Cervical herniated disc

[Dexter's Mom]

Had anyone' doodle had a herniated disc in his or her neck? What was your course of treatment?

Dexter has been in pain since last Friday...started out as wincing in certain neck positions and gradually got worse to where he cried in pain when walking. We've been to three vets: 2 general practitioners and one neurologist. The general consensus is he needs and MRI to see if he has a herniated disc as he has not improved even with significant medication. When we took him to the vet the first time, they have him Gabapentin (1 - 100mg pill every 8 hrs), Tramadol (1 - 50mg pill every 8 hrs) and Rimadyl (1 pill every 12 hours). That did absolutely nothing for him and he had a rough night. We went to the neurologist the next day and she increased his meds to 300mg Gabapentin every 8 hrs, 100mg Tramadol every 8 hours, stayed the same on the Rimadyl and added Methocarbamol 750mg every 8 hours. That helped but he was still in a lot of pain. It got so bad that he would scream when he tried to get up from certain positions. After two days of that we went to vet #3. He is familiar with the neurologist and says she's a good doctor and well respected (she was not working this weekend so we couldn't go back to see her). He could see Dexter was in a lot of pain and gave us injectable Buprenorphine to brig us through until our MRI on Monday (staying on all the other meds except Tramadol). He confirmed that we probably need the MRI asbit is concerning Dexter hasnt responded to the oral medications. That was pur fear :( Now we definitely had a better night (not much to compare it to since we've been waking up 3-4 times or more per night with Dexter crying in pain since last Friday) so that was good, but Dexter is definitely drugged up. He's glossy eyed, unstable on his feet, doesn't want to walk, eat or drink. He's been whining since the first injection - but it's like an attention whine and not pain. We were able to get him up pretty easily this morning without much pain, and he did a #1 but no #2 since yesterday morning. The third vet called us this morning to check in (so sweet) and he said he wasn't too concerned about that as narcotics can slow a dog's gut down.

Anyhow, we're just trying to make it through until Monday when we have the MRI.

Does anyone have any similar experiences? I'm scared he'll need surgery (he probably will)

[Christine & Shelby]

I don't have any experience with this, but it sure does sound scary and painful for poor Dexter. Sending prayers that the doctors will be able to determine what is wrong and get Dexter healthy and pain free really soon. Keep us updated!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I am sorry you are dealing with this.

My Jack has a herniated disc in the lumbar-sacral area, which is down near his tail. The MRI revealed nerve compression at L7-S1. Surgery would fix it, but it's BIG surgery, he's 8 years old, and he has two immune-mediated diseases in addition that complicate things. Jack showed few overt signs of pain prior to his diagnosis, just an inability to run or jump into the car and bed, and he did scream a couple of times after trying to do so. At first they thought it was osteoarthritis and/or spondylosis, and he was put on Gabapentin, which did nothing except cause his entire rear end to collapse several times a day. (He cannot take pain meds like Rimadyl because he has Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and those drugs increase the risk of GI ulceration and bleeding.) I then consulted an orthopedic specialist/surgeon, and the MRI revealed the disc problem. I got a second opinion from another orthopedic specialist who confirmed the diagnosis.

I have opted to try alternative therapies at the suggestion of the surgeon, namely acupuncture and laser therapy. It does seem to be helping. He can now jump onto my bed again and doesn't appear to be in pain, although he is the kind of dog who doesn't let you know when something is wrong. He has no trouble taking long walks and even playing fetch. The alternative therapies cannot fix the disc problem, but they can help reduce inflammation and lessen pain, or so I'm told. If he regresses or it gets worse, we will have to do the surgery, there are no other options. I have a friend whose 5 year old Lab had disc surgery, and although it was a difficult recovery period, she is just fine now.

Good luck, I hope the MRI shows something not-too-bad.

[BG and Gavin]

Poor Dexter and poor you.  I will keep a good thought for his speedy recovery.  It must be heart breaking to hear him cry :(

[Sheila & Finnley]

Wish I had information to help you out. The best I can share is that the Tramadol is a very good pain reducer. Tramadol is used similarly to codeine to treat moderate to severe pain, I take it for arthritis in my hands.

I wish you all the best, and a speedy recovery for Dexter.

[Bonnie and Kona]

So sorry to hear this. Please be sure to update when you can.

[Colleen, Jake & Baxter]

I am sorry you and your sweet doodle Dexter is going through this.  My prayers are with you for Dexter to be free of pain and the correct diagnosis and treatment plan for him.

[Dexter's Mom]

Well, great news...Dexter's MRI was completely normal! Since he was under anesthesia, they did a spinal tap to rule out meningitis. We get the results tomorrow, but that's what the neurologist thinks it is. And it can be treated easily with medications. Whew!! SUCH a relief.

After 5 days on medications, Dexter was starting to feel better yesterday. The vet even said this morning (he wasn't on any medications because of the MRI) that while he still cried a little when she turned his head to the left, it wasn't nearly as bad as the last time she saw him.

Thank you all for your kind words and support! I feel tremendously better, but am still anxious to get a final diagnosis. I feel so much better that we decided to do the MRI (though it did cost an arm and a leg), but now I know that it isn't anything too serious (I think we caught it early) and he should be better soon.

I'll post again when we get the results of the spinal tap. Thank you all again!!!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This is good news! I hope that Dexter will soon be completely well and feeling fine again!

[BG and Gavin]

Thanks for the update.  Sounds like he will be back to his old self in no time. Yay!

[Sheila & Finnley]

Good news for Dexter, I hope his recovery goes quickly, and as planned, and he is back to his old self very soon !

[Rita and Fazzy]

Hi there....we have had kind of the same experience in the last 36 hours with Fazzy.  Everytime he would try to change positions while lying down, he'd cry...getting up, he'd cry...etc.  Once he was up, he was good.  His appetite is down a bit.  We took him to our vet last night, they rx'd rimadyl and tramadol - which did nothing.  Today, we decided to take him to the emerg vet clinic - and while they could get a response from him with turning his head to the left, opening his mouth wide and lifting his head up, it wasn't consistent because he (the vet) tried it again a few minutes later and no pain response.  He didn't think that it was a disc issue - we also have been fighting an ear infection over the past couple of weeks and I think that we're almost done with that.  He also didn't think that it was ear related.  He thinks maybe a neck strain.  He rx'd gabapentin and no playing, etc for at least 48 hours.  He's been resting quietly all afternoon, but man, last night was a looong night. 

How did the spinal tap turn out?  Was Dexter running a fever or anything like that?  How's he doing now?

thanks!!

[Dexter's Mom]

Hi Rita,

Oh no! I hope Fazzy is feeling better! That was such a scary time with Dexter for us, so I can imagine what you're going through. As I mentioned in the original post, we tried all kinds of oral medications and nothing worked (anti-inflammatory, pain meds, nerve pain and muscle relaxants). The only thing that worked was the injectable Buprenorphine.

Dexter's MRI and spinal tap both came out normal. The doctor said the spinal tab had some abnormal cells in it, but they were not exactly meningitis. Her best guess was that it was remnants of the meningitis. Eventually everything just cleared up and he's been fine ever since. I don't recall him having a fever, either.

Hope Fazzy is going better. Let me know!