Spondylosis Secondary To Spinal Instability

[Guest EmergencyOps]

Well, months (and even a year or two) of hearing an occasional yelp of pain after a day of backyard play ... has become the rule rather than the exception.

 

Our 9 year old gal (celebrating her 10th birthday next month) developed Spondylosis...secondary to spinal instability. I don't have a lot of details, as her sudden turn for the worse occurred as I was leaving for another deployment. Sunday, we went for a light jog...something we have done ever since we adopted her back late 2009. She began walking and stopping, adamately telling me she wasn't going to go much further. At one point, she saw some deer and began running (making a tall guy like me have to try and keep pace on the other end of the leash). But I ended up having to carry her part of the way home.

 

The following two nights, she had difficulty sleeping. She couldn't get comfortable, and I awoke often to find her in the standing position...panting. Baby Aspirin helped during the first night, but seemed less effective on the second night. I deployed...and had the wife take Anita to the Vet.

 

X-Rays and exams showed the aforementioned Spondylosis secondary to spinal instability. She was prescribed an NSAID and a narcotic for the pain. There's many things she will never be allowed to do again: chasing deer along the fenceline, playing chase with the terrier, going down an decline (if needed, doing a zig-zag pattern for a better rise/run ratio), etc.

 

I don't know much other than that. Anita woke the baby tonight when she barked loudly and repeatedly in pain. Hopefully the Rx takes full effect soon and we'll make her bedding even more comfortable. Surgery is pretty much out of the question, but I'm willing to try many avenues short of that. Any ideas/suggestions/stories?

[msjpk]

I would try chiropractor or acupuncture for pain control ASAP.

Poor baby and hope she feel better soon.

[kudzu]

Some ideas:

-- Chiropractic but be very, very, very, & let me stress, very careful while vet you allow to do chiropractic on a dog with this condition. A good vet can make it much better. A bad one can make it much worse. Mediocre can make your dog temporarily more uncomfortable with no long term benefit.

-- Acupuncture for pain control, sometimes better than drugs.

-- Gabapentin for nerve pain. As little as 100 mg 2-3 times a day could make her much more comfortable. It works very well in combination with other meds like NSAIDs & tramadol.

-- NSAIDs can help a great deal for pain related to inflammation &/or orthopedic based. They may not always be necessary but is often of great benefit in the beginning. Some may need it only periodically after that.

-- Omega 3 EFA from fish oil (body oil from cold water fish, not cod liver oil) can help a lot. It acts as an antiinflammatory. What dose is hard for me to say. Maybe someone else can help. For comparison, my girl has an autoimmune disease that is responsive to Omega 3 EFA, particularly EPA. She is 60 lbs & was prescribed 1000 mg EPA per day. EPA is only one component of fish oil. The type I buy has 300 mg EPA per 1000mg capsule. So she is getting 4 capsules per day.

-- Additional B vitamins, especially B-12 can be help with pain & also give many other important benefits. Periodic sub-q injections of B-12 were a big help to my senior Grey with spinal arthritis, which is basically what spondylosis is.

-- Adequan injections have been a lifesaver for some dogs. Though not all respond to it, it is certainly worth a try. It helps many & for some it seems like a small miracle. It seems expensive to purchase but you can give the injections sub-q at home & the bottle lasts a good while so in the end it is cost effective.

-- Regular, gentle exercise is important for maintaining muscle mass to help support the spine & other joints. Exercise may hurt but it can also be a big help. Try walking instead of jogging. Try to find a relatively level area.

 

Those are my ideas for now. Have probably forgotten some. Good luck.

[greyhead]

Very good advice! (Both our greys have spinal issues, and we've used just about all the treatments Kudzu mentioned, to good effect.) I would just stress how important it will be to keep muscle, which can be done with, say, two 30-minute walks a day.

[kudzu]

I forgot to mention cold laser treatments. They are becoming more readily available in our area relatively reasonable prices if you purchase a package of treatments, like six. I think it is done twice a week initially & then follow up treatments vary with the dog from once a week to once every couple months. A friend was just telling me about this yesterday. She bought a package of treatments from her vet but with great skepticism. She did it basically out of desperation. She has a late middle aged, tripod Great Dane. My friend said after the second treatment her dog started acting like a puppy. They still have a couple treatments left but she is already sold on it. The vet apparently bought the equipment after she had a knee injury & had cold laser treatments during rehab. One of the vet techs confessed to sneaking back & using it on herself because it helped her as well. Makes me think I should sign my 10 yo up for it.

[Guest EmergencyOps]

Thank y'all for the great tips. I guess her back feels better when she is not laying down, which explains why she would rather stand up a lot at night rather than lay down. I will certainly look into acupuncture, chiropracty, cold lasers, something called AdequanR (widely used for performance horses) ... and anything else to help ease her pain and slow the progress of the disease.

[greyhoundgang]

I'll second some of these and add some more - all holistic care:

 

1. Acupuncture - will help immediately. List of holistic vets at AVHMA.

 

2. Yucca Intensive - for inflammation without side effects. Assume blood work was done before giving NSAIDs. If keeping her on NSAID, use a Kidney/Liver Support to keep her organs strong.

 

3. Joint supplements - Glucosamine, MSM, Chondroitin, Vitamin C, CMO. Testimonials to their positive powers.

 

4. Adequan shots - basically souped up glucosamine

 

5. Rugs on all slick surfaces.

 

6. Dr. Stack the Deck for Health booklet has info about depo-medrol shots when there appears to be no other recourse.

 

Hope she gets some relief soon.