delanie@trsvax (09/24/85)
Dear Net.Pet.World: I am looking for some advice or at least some words of wisdom from people who have dogs suffering from back problems. I have a 9 year old medium sized Mutt (18", 28lbs, terrier cross). After noticing he was having trouble walking with his hind legs, I promptly took him to his vet-doctor. The vet scheduled X-rays and found a problem in the spine. The vet is guessing that it is a collapsed disk between the 11th and 12th vertebrae (middle back). However, is could be related to an injury about 2 years ago when a refrigerator fell on Fritz and chopped his tail off. After this incident, he limped for a day or 2, then seemed fine from then on. The X-ray shows thicker bone in this region. The vet says this could be due to the previous injury or possibly a bone tumor. Regardless, you can see where the spinal cord is restricted. The vet also noticed a slight loss of bladder and bowel control. (It hasn't been noticed at home cause he has a doggie-door.) Treatment so far: Administering a non-cortisone, non-imflamatory drugs to reduce inflammation and hopefully reduce pain. The drug is called Bute. I think it's Butazolidine, but I'm not sure. We'll monitor his progress with this. Then in 6-8 weeks, X-ray again. If there is no improvement, then we can opt for surgery. Does everything I mentioned here jive with anyone else's experiences. Any advice or word of wisdom will be appreciated. Many thanks, Delanie Alcorn delanie@trsvax.UUCP
ayers@convexs.UUCP (09/25/85)
>I am looking for some advice or at least some words of >wisdom from people who have dogs suffering from back >problems. You may not realize it, but there are now "vet" osteopaths and chiropaths (?) that sometimes can help. I realize that the possible seriousness of the problem you describe may call for surgery, but I usually prefer a milder approach first... "Dog World" had an article on this some months back (try a library). Good luck! blues, II