DunesMom

I think there is one certified animal chiropractor about 45 miles away; the one we tried before was a vet who became a chiro (don't know if that's a big difference or not). It didn't seem to help -- do you think a certified one would? If so, I'll make the drive. Dune travels well. Adequan worked for a year and a half, with the shots increasingly close together as it lost efficacy. Now even weekly shots bring no relief. He does still eat well, though he's lost a lot of muscle in the last six months and eats only soft foods now. He still begs for peanut-butter biscuits and we make fish or chicken and veggies for him every night when we cook for us, and he scarfs it up happily. But he won't touch regular kibble and even with top-quality canned food, eats about half a can at a shot, then comes back later for the rest. He's always been finicky and never overeaten even with free-choice kibble and can, so I don't consider this unusual for him.

I'm not sure why they called it "quackery" either, but your explanation makes sense. I just want to make him comfortable now; we have tried Adequan which worked for a while, but now even weekly shots haven't helped for the past four months. Dune shows pain using the test from Dr. Stack's article, but according to the neuro, that still doesn't mean it's definitely LS, although all of his symptoms and the slow worsening over years seems to indicate that it is. How fast will we see a difference?

Dune has always collapsed in the tub, so does my vet's grey. Water temp doesn't matter; we've tried hot, cold, warm...he still slowly collapses and has to be held up the whole time. It takes two of us to bathe him -- thank goodness we have a big tub!

I'm new to board and have searched LS extensively. THANK YOU to all who have posted on this board in the past! My almost-14 y.o. boy has lumbosacral stenosis. Background (you can skip to problems/questions if you want): For 3 years it's progressed slowly, controlled by glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM/herbal supplements, fish oil and derramax, then metacam. Last six months it has progressed rapidly. Acupuncture helped a little but not much. Chiro didn't seem to help at all, though he liked going. Tramadol did not ever seem to make a difference at the dose prescribed previously (40mg 2x/day). Saw a neuro three weeks ago who said Dune's too old for surgery, so instead we went on prednisone oral 2x/day and 50mg tramadol 2x/day. Some improvement on pred + tramadol but not much; tramadol at higher dose does seem to help though he's more unsteady and a bit dopey when I first give it. Breaking dose into 4x/day, 25mg each time, seems to keep him somewhat comfortable and still alert. Lots of panting on this regimen, which I understand is normal, though it worries me that it's pain and not normal steroid/tramadol panting, though he otherwise seems okay: eating, following me room to room although it's tough to get up and down. The problem(s): 1. My boy is hard to pill. I and my vet are the only two who seem able to reliably put a pill down his throat. He is not food motivated and will refuse food that has had a pill snuck into it previously (for two years now he has refused to eat cottage cheese, hot dogs or lunch meat of any kind because a dogsitter tried to pill him that way). I have no choice but leave him in the care of his beloved dog-godparents for three weeks soon, and even though they can pill their own dogs, they've never been able to pill him. I need a non-pill way to give tramadol and steroids. 2. My neuro and vet both say the depo-medrol injections have no more effect than oral or other injectable steroids and it's not a magic pill. They are loathe to try it because it is a long-acting steroid and if he has a reaction, we can't undo it. They both said that the Depo-Medrol injection is "an old wives' tale" without any studies showing efficacy (beyond what you'd see with oral prednisone). They also say there are serious side effects and it's considered "quackery" now to use it in dogs. My regular vet is willing to try it for me if I insist, though. It's up to me on Monday afternoon. I am leaning toward trying it, mainly because of problem #1 -- this will reduce the number of pills the dogsitters must get in him. My question: Does anyone know of any validated research on both the efficacy of depo medrol for LS and the side effects? Does anyone know of a way to give tramadol in a liquid form from a syringe, and is this easier for people than pilling? Does anyone have other suggestions?

Dune's been on Drs. Foster & Smith's Joint Care 3 and for years it's made a huge difference in his LSS and arthritis. Twice we ran out; after a couple days he was so sore we thought something else was wrong, and it lasted until he'd been back on them for several days. Vet said the effect has to build up, sometimes takes a week or so. We just keep him on it. Plus, they smell and must taste like bacon. Dune won't eat anything that tastes off; won't even touch cottage cheese or lunch meat now that we tried to sneak a nasty prednisone tablet into each. One taste, and two years later he won't touch them.