Laser Therapy?

[tuff]

My boy Tiger has injured his neck. He is on Rimadyl and tramadol but is still in a lot of pain with yelping when trying the shift on his bed or rise. The vet mentioned the possibility of laser treatments. Does anyone have any positive experience with this. Tiger is very stressed out when at the vets, with constant shaking and panting, so I don't want to sign up for it, if it will have marginal value. Also, any thoughts on the number of treatments? They offer singles, and packages of 6 or 10 at a reduced rate.

Thanks

Julie

[macoduck]

My mutt girl PUdge had a series of laser treatments. It helped her shoulder a lot. Normally she would be quite shy at a vet visit. But when we arrived for the second treatment she knew what would happen and was pulling to go into the laser treatment room and hop up on the bed.

My girl who would never let me dress her up willingly wore her sunglasses during the treatment session.

My vet required an xray first to rule out bone cancer before beginning treatment.

[tbhounds]

I would start by adding an additional medication-robaxin.

[krissy]

I'm a huge fan of laser therapy. Kili currently gets it regularly for her minor back tweaking issues. I also use it on wounds and surgical sites like crazy. I even sometimes laser myself.

 

Robaxin is a good option for medication to add in for pain relief, but laser actually stimulates healing which you don't get from the other medications.

[seeh2o]

I'm convinced that Doodles cold laser was the most important thing we did for her after her FCE last December. After she came home from the hospital she received it 3 days a week for about a month. She's always very stressed when going anywhere, shakes like a leaf at the vet's, but the first cold laser treatment, she climbed up on the vet's lap and fell sound asleep for at least 20 minutes. She's getting follow up treatment one a month now. She's almost 100% back to normal. Now that it's nice outside, we've been doing it outside on the vet's patio, she's a lot less stressed out there.

 

Talk to your vet first, though, to see if the issue is a good candidate for cold laser! Good luck, I hope it's as helpful for your boy as it has been for my girl.

Edited April 3, 2015 by seeh2o

[MandysMom]

Mandy had laser treatments for about the last year of her life. I think they (along with acupuncture and physical therapy) got me extra time with her.

[NeylasMom]

I am a big fan of cold laser. Has helped Zuri with wound healing and his LS. But I do also agree about getting different or another med on board. I am not a fan of steroids, but when Neyla tweaked her neck it was quickly fixed by steroids - I can't remember if they injected her or gave oral meds, but I think it was an injection and in a day or two she was pretty much back to normal. Of course, that was many years ago and may not be appropriate in your case, and you cannot give them with the NSAID on board I think.

 

We use Robaxin (muscle relaxer) for Zuri's LS as well and that can be added safely to your current regimen. It may just make him sleepy.

[tuff]

Thank you everyone.

This happened yesterday morning. He is not acting any better this afternoon. Maybe it is too soon to expect much improvement? He has a really hard time laying down. He circles the bed, then just stops and stares at me. Getting up causes multiple yelps. It tears my heart. We will go back to the vet tomorrow and ask about Robaxin. Are there different types of laser therapy? Cold therapy was mentioned. Is this the same treatment that Pudge had?

[macoduck]

Yes, PUdge had the cold laser treatment.

[NeylasMom]

Cold laser is what we do as well.

[tuff]

Appointment today at 3:30

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

You may also consider a chiropractor in addition to the laser therapy. I have a boy that has some soft tissue injury that flares up in his shoulder and neck area. He gets an adjustment, then laser treatment for a few weeks. Works wonders. Any knowledgeable vet will require x-rays prior to using laser therapy due to the possibility of osteo in greyhounds. The laser would actually exacerbate the cancer should it be the cause.

[tuff]

He got his first laser treatment. 45 minutes of driving for a 3 minute treatment. I bought a package of 6 treatments. We do #2 tomorrow. Definitely a money maker for the vet.

 

Maybe it is owner placebo effect, but he seems a little better a couple of hours later. Well enough to stumble coming up the deck stairs and get a decent sized skin tear on his shin This dog will be the death of me.

 

Vet didn't suggest an X-ray, but his presentation was almost exactly like 2 years ago, when the e-vet thought it was his neck, but I insisted on X-rays to rule out osteo and then we went on an expensive wild goose chase for an abnormality in the humerus that we ended up consulting Dr. C and then just monitoring and he got better and its been two years, so not osteo.

 

Starting Robaxin also.

 

Thank you everyone

[seeh2o]

I hope it helps!

 

Wow, only 3 minutes? I only have my experience to go by, but Doodles treatments last 15 - 20 minutes without acupuncture.

[GreyPoopon]

Another vote for laser therapy. Treatments brought Cal back from the brink a number of times, and bought her several extra months. We're now keeping Pink going with (drugs and) laser treatments.

 

It's not unusual to see benefits in the first 24-36 hours, but sometimes multiple treatments are required. Pink, who has arthritis in her hips and shoulders, goes every week for maintenance.

 

ETA: Pink's treatments are 32 minutes: 16 on the right hip and 16 on the right shoulder.

Edited April 4, 2015 by GreyPoopon

[NeylasMom]

3 minutes?! Ours takes about 15, maybe 20.

[krissn333]

Sutra injured BOTH of his knees. I had to CARRY him into the vet's office for his first treatment. He trotted out on his own. I can't say enough good things about cold laser therapy.

 

We did what they call a 6 pack - 3 treatments one week, 2 the next, and one the following week. It was worth every penny.

 

I can also attest that Robaxin is great - I've used it for several of my dogs with good results. Miss Carrie needed prednisone instead of Rimadyl when she hurt her back, though. Rimadyl just wasn't helping but the prednisone had her up and at 'em overnight.

[tuff]

Hmmm, anybody else want to make any comments about the 3 minutes. I was a little shocked, but hadn't researched ahead. The vet tech said it could take even less time if they turned it up. They were giving so many joules and apparently they could be given in the 3 minutes.

He's definitely feeling better tonite. Chewing on a bully stick. Maybe we will get some sleep tonite

 

Kristin, how long did your treatments take?

[lovinggreysslp]

When Holmes and Cosmo had cold laser treatments each session took at least 20 minutes.

[NeylasMom]

Well I will at least say this. We go for Zuri's LS, so he's getting it all down his spine, around his hips, in his groin and briefly on his front legs. The neck is a much smaller area. We also did cold laser for a wound he had once, a tiny one, and I can't remember how long it took. We go in on Tuesday for a treatment. If I can remember I can ask my vet about it if you'd like.

[Bogangles]

With my boy we did a six week trial. I am sure we were there for at least 15+ minutes each time -- I also requested that they put blankets down on the ceramic floor.

He had back issues and went down the whole length of his back.

Edited April 4, 2015 by Bogangles

[PrairieProf]

Laser treatments for Beth have always just been a couple of minutes, though mostly they've been localized for wounds. I had laser on my knee and it was just a few minutes. You don't do it long in any spot.

[tuff]

Yes, today I watched them set the software up. They entered a bunch of stuff for size of area, location, color of fur, color of skin, etc. It came out to 3 minutes. They could adjust the wattage which would also influence the time. She treated the skin tear too, 38 sec.

 

With 5 rambunctious dogs, I wonder what a laser costs

[krissn333]

Sutra's treatments were about 10-15 minutes, I believe. Both knees though.

[Guest emilyjohn]

We have 3 greyhounds and one of them is getting laser therapy at the moment. We originally brought him to the vet because of limping in the left front leg. X-rays thankfully did not reveal any osteo problems but his 4th & 5th digits may have some arthritis from previous traumas. We then had further problems to the pad on his 4th digit which actually developed an abscess and had to be drained. He's currently on Cephalexin and also Gabapentin and Tramadol. It's hard to tell at this point how the laser therapy is helping him since his problem has been complicated by the pad issue. He seems to enjoy them though and is signed up for 6 treatments (we have 2 remaining). At the last visit just the other day, he actually lay down in the vet's office and was quite relaxed. Laser therapy is a non-invasive therapy and certainly can't hurt.