Janie is Hurting, Advice?

[PineappleMama]

Yep it was her... stumbling and wobbling. She made it about halfway and then plunked down when she saw me coming. Brought her in here with us and settled her in with a blanket. Dangit to the ninth circle. There are a couple vets that are open on Saturdays here, not our normal one, but others... I think I need to start making calls... maybe we could try the steroid thing...?

I know my aunt, with her wrist problems, they give her a shot... and it works, for a little while anyways. But that's a muscle thing, inflammation I think? Would the steroids work the same in this... .if she's whacked something so it's putting pressure on her spine... well a steroid shot won't move the bone back... guess maybe it just lowers the swelling so maybe it's LESS painful... ??

Only time I had steroids was when I got really sick, sinus, resp., ear and throat all blown and my tonsils were close to sealing off my throat so they gave me a shot to get them down so I could swallow the meds... Gran was prescribed them when her lungs really acted up... maybe an inflammation thing?? Not real experienced with steroids so I can't say I understand everything involved with humans, much less doggies, who take them.

 

[Katy]

I think the steriods are for both the inflamation and swelling......but I don't know for sure. I just know when she has a bad episode they put her back on steriods for awhile.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

Quote:
The very good news is that no, she won't be in pain forever, even if you don't do surgery.

She needs a big whacking dose of steroids and crate rest. That MUST be done to keep her pain down. She may also need to be on Rimadyl or a similar pain med. You should consider chiropractic but if the disc is ruptured it's pretty much gone - on doxies and similar long-backed dogs the disc actually explodes, and disc fragments get lodged in the nerve fibers.

If the steroids work, she'll gradually recover use of her rear end. If they do not work, the nerves from the disc rupture down (toward her tail) will die, and she will be left paralyzed or impaired, but she will NOT be in pain. The nerves hurt like heck while they're dying but once they're gone they're gone. That's why disc surgery is done immediately, and when it is not immediate the chance of success goes way down.

MANY of her breed survive post-disc-rupture with impairment but they're pretty dang happy. She may need a cart or she may be able to get around awkwardly; you'll have to see how she does.

So - steroids and bed. And then tincture of time. I think you'll be shocked at how well she does.

 

[PineappleMama]

Thank You Black Sheep! I didn't have a clue.

Tried calling one of the Vets and I just kept cracking... she could tell me the office visit is $45 plus an add'l $50 because it's the weekend... and when I managed to ask she said Euth ran $150-300... not allowed to even guess on steroid or pain med costs. You have to go in and then the doc will tell you the options and you have to pick one on the spot... which is precisely what I was trying to avoid. If the steroids turn out to cost $400 then we'd have no choice but to put her down and I don't want to be put on the spot like that. Especially when another doctor would only charge $200 for the same thing and we could go with that... but wouldn't know it because no one will answer the dang question. Makes me ill to think we'll get there and make the wrong choice just because of a lack of information.

There's at least one other that I know is open today so I'm going to call them... maybe they'll be willing to even give a guesstimate. I hate to go in thinking she's going to make it only to be thrown into killing her because we have no choice.

for an informative call!

 

[PineappleMama]

Gully, the other one, wouldn't give any guess on even the least expensive possible (if the doc happened to choose it, not likely) but did say their office visit was a straight $41.50, no extra for weekend, and she could tell me the euthanasia costs $154.74 which includes them disposing of the body or you can have the dog cremated and the ashes come back in a box for $297-78-394.00... that's out of our range, though if we have to Euth I'd love to do that...

Overall their pricing is quite a bit less than the I20 one, so maybe their pricing on steroids would be doable?

DH won't be home until 5:30 or so... Gully is open until 11, I20 is 24 hours... so time isn't an issue at least.

Normally I'm perfectly content with our life... don't make a ton, but totally happy with what we've got. But this... this has me wishing I was a working mom... or something so that we had the funds to do whatever option is best. I loathe feeling trapped, but adding this hurting on top of it is just beyond miserable.

Y'all be thinking happy healing, and affordable cost thoughts please.

 

[sourland]

Get her to the vet's and ask about steroid therapy and possible Rimadyl use. My experience with the surgery has left me with paralyzed dogs. Symptomatic therapy coupled with crating and limited exercise is sometimes successfull. Good luck. Seeing any animal in such pain is a very difficult thing.

 

[redhen]

They're most likely going to want to do an x-ray of her spine...maybe?
Not sure how much that costs?

I'm hoping that they can treat her cheaply..

My uncles dog also had a slipped disk..or maybe it was fractured..(cant remember right now..)
But either way.. she lived many many good years..
I'd give the steroids and crate rest a try...
Best of luck..

 

[PineappleMama]

Reading (Cuz I can't do squat until DH gets home what the heck else would I be doing) over on

http://www.veterinarypetcare.com/backproblems.html

It said that "In some cases, plain radiographs (x-rays) may assist the diagnosis, but they may also be normal since neither the disc nor the spinal cord is visible on an x-ray."

If they don't know, or are planning surgery then they can do a myelogram... which is injecting dye around the spine and then looking... mom had one of those done, wasn't until AFTER the injection they realized she was allergic to Iodine... whoops. Luckily not a severe reaction but it's left me wary... not to mention needles and spines shouldn't mix unless you have to. Since surgery isn't an option for us I just don't see the point in risking that sort of test... and since an X-ray wouldn't show what the devil the problem is or where... and we can't do surgery to fix it anyways... I don't see the point in doing one... just getting my pinkie X-ray'd was extremely painful because they kept bending it this way and that... can't imagine with a spinal injury... and given it wouldn't help a whit... nope don't see the point... but I doubt a vet would agree... most docs just love to run every test they possibly can...

I've been snooping online... Drs Foster and Smith is a pet pharmacy... depending on dosage of course...

Rimadyl ranges from 0.83-1.23 each
Prednisone 0.09-0.32 each
Etodolac 0.73-0.79 each
Deramaxx 1.19-2.69 each

Of course their pharmacy isn't open 24/7, and you have to wait on shipping... so I'd rather go with the Vet if they've got the pills on hand... but if they're prices are like these... most expensive being 2.69ea... maybe twice a day?... so roughly $5/day treatment... I can live with that... I'll find a way... snip out some splurges and find a way...

But if they charge 10.00 per pill... and only sell packs of 20, 40, ... then we're going to be in big trouble.

And the injections are more... but one time... and then I guess there's a fee for the doc doing the injection too... just searching steroid injection on F&S two came up... one being 21.99 and the other being 179.99 (but it's specifically for Addison's disease whatever that is so hopefully they won't go that route)... 21.99 isn't much... but what fee would they tack on to do the shot? Gully less than I20 I'd think... just based on the numbers they gave...

Who knows... maybe this'll be the one vet in town that like MD's (sometimes) just happens to have a sample pack of what she needs right there in the office and can give a script for the rest from F&S for cheap... enough to tide over until the shipment can get here... wouldn't that be wonderful?!!?

 

[PineappleMama]

DH is home, told him the latest. He didn't realize it was so bad. Yesterday she welcomed him as usual, jumped up for pettings, etc... it wasn't until late that I saw her legs drop and he was already in bed... and left for work before I got up so he just had no idea.

Was going to ask MIL to drive me out and DH stay with the kids but evidently she's not in great shape. BP problems, she's put off meds for YEARS, now finally on them... if she's taking them... stubborn... anywho evidently she's in a bad way so I'm going to have to go out by myself and DH will stay with the kiddos.

Called and they told me to bring her in at 7 so that's the plan. If it turns out to be an insanely expensive thing... hoping not given the drug numbers I found but in case it is I don't plan to Euth her tonight... I just cannot do that... not without letting the kids say goodbye, and not without someone there with me... and I don't want to tell the kids to say goodbye now and then everything turn out okay... so if that comes up I'll bring her home and we can go out tomorrow, they're open... and it'll be another $41.50 visit fee on top of the regular costs, but it's worth forty bucks to me...

I'll let y'all know what happens... and thank you for all the suggestions and support... donno how I'd have made it through these last few hours without just breaking down without you.

 

[PineappleMama]

Okay, I'm back. It was her back, she flunked the foot test... bend the end of the foot under and usually they pop it right back... which is bad... but she passed the deep tissue feeling test... which is good. Put her on steroids and a pain med on top... if no improvement... walking back to normal... within a week then we'll have to look at "other options"... if she starts dragging her legs then "other options"...

So everyone

that these medicines do the trick and we get our Janie back.

Oh and the total, office fee plus two meds, was right at $75... less than it would have cost just for the visit at I-20 so a head's up to any in Arlington/Mansfield Gully is the place to go for a good (caring and kind on top of knowledgeable) staff, late hours, and reasonable prices.