Comments on: Intervertebral Disc Disease (IVDD) in Dogs

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 08:08:21 +0000

In reply to Olga. Hi Olga. That sounds like a terrible situation and I hope your vet can help you out quickly.

By: Olga

Olga — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 08:37:09 +0000

Hello! Our 8 year old Goldendoodle had his hind leg amputated 3 weeks ago for osteomyelitis. 2 weeks after surgery he didn’t seem to have any issues and was recovering fine. Last week we noticed that he was having issues standing or getting up from the hardwood floors, his legs were slipping to the sides. We thought his remaining back leg was weak. Over the course of the last few days his remaining back leg got progressively worse, its wobbly, he is not aware of its position, sometimes its in the middle ,sometimes too far out. He seems to be losing control over it by the hour. He couldn’t put any weight on it today. We are at loss at what to do next. We have a vet appointment tomorrow.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 20:01:27 +0000

In reply to John Aulich. Hi John. There are several options here. You can continue making appointments with your Vet, as long as you are concerned, but please combine this with strict cage rest. You probably are correct that a disc is involved, and so keeping your dog as still as possible is very important. Your other option is to seek advanced imaging like CT or MRI to further shed light on the problem. Good luck.

By: John Aulich

John Aulich — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 05:50:18 +0000

Hello,

My dog is exhibiting symptoms that look very in line with IVDD. When my partner came home form work, my dog was on the couch, with her hind and front legs perched on the edge of the couch while looking downward. She got startled when she heard the door open and i think she perked up, yelped, hopped off the couch and continued yelping all the way downstairs to my partner.

We booked a vet appointment, because she didn’t want to move and would lie down shaking, and would yelp when we try to move her. She walks fine (no limp) but it’s hard for her to, and she’ll plop her butt down afterwards and shake. The vet couldn’t find anything wrong with her, because she didn’t exhibit really any symptoms while being examined and put through range of motion testing. I was prescribed Rimadyl. After the vet appointment, her previously mentioned symptoms resumed, and she’s still in a lot of pain. What do you recommend?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 21:30:41 +0000

In reply to Jenna Lawrence. Hi Jenna. It’s hard for me to make a judgement without knowing the age, sex, and breed of your dog, but generally unexplained yelping is either caused by musculoskeletal disease (especially spinal as your vet suggested), ear infections and anxiety. Perhaps you should consider referral to a specialist since this is clearly a very difficult case.

By: Jenna Lawrence

Jenna Lawrence — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 07:59:59 +0000

Hi! My dog has been randomly yelping daily for a month now. My original vet said xray, ultrasound and blood work is normal and sent me home with Meloxicam & gabapentin for first two weeks, then just gabapentin for next two weeks bc said Meloxicam isn’t healthy long term. Didn’t see improvement first two weeks, and the next two weeks didn’t see improvement on just gabapentin either. Went to new vet who suspected neck injury based on yelping and turning her neck to side which caused yelp but performed CT scan which was also inconclusive . He sent us home with more aggressive pain management including meloxicam, Tramadol, and Methocarbamol. Said she can go on walk s normally. Don’t need to crate. Still no great improvement. Any suggestions??? We feel so lost! And, we have greatly reduced her activity, blocked couches/beds, but haven’t tried crating yet. She will be so upset in a crate all day but oh well…

By: Wendy M.

Wendy M. — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 01:35:25 +0000

In reply to Andrew. Thank you! I was thinking X-rays as well, but I wouldn’t be able to afford mri or ct scan. Hopefully they’ll see something with the X-rays. Also, I just read your blog about redistributing your workload! And your upcoming adventure to NZ! I hope everything works out and I’m super jealous of your NZ trip. I’m in the USA and a dream of mine is to visit NZ! (I used to want to visit Australia but then I read how many things could kill me LOL!) Have a wonderful trip! And thanks again for the advice.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 01:19:31 +0000

In reply to Wendy M. Hi Wendy. It sounds like he needs some further investigations such as x-rays.

By: Wendy M

Wendy M — Mon, 05 Sep 2022 22:37:38 +0000

Hello. My almost 12 yr old (October) mixed (Maltese/shihtzu) male dog has been showing signs of weakness in his back legs for a few months. I took him to vet and they gave him an anti inflammatory and a joint supplement. No improvement, in fact, he seems worse. His front legs now look shaky. Last week I noticed him get stuck in corners a couple of times (wrong end of the door and between a flower pot and the porch railing), and today I noticed him shaking his head up and down for a few minutes several different times. He’s always been an active dog with running and jumping on and off furniture. He still wants to do those things so I’ve been lifting him whenever I notice before he can jump. He still gets excited at feeding and jumps around like a maniac but falls over frequently. He doesn’t seem to be in pain, but I must assume he is at least a little. Any thoughts on what might be going on with my sweet (old) puppy? Thanks!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 22:33:40 +0000

In reply to Dulci Rao. Hi Dulci. Please visit this page on back and neck pain in dogs. Your dog is clearly in significant pain and should be seen by a vet as soon as possible. Good luck.