

The long story cut short was the 10 days when Ellie seemed to get better and then get worse again, it was only then that we went for Xrays, blood tests and had a dye injected for the xrays. She came out of the vets much worse than she went in, from all th moving her about for position while under GA and had to be carried to the car.

My vet said that when he said rest he meant total rest, only out of bed for toileting. I brought her food and water to her bed, she didn't want to move. She was taken out about every 4 hours,with a big towel under her for support and was only let go of when we got to the grass, for a softer landing in case she fell, which she did sometimes.

There were many more setbacks along the way if I reduced the meds too quickley. Now she can climb, not jump, onto the sofa/bed. She can put her front feet on the back of the car but I lift her back end in. She can run and jog, if you met her on a walk you wouldn't know there was anything wrong. If she stands still for any length of time, her back end will go down and I can see the weakness, the momentum comes from the front rather than pushing from the back. My almost 15 yr old can still jump on the bed in a single bound, but the important thing is she is happy, she loves her walks, she loves her food and I love the cuddles.

Try to make sure he has complete rest, it is a long job.

My Dobermann suffered two slipped discs in his neck about 3 years ago it must be. He had several bouts of neck pain...walking round with his head hung low, unable to turn his neck, awful screaming whenever he tried to bark at anything, and it also affected the mobility of his front right leg. After several episodes of this we decided to send him in for an MRI scan which confirmed the slipped discs.

We were told that surgery would only be advisable if you were in a hopeless situation that showed no signs of improvement (i.e. the dog was literally paralysed and unable to walk and showed no signs of regaining mobility). The neurologist said we could opt for surgery if we wanted to but she really advised against it as it can and does go wrong leaving the dog far worse off than it was before.

I can't remember the exact protocol we followed (have it in my notes somewhere!) but it was several weeks of rest followed by several months of short lead walks, gradually working him back up to full strength. I was told in no circumstances should he ever be allowed to jump on/off the sofa or in/out of the car etc again and the biggest change of all was that I have never ever attached a lead to his collar again. He wears a collar for ID but always walks on a harness and I never get hold of his collar at all. I believe that my dogs problem was caused by repeatedly lunging at cats when being walked on a collar. He's only had one relapse (when I had bought him a different harness which fitted higher on his neck - stupid!). I had to go all through the rest/restrictions again and went back to his other harness (a Perfect Fit one from the Dog Games website) and he's had no further problems.

I was told that the discs never return to their normal position, although they may "shrink" somewhat, but the important thing is keeping inflammation around them down by modifying the dogs lifestyle as above.

Fingers crossed your dog makes a full recovery.