kayla1 Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Coco is a 13 yr old Brittany and was diagnosed with spondylosis a few weeks ago. He's been on onsior (NSAID) for about three weeks, and that seemed to work well for a couple of weeks, but then the pain started to return. He went downhill a few days ago to the point where he couldn't stand up, so he is now also on tramal three times a day. The tramal helps with the pain somewhat, however it seems to wear off after a few hours, leaving him in pain again. I'm taking him to Ray Ferguson next week for another opinion, but in the meantime will look at switching from onsior to another NSAID to hopefully help with the pain. Does anyone know if certain NSAIDs are more effective with pain relief? Or any other suggestions to help with the pain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rappie Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 I have been using a drug called gabapentin more frequently for this kind of pain. It doesn't work that well alone but it does seem to work nicely with tramadol. I'm yet to use Onsior a lot, but I frequently use carprofen because it has a flexible dose range and can be given twice daily if required. I take it xrays have been done to reach a diagnosis of spondylosis? It is important to rule out other painful conditions as well (including intervertebral disc disease and osteoarthritis in any joint) as often the spondylosis deformans lesions can be quite significant on xray but may not be the only cause of pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayla1 Posted March 2, 2012 Author Share Posted March 2, 2012 Thanks for your reply Rappie. He's only had one xray, and that was the initial xray done (without sedation) to rule out obstruction as the cause of pain, but it showed spondylosis of L2/L3. Would further xrays be needed to diagnose the other conditions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 (edited) In between treatment that can help is some Bowen therapy. Interested in Rappie's responses because my boy has mild spondylosis as well. His was diagnosed by xray at 15 months . Edited March 2, 2012 by Erny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrm88 Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 We use onsior alot and find it very helpful, if they need more pain relief, may be a good idea to add in tramadol as well (talk to your vet about it) Also realise when swapping from one nsaid to another, there needs to be a 5day washout period where they cannot have nsaids. Have heard good things about gabapentin as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 My dog has severe spondylosis of the spine and has had it for a few years now. He is on pred ever second day and Tramal as required which is rarely. He was on NSAID which made no difference and he was screaming in pain when either not doing anything or walking slowly in a straight line. Once on the Pred he vastly improved and has now been on Pred for around 4 years. He only needs Tramal if he over does it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shepherds Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 My dog has severe spondylosis of the spine and has had it for a few years now. He is on pred ever second day and Tramal as required which is rarely. He was on NSAID which made no difference and he was screaming in pain when either not doing anything or walking slowly in a straight line. Once on the Pred he vastly improved and has now been on Pred for around 4 years. He only needs Tramal if he over does it. OsoSwift..... please excuse dumb question - but for pred do you referring to prednisolone and which NSAID were you using? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shepherds Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 In between treatment that can help is some Bowen therapy. Interested in Rappie's responses because my boy has mild spondylosis as well. His was diagnosed by xray at 15 months . Can vouch for Bowen Therapy For a hands on therapy that is very gentle on the animal you can achieve significant results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~*Shell*~ Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Zero has spondylosis - he goes out to see the muscle manipulator to make sure he has no knots in his muscles around the area (his main source of pain), has cartrophen as needed and if he pulls up sore, he has a flucort domoso roll on. He is pretty normal - he's actually gotten better since starting flyball (i think because it stretches the muscles around the area out). He's kept lean though and i often get comments about him being thin (he's not - just at a normal performance dog weight). All in all, he's pretty good. If he starts to get worse, i'll pull him from sports all together and do what i can to manage the pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 In between treatment that can help is some Bowen therapy. Interested in Rappie's responses because my boy has mild spondylosis as well. His was diagnosed by xray at 15 months . Can vouch for Bowen Therapy For a hands on therapy that is very gentle on the animal you can achieve significant results. Yes - I do believe I'm seeing significant results and some of those are quite immediate. Only had two treatments so far but the results appeared evident even from the first session. I'm also hoping the Bowen will help with Mandela's digestive system and his well-being in general. That would be an excellent bonus spin-off. Next visit, I'm gonna have it done to me too :D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 I kept an old girl going for an extra 2-3 years with regular acunpuncture. She only had painkillers daily in her last few months before we lost her to a stroke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 My dog has severe spondylosis of the spine and has had it for a few years now. He is on pred ever second day and Tramal as required which is rarely. He was on NSAID which made no difference and he was screaming in pain when either not doing anything or walking slowly in a straight line. Once on the Pred he vastly improved and has now been on Pred for around 4 years. He only needs Tramal if he over does it. OsoSwift..... please excuse dumb question - but for pred do you referring to prednisolone and which NSAID were you using? Thanks Sorry yes prednisolone and I tried Rimadyl and metacam. Even at the initial twice daily dose or Rimadyl it wasn't working. It is now 4 years down the tracka nd he recently had a blood profile done, Kidneys, liver all very healthy even though he is nearly 15 :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shepherds Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 My dog has severe spondylosis of the spine and has had it for a few years now. He is on pred ever second day and Tramal as required which is rarely. He was on NSAID which made no difference and he was screaming in pain when either not doing anything or walking slowly in a straight line. Once on the Pred he vastly improved and has now been on Pred for around 4 years. He only needs Tramal if he over does it. OsoSwift..... please excuse dumb question - but for pred do you referring to prednisolone and which NSAID were you using? Thanks Sorry yes prednisolone and I tried Rimadyl and metacam. Even at the initial twice daily dose or Rimadyl it wasn't working. It is now 4 years down the tracka nd he recently had a blood profile done, Kidneys, liver all very healthy even though he is nearly 15 :) Thats great he is doing so well and you would be thrilled with blood profile results. Have you had to deal with any weight or appetite issues from being on the pred? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shepherds Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 In between treatment that can help is some Bowen therapy. Interested in Rappie's responses because my boy has mild spondylosis as well. His was diagnosed by xray at 15 months . Can vouch for Bowen Therapy For a hands on therapy that is very gentle on the animal you can achieve significant results. Yes - I do believe I'm seeing significant results and some of those are quite immediate. Only had two treatments so far but the results appeared evident even from the first session. I'm also hoping the Bowen will help with Mandela's digestive system and his well-being in general. That would be an excellent bonus spin-off. Next visit, I'm gonna have it done to me too :D. Funny how alot of us get our dogs treated before looking after ourselves ;) You will love it and also find it very beneficial. I have noticed though, generally dogs bodies seem to respond alot quicker than our old tired human bodies, seems our bodies take a while to catch up :laugh: And yep, I think it will help Mandela in that regard too. Enjoy your combined session Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 My dog has severe spondylosis of the spine and has had it for a few years now. He is on pred ever second day and Tramal as required which is rarely. He was on NSAID which made no difference and he was screaming in pain when either not doing anything or walking slowly in a straight line. Once on the Pred he vastly improved and has now been on Pred for around 4 years. He only needs Tramal if he over does it. OsoSwift..... please excuse dumb question - but for pred do you referring to prednisolone and which NSAID were you using? Thanks Sorry yes prednisolone and I tried Rimadyl and metacam. Even at the initial twice daily dose or Rimadyl it wasn't working. It is now 4 years down the tracka nd he recently had a blood profile done, Kidneys, liver all very healthy even though he is nearly 15 :) Thats great he is doing so well and you would be thrilled with blood profile results. Have you had to deal with any weight or appetite issues from being on the pred? NO weight issues as I keep him lean to help his back, appetite - well we say if you stood still long enough he would eat you, so yes he has always been a good eater but now we have to be very careful and you can't give hime treats directly unless they are big as you may lose your fingers. His vision is also going so that doesn't help his aim. HE will eat anthing that may have touched food so you can't accidentaly drop any sort of food wrappers, or kitchen towel that has had food draining on it or he will try and eat it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Oh and yes we love Bowen here as well, the dogs love it and so do I :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 My boy has severe spondo & he gets bowen every 3 weeks this has been the best form of treatment by far, He has issues with certain pain killers where 3 days use is all he can do before they send him silly so we are limit in options. I run arnica cream on the worse areas often & this does help especially his hock joint which now has arthritis & gives him more greif. I do hot packs through winter ,keeping him active is a must ,when in a deep sleep i let him slepep but if hes awake then i ensure he gets up & moves more often than not . Mentally he is spot on but bodily he is struggling & we are at the stage each week is a bonus & i now the time is getting closer where he ont be able to get up. He has had it for 3 years now & only in the last 2 months has he gone down hill quickly BUT i am lucky he has the will to do things. He still loves his small walks ,he still loves his bath & all these things play a big part in his week to week routine,all the things that bring him joy i ensure he gets daily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milly2 Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 I'm another one who can recomend Bowen Therapy, and MSM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shepherds Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 My boy has severe spondo & he gets bowen every 3 weeks this has been the best form of treatment by far, He has issues with certain pain killers where 3 days use is all he can do before they send him silly so we are limit in options. I run arnica cream on the worse areas often & this does help especially his hock joint which now has arthritis & gives him more greif. I do hot packs through winter ,keeping him active is a must ,when in a deep sleep i let him slepep but if hes awake then i ensure he gets up & moves more often than not . Mentally he is spot on but bodily he is struggling & we are at the stage each week is a bonus & i now the time is getting closer where he ont be able to get up. He has had it for 3 years now & only in the last 2 months has he gone down hill quickly BUT i am lucky he has the will to do things. He still loves his small walks ,he still loves his bath & all these things play a big part in his week to week routine,all the things that bring him joy i ensure he gets daily I love what you are doing for your boy. Im in the same position myself and running out of options if things deteriorate from where my boy is currently at. He too has that will to do things and will never give in which in some ways makes life harder as he constantly gets his ambitions mixed up with his capabilities which leads to him aggravating things further which is not good if he is having a tough day. I had been able to keep things fairly stable for a while, but the deterioration over the past 2 months has been frightening and Im dreading winter and what that might do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shepherds Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 My dog has severe spondylosis of the spine and has had it for a few years now. He is on pred ever second day and Tramal as required which is rarely. He was on NSAID which made no difference and he was screaming in pain when either not doing anything or walking slowly in a straight line. Once on the Pred he vastly improved and has now been on Pred for around 4 years. He only needs Tramal if he over does it. OsoSwift..... please excuse dumb question - but for pred do you referring to prednisolone and which NSAID were you using? Thanks Sorry yes prednisolone and I tried Rimadyl and metacam. Even at the initial twice daily dose or Rimadyl it wasn't working. It is now 4 years down the tracka nd he recently had a blood profile done, Kidneys, liver all very healthy even though he is nearly 15 :) Thats great he is doing so well and you would be thrilled with blood profile results. Have you had to deal with any weight or appetite issues from being on the pred? NO weight issues as I keep him lean to help his back, appetite - well we say if you stood still long enough he would eat you, so yes he has always been a good eater but now we have to be very careful and you can't give hime treats directly unless they are big as you may lose your fingers. His vision is also going so that doesn't help his aim. HE will eat anthing that may have touched food so you can't accidentaly drop any sort of food wrappers, or kitchen towel that has had food draining on it or he will try and eat it. Yes the pred is a kicker on the appetite and makes life very hard when its so important to keep their weight down with these type of issues. I fully understand your comment about him eating anything that has touched food. I lost my heart dog and I blame the use of pred at the time for that exact reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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