Canine Degenerative Disc Disease - Your Experience?

[catzatsea]

Hi There,

I took spud to a specialist last night as he is going down hill dramitically with his back/ hips and Legs and the vet has a deep suspicion that he is suffering from degenerative disc disease. He heads back monday for xrays etc to diagnose however I was wondering whether anyone can share their personal experience and how they managed the pain/ quaility of life for their dog?

TIA

Catz

[julesluvscavs]

Sorry i have no advice for you:(

I have the human form of that tho, and it is extremely painful and crippling..

I hope for Spud's sake when he gets xrayed, it's not that ...

They might suggest he spends some time in those hydro dog swimming pools for therapy?

Poor Spud:(

Hopefully others on here might have some positive ways they know how he can be treated?

Edited October 24, 2007 by JulesLuvsCavs

[Poodle wrangler]

Sorry, don't have a dog with it, but my understanding is that all you can do is provide pain relief and gentle exercise (as able).

Lots of medications get a bagging on the internet, but if I had a choice between my dog being in pain and potential side effects, I'd go with the medication every time. Vet should discuss possible side effects with you. If you're aware of them, you can see the vet asap if there are any signs of problems.

You might have to experiment with different medications to see what is best for your dog.

If you ever read the product info that comes with commonplace human medications, you'd be appalled at the nasty possible side effects, but the reality is these are uncommon and there are things you can do to help avoid them e.g. some meds should be taken with food.

Best wishes for you and spud ..

[catzatsea]

Thanks for that.

Spud has always never been right in his back/hips and legs but it has always been put down by the vet to his arthiritis and patella's ( he has had two op's on one patella) and after heading down all paths possible (including acupucture and chiropractic) is was time to seek out the specialist.

I am doing as much online research so I can be prepared to discuss treatment options with vet if needed.

It does seem to be able to be treated homeopathically (sp) which would be my preference. However we are willing to do whatever is the best for spud and would love to see him be comfortable in his daily walks again ;) .

[catzatsea]

Just bumping this up in the hope of finding someone that has already been through this experience.

[alanglen]

Been down the path, had surgery and was then best thing we ever did, very long road to recovery and lots of good hydrotherapy and mscle work really helped but we did wait too long until he had no use of his hindlegs, in hindsight I would have had the surgery done earlier as there were warning signs but he's all good now!