First off, this isn't for Ghost, it's for Lulu (our psychotic little Cocker)

So, we've had a couple of episodes over the last year where Lulu has seemed a little off. The one bad one, which happened last fall, occurred immediately after she instigated a fight at a dog park and got pinned by another dog. The vet at the time seemed to think it was a fight related injury (and perhaps had a minor liver injury), and after a few days of rest and pain meds she was just fine.

Fast forward to now, after I left last week Aaron said she started to act a little off, and by Monday evening it was pretty obvious she was in tremendous pain. He called the vet an they were able to get her in last night, and the x rays indicated a narrowing in the vertebral spaces between 2 of her vertebrae (not sure which 2, since I'm still in Chicago). The vet apparently indicated that this was a degenerative issue, and would eventually lead to paralysis that will necessitate surgery.

Have any of you experienced this with a dog? The big things I'm worried about are quality of life and finding a balance with allowing her to still be somewhat active without doing the stuff that is going to make it worse. She has a bad habit of hopping up onto the back of our sofa, and then jumping off the back onto the ground. Even the jump back to the cushions worries me, but it's going to be a challenge to keep her off there. Also, most of the time she won't jump up on our bed, but when she does, it's a pretty big jump. I've already suggested getting stairs or a ramp, but Aaron sort of poo pooed that idea.

Sorry I missed this Meredith. Do you have any holistic vets in the area? I gave my BC Maggie acupuncture and prolotherapy injections and it really helped. She had disc compression and arthritis. She may have had DDD but I didn't have her diagnosed. It's where they inject ozone and medicine into the spine.

Those treatments and tramadol manged her discomfort for the most part. She was 14 though so only so much you can do. Cancer finally got her.

Swimming is really good. I would try to limit the jumping but I would think most other exercise is okay. The doc told me to let Maggie do as much as she wanted and not feel sorry for her.

Thanks Brian. Finding a holistic vet is high up on my list of priorities for when I get back to town, hopefully I can find one in Pensacola. We do some swimming with them, but the specific dog beach has nasty, contaminated water and most of our friends with pools are like "um, no dogs in there". I need to start working on Aaron to really enforce things like no jumping, but he tends to give up when I thinks something is "too hard".

Meredith, would you be anywhere near Val's vet in Florida? I would check her vet outl

Prolotherapy is amazing. I've heard that with supplements and acupuncture it can do wonders for dogs. Not to mention you have a variety of homeopathic remedies for treating pain that ll come in handy. Right now I'm using arnica to ease catOs pain from his neuter. He has virtually no bruising left at all around his ball pockets lol

I think Val's vet is in Jacksonville, which is like 6 hours away from us. I think Aaron would kill me if I tried to take her to a vet that far away...

Thanks for the info on the supplements though, I definitely need to start researching and stock up on some stuff.

I would look up acupuncture or a chiropractic adjustment. When Seamus got his tail caught in the door and had to have it amputated he kept going after it and wouldn't stop. He did it a few times and it had to be amputated twice... After the 2nd time she did a readjustment on his lower spine and tail and it made a huge difference in recovery.

blueeyedghost wrote:

I think Val's vet is in Jacksonville, which is like 6 hours away from us. I think Aaron would kill me if I tried to take her to a vet that far away...

Thanks for the info on the supplements though, I definitely need to start researching and stock up on some stuff.

For lulu, I would add bone meal powder for sure, coconut oil and fish oils. Make sure the fish oils are mercury free.. If you can't find one that says mercury free, use flaxseed oil. That's what I use. If you get anything first, get the coconut oil as it aids in arthritis and ligament functions. I think it would really help her.

check out this link: http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/the-health-benefits-of-coconut-oil/

As far as homeopathic remedies, I have been doing a lot of research into all of this and speaking to multiple vets. The vest for managing pains in dogs seems to be arnica 30c. and Belladonna 30c.

Just a few tips.

Cool, thanks. I've already got coconut oil at the house, so I will try to get Aaron to start her on that tonight. I'll look into finding the arnica and belladonna as well, and I'm pretty sure the natural foods place down in Pensacola has mercury free fish oil. I'll toddle down there this weekend and scope it out.

Health food stores should have the arnica and belladonna. 30c shouldn't be expensive. A good book that has a guide to treating ailments homeopathically isdr. Pitcairn guide to.natural health in dogs and cats. Its awesome.