Anyone's dog have a back operation. How'd it work out?

[True Grit]

My 9 yr old collie has been getting progressively weaker in the hind end but his xrays look good. He has a lot of other medical issues but started to get noticeably weaker in the past month so I took him back to the U today. The vet thought it might be a bulging disc. Romie will go back for an MRI on Thursday and, if advisable, will have back surgery on his lumbar area. The vet, a specialist, thought his prognosis would be good so he will get the surgery if it is recommended but I'm just wondering what kind of experience others have had with back surgery for their dogs.

 

[RHRanch]

My grandparents had it done on thier dog - a large dog. He recovered really well. However, its a lot of work, and it usually took 2 people to take him out to potty and we had to squeeze his bladder for him. You have to be very careful not to let his back move around. If you can't physically lift him you need to make sure you have help, we uded 2 people and a dog sling. Once the dog recovered, he went pretty much back to normal, so you only have to do this during the recovery period (about 6-8 weeks if i recall correctly).

 

[welsummerchicks]

The recoveries vary - you should find out about surgical after care for your dog from your vet - many post surgery times are nothing like what was described. It depends a lot on which surgery method is used(how the injured area is approached and gotten into, how it is closed up, and what exactly is done in there).

 

[True Grit]

Good to know. Thanks!

 

[True Grit]

Update on the back surgery is that Romie went in for an MRI on his lumbar area and they didn't find anything so told me that for another $800 they could check the thoracic spine. Anything found up there would not be the cause for pain in the lower back but could possibly cause some weakness in the hind legs. I told them to go ahead and they didn't find anything there. I'm really happy he didn't have to undergo surgery but now we are back where we started. Two exams at the University neurological unit, exams by two other vets, an xray and an MRI later. The vet said he could do a genetic test for ALS type of disease but it isn't treatable so I'd rather not know. I intend to try acupuncture, exercise and massage. I never actually thought Romie was experiencing pain, just weakness, but he reacted when they pressed hard on his lower back vertabrae so that caused them to think bulging disc. Total bill btw was $2800 for exam and MRI.