Puppy dogs and degenerative disk disease

[TheATeam 0]

Well, we drove 9 hours to visit my hubby's grandparents for Thanksgiving. The trip was absolutely CRAZY. Our car was all messed up and cost some big bucks to fix, not to mention feeling like we were going to die several times! It was the most harrowing car ride I have ever been on in my life.

After that the visit was good, except on Friday morning my dog started behaving funny. She was squealing and running around like crazy and panting and drooling. I thought something was wrong with her tummy, too many treats you know. The pain didn't seem to get any better for her though, and she never did have any diarrhea or anything to clear out her belly.

Hubby didn't want to take her to the vet, saying that she'd get better if she just rested, but his 84 year old grandmother was adamant, so she got us in the car to go to the vet. To make a long story short, right when we got there she hit a curb in the parking lot and smashed her radiator on her new car! ARGH! If things couldn't get any worse that day.

Anyway, the vet said she thought it was back pain and not a stomach issue. She gave Kaia an anti inflammatory shot and some muscle relaxants. Right after the shot she felt SO much better. She ate, drank, and went to the bathroom. It was obvious that the pain was alleviated. Since then she's been on her muscle relaxants twice a day. The vet said it was possible that she had Degenerative Disk Disease. I guess it surprises me because she's only 3 years old. I'm worried particularly because I've read that DDD often requires surgery. Right now, we can barely afford for me to go to the doctor, let alone pay for surgery for the dog. I'm devastated with the thought that if this isn't just a one time thing and it's DDD, that she'll have to be put down. Has anyone had a pet with DDD? Kaia's a 3 year old shih tzu and the vet said that breed often can get it. She has muscle spasms in her hindquarters. They're so pronounced that I can feel them when they're going on. It seems to happen a lot when she gets stressed, and then when she calms down they go away. Is this normal?

Thanks for listening to my crazy rant. I'm just worried! Also thanks in advance for any advice and experiences.

[Ontarkie 14,534]

I can't help with the DDD thing but I feel your pain when it comes to our pets its so dang hard i really wish they could tell us whats wrong when they hurt.

I worry all the time about our dog she an 8 yr old lab and has made some really weird and sometimes loud yelping noises every now and again for the past 2 yrs. I have taken her to the vet thinking she had a tooth ache but they didnt see anything wrong with her teeth. The vet pushed on all her teeth and just said she was fine and just getting older and changing her eating habits. Well its still happens and we changed her food to the 7+ stuff it seems to help. 3 Vets later and now I'm starting to think its maybe arthritis or indigestion of some sorts, since when she starts with the yelping she wont get up in bed with the kids or on the couch. We can't keep taking her to Vets for them to say nothing is wrong with her.

[TheATeam 0]

Ontarkie, that sounds a lot like Kaia. She yelps and runs around acting strange and won't jump up on the couch or anything, even though I can tell she really wants to. It may be back pain. The vet ran her fingers down her back and kind of pinched along the spine. She visibly sat down when the vet reached the place where it hurt. I really hope that you figure out what's going on with her. It's hard to see our furbabies in pain. In the meantime I've heard that you can try baby aspirin to help relieve the pain. I'm not sure how much to give her but you should be able to figure it out on the internet. Also the vet said to try hot washclothes along the back too. Maybe that will help.

[MrsCat 6]

I don't know much about DDD either, but my husband's dog is an older lab/husky cross. He's 12 now. For the past 2 years or so he's been doing the same type of behavior where he yelps and walks funny as if he's in pain or constipated. My husband started him on Dr. Foster and Smith's Joint Care Primary Plus with Condroitin (its for mild/moderate arthritis). It seems to have done the trick. He gets one each day with breakfast. He hasn't had really any problems since he's been on the pills. The only thing I know about DDD is that its typically a slow progression in older people/dogs and 3 seems really young to have that problem.

The only time he seems to have had a flare up is when Chris came to see me for 2 weeks and Dale (the dog) was at a kennel. They forgot to give him his pills and he was yelping again and walking funny for a few days. Once we got him onto the stuff again he seemed fine. He's stiff some days but is rarely in pain and doesn't have troubles getting on the couch or into the truck. When he's having a bad day where he's more stiff we give him a children's aspirin and that seems to do the trick.

Again, I have no idea what's wrong with your poor little guys but it sounds similar to Dale. Sorry that your fur baby isn't well.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...mp;pcatid=14067

Edited December 3, 2008 by MrsCat

[TheATeam 0]

Thanks Cat! I've been reading up on DDD and back problems in dogs and it seems like a glucosamine and chondroitin supplement would be a good idea just to keep her healthy. I mean, I need to take my vitamins and supplements, why not her too?

[Carlawarla 1]

Many years ago, my ex-husband and I had a shephard/husky cross dog. He was about 10 years old and started to have the same symptoms you describe. Our vet right away knew what it was, and claimed it affected 90% of this type of breed. I've since over the years have heard people say their vet says the same for THEIR breed. Anyway, we started a pill regime, which lasted about two years and at the beginning seemed to help. After that time however, it didn't seem to matter at all, and the pills didn't work too well. The only option at that time was apparently hip replacement the vet said. There is no way we could afford that. I don't know if that's going to make people flame me now, we dearly loved our dog, but the vet was quoting us up to $10,000.00 for the procedure. He knew of our financial situation, and actually suggested that we may want to just make him as comfortable as we could until we had to look at putting him down. I'd say about 3 months after this discussion, our dog began dragging his legs, his tail became "broken", and hanged at an odd angle. We had him put down.

Please note that this was our specific case and happened almost 30 years ago. I'm sure there are different procedures involved now, and maybe his age impacted on his medication regime.

I don't know how close you are to your vet, and if you have a good relationship with them, and how's your dog's relationship with your vet? You might want to get a second opinion?

Like MrsCat, I wonder at how old the dog is and that this is happening.

Keep us updated!

On a side note, sorry you had such a harrowing experience on your Thanksgiving drive!

Edited December 3, 2008 by Carlawarla

[thetreble 19]

My darling ATeam...

My family had to put down our dear Shih tzu 4 years ago because of DDD. It happened just out of the blue. In a matter of 48 hours he went from being completely healthy, to dragging his back legs, yelping in pain and drooling like you speak of.

He was 7. We brought him to the vet and said that if we took him to the university of guelph, they would do the surgery on his back for 6K. My parents weren't about to pay 6000 to fix him so we had to put him down.

I'm so sorry if my story makes you feel down or upset. I just want to let you know that DDD is supposedly common in that bread. We had no idea.

[TheATeam 0]

Hi Carla, I don't think that you're anything but compassionate about your dog. It's hard enough for people to pay for their own healthcare, let alone surgery for their pets. I mean, if it comes down to that, we won't be able to afford it and will have to do the same thing with Kaia. We don't have an official vet. We've actually never been to the vet here, only in CA on our visit. We may just have to look into it. She's been fine for a few days now, no pain or back spasms that I could appreciate, but then yesterday I left her in the car for literally 5 minutes and when I got back in her back was completely stiff and spasming. I think that it's possible that stress can make it worse. I don't know but I guess we'll see. I'm trying to keep her as quiet as possible so it can heal. My fingers are crossed.

All the literature I've read so far has said that it's normal for small, long backed dogs, like shih tzus to be affected between 3 and 6 years old and that it often happens in big dogs later in life, between 11 and 13. It all depends on the breed I guess. I'll keep you updated.

And Carla....I'm just glad we're still alive! Oh, and that the car is fixed!

Hey Mandy- That's also what the vet said, that it can come on suddenly and in a matter of hours go from completely fine to paralyzed. I'm sorry about your dog. It's so sad that things like that have to happen to the animals that we love. It made me a little bit sad, but I think that's normal.

Kaia is my first dog so I think that it makes it doubly hard. I get attached very easily and love her to pieces and when the time comes that she passes away I'll be devastated but I try not to think about that now.

[SonoranSongbird 3]

I'm sorry I don't have any advice at all, but I hope your sweetie-Kaia-puppy is feeling much better. It is so hard when furbabies are hurting and they can't even tell you exactly where it hurts or what's wrong! I often wish my dog could talk.

[TheATeam 0]

Thanks SonoranSongbird! She seems to be feeling better today, although normally in the morning she wants to get outside asap and now it's like pulling teeth to get her out of her bed. I hope it's just cause she's a little sore and tired still. I do wish that she could talk and let me know where it hurts and how she's feeling. That's the tough part. At least with kids, they EVENTUALLY talk and tell you where it hurts! ~giggles~

[thetreble 19]

I'm sorry I don't have any advice at all, but I hope your sweetie-Kaia-puppy is feeling much better. It is so hard when furbabies are hurting and they can't even tell you exactly where it hurts or what's wrong! I often wish my dog could talk.

####### yes. My dog was in SUCH an awful mood this morning. She would not kiss me...not look at me...she was obvioulsy mad at me because I made her sleep in her crate for once. (shes got a bad stomach as of late) That B*tch! All I wanted was a kiss.

[TheATeam 0]

Mandy...I DEFINITELY know how that is! All you want is a kiss....and noooooooo! ~giggles~ At least your dog will sleep in a crate though! There's no way Kaia would do that. She absolutely HATES it. It wasn't until I got smart enough to just leave her leash on and tie it to my nightstand that it was even controlled if she would have an accident. I mean, if she's leashed she'll whine and bark to go outside, but if she's not, she'll sneak off somewhere and have an accident. Dogs are silly.

[SonoranSongbird 3]

####### yes. My dog was in SUCH an awful mood this morning. She would not kiss me...not look at me...she was obvioulsy mad at me because I made her sleep in her crate for once. (shes got a bad stomach as of late) That B*tch! All I wanted was a kiss.

My dog pulled something like that last year. She had to have minor surgery to remove a little growth on her back and she licked the spot on her front paw where they had shaved her fur for the IV to the point where it got infected (as fur grows in, it can be itchy). The vet had her on an ointment for it, and she HATED when I put it on her, so every time I did, she would refuse to play with me and only wanted to be with my husband. He was still my fiance then and was only visiting from Edmonton.

I don't think I could get Dallas to sleep in a crate either. Luckily, though, if she needs to go out in the middle of the night because of tummy problems, she will come and wake me up.

[Ontarkie 14,534]

Our dog Misty does'nt seem to walk funny she just looks sad when she has one of those flair ups. I have an electric throw that i use to stay warm when watching TV or at the Comp she likes to lie down on it and that seems to help her out. What got me when she first started the yelping was any time she moved her head or if she thought ppl were going to touch her she would yelp. What a horrible sound too scares the living day lights outta me. And since she didnt touch her food or ate it so slow its took a couple day to empty her bowl i really thought it was a bad tooth. Now we just arent sure the senior dog food seems to help since it has stuff in it for joint health. SHe still has her moments though I just wish we knew what is was.

She is the best dog our family has had. We got her at 8 months old to help my youngest get over his fear of dogs. He was bitten at a year old and was scared of all dogs, so when he was 3 we got her. We got really lucky she barks to go out no matter what time of the day/night and even when shes going to be sick. Now if I could just figure out what she needs it would be nice.

[TheATeam 0]

Ontarkie a lot of the dogs get the problems in their neck and it doesn't affect their walking at all. That's what it sounds like to me, especially if she likes to lay on the warm blanket and doesn't have an appetite. The vet actually told me to use one of those blankets on Kaia's back. Try giving her a baby aspirin the next time it happens and see if that helps.

That sound is the worst sound in the world isn't it? I absolutely hate it when Kaia makes that sound. It freaks me out and breaks my heart at the same time!

I really hope that Misty feels better soon!

Edited December 3, 2008 by TheATeam