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My sweet little Josephine is 2 1/2 years old and has herniated discs in her back and also has severe heart failure in the right side of her heart. I have to make the heartbreaking decision of whether or not to take the chance on anesthesia to repair the disc herniation since a week of sedation and pain medication has not produced any improvement on her motor skills (she can’t stand and poop or pee and her appetite is waning) and risk complete heart failure, or take her home and try other alternatives to back surgery. The doctors tell me that the results of the EKG tell me that I only have about 2 more years with my little girl given the condition of her heart. Do I do the back surgery? Are there successful alternatives?
My son (lives in florida) sent me a picture of a lump on his dogs lip. His vet told him it was a wart. I wanted to see if that is true. He’s concerned and wanted to make sure she is ok. She is a 2 year old Samoyed.
Hello,
The only way to accurately diagnose any kind of lump or bump or mass is to get a tissue sample and submit it for biopsy. Other than that is is simply speculation. I would advise either a second opinion or a biopsy. Often if there is a very small base to the mass I will try a local injection block and then a hemostat placement and suture to remove it. I don’t always use full general anesthesia but in some cases it is needed. Biopsy at my clinic is about $200.
What are the best and safest dental chews for cleaning a dogs teeth and bad breath?
No chews will replace a proper dental cleaning at the vet. if you’re dealing with bad breath, in all likelihood your dog should be scheduled for a dental visit.
That said, my dog’s vet recommends OraVet dental chews to supplement oral cleanings.
I have a question about our 13 yo dog who likely has a bulging disc. He is a mutt (probably part Border Collie, part Shepherd). Soon after a small slip on our stairs, he had lameness in his one back leg; this went away after one day, he limped for a few days after, and he quickly recovered from those things. Though he was walking fine fairly quickly, he showed stiffness, showed hesitation going up stairs unless we gave him a treat (we have only stairs to the outside), and his tail was down and only wagged from the tip of it. We had him quickly on an anti-inflammatory (Novox) and a pain med (started on Gabapentin but had to discontinue). He was fine on a walk; we went on short walks and he always craved for much more than we allowed. We prevented jumping, aerobic exercise, stopped him from using stairs by having a ramp to the outside, etc. We continued the Novox. His symptoms continued, then got better, and then seemed to regress when he started showing signs of pain (panting even when lying down and even when it was cool outside and some anxiety); the pain thing was probably because of taking him off Gabapentin. We took him to the Neurology Dept at a local, large vet hospital and a physical exam indicated that he “likely” has a bulging disc. When they inspected his back, he showed signs of pain and anxiety and his back legs bent and his rear went down. We don’t think we want to do surgery due to his age. He has not had an MRI as the regular vet and my husband and I thought that the treatment would be the same if we did not do surgery — treatment being restricting movement, continuing anti-inflammatory and pain meds, and looking into possible physical rehab. A switch to the pain med Amantidine helps a lot and the panting and anxiety are gone. He now continues to crave longer walks and, at the rare times we forget to block off the couch, he will try to jump up on it. We have been continuing to restricting movement but we just don’t know what to do about activity restrictions and have not had a lot of advice from neurology. He has always craved movement and exercise and when we take him around the block his stiffness seems to go away a bit and he seems energized and maybe even more comfortable. He has always craved a lot of exercise and movement. His spirits are lowered a lot if we keep in him in a small space — it almost seems like he wants to move around. He is eating and drinking, can do #2 (though he struggles some if doing it a long time). If allowed to do some movement, he is mostly happy and getting around with walking. Questions are: Should we restrict his movement altogether despite all this? Should he we do no walks at all? Is it bad if he is free to walk around the first floor or should he stay only in a very small area? I feel we are so confused as to what to do and how to know how to prevent regression. We’d love the input of any veterinarians or other owners with the same experience!
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your pup. I think that I have to defer these questions to your vet. My inkling is to say strict cage rest except for short walks outside on flat grassy ground. My concern is that he will keep exacerbating the injury if you don’t. I have lots of information on my blog and YouTube channel under IVDD please go there for advice and case based examples. Best of luck
Thank you so much for your reply! Do some dogs who have been restricted with movement get to the point that they “recover” or is this always a progressive situation? We don’t know if, after the 4 weeks of restricting him, if he will can to return to walks or anything if he is showing that he improved enough. Do you have thoughts on this? Also, is there anything we can do for him at home (like light massage or heat on the back)? Thank you so very much! You are so very helpful! 🙂 -Catherine
My 3 year old toy poodle, bailey, is currently having behaviour issues. He is well trained and we have even had a trainer not too long ago but despite all of this he is continuously going through phases a misbehaving/reactivity. These phases started to occurred since he was about 1. During a phase he typically gets very possessive aggressive, temperamental, reactive and starts to ignore all of his commands! Does anyone have any tips to help or stop these phases all together?
Good morning. One of our shepherds used to get this way from time to time. It turns out that even though we are consistent, with him we had to be extremely diligent and consistent. Any change in routine would set him a little off. So for us it was a long road of patience and repetition. And walks. A LOT of walks. Going for a leashes walk where you are in charge is like a reset button in my humble opinion. It reminds them that you are higher in the pack order. The key is to catch the unwanted behavior right as or right before it starts-easier said than done. This helps you figure out the trigger and then in turn you can start to desensitize them to it. It is definitely a process of rewarding wanted behaviors and ignoring and redirecting where bad behaviors are concerned. Definitely a full time job, but it can be done. You may want to look into a certified dog behaviorist rather than a trainer. They can help you get started and would really be worth the money. Very best of luck.
Hiya, thanks for getting back to me! I have started to get a really good routine since I got back to work. He has also started to only be allowed on the lead as I’m starting to see a more reactive/aggressive side to him and he is usually at heel to walk until I let him sniff about. I have been referred to behaviourist from the vets but I have to wait til I get my own house due to my living situation the now, unfortunately.
In the short term, look into Nothing In Life is Free (NILF). I agree with Sarah, there’s likely something setting this off. Try to keep logs of what happens to cause these relapses, so you can figure out how to avoid them in the future.
I’d also love to know more:
-Do you have any other animals in the house? How about children?
-Is he intact?
-What sort of training do you do on a regular basis, beyond basic commands?
-What sort of grooming routine do you have with him?
-When was his last bloodwork done, and when you had it done, was a thyroid panel part of it? Have you ever brought this up with the vet? Have you ever checked him over to see if anything hurts? Bad behavior can also come from physical discomfort, eye issues, coat issues, teeth issues, osteo issues from long nails, ear infections, etc. Is this the same dog with chronic pancreatitis? I’d bet that’s playing into it, too – sick dogs don’t always behave well.
-Did you get him from a breeder or a rescue? If the former, have you talked to the breeder about this? They might have insight for you.
Hiya, thanks for getting back to me! I’m going to get that sorted tonight as I’ve just had a look into it and it seems to be really good. I have to keep a log of his food he eats, how much and if he’s had a good or bad day with his pancreatitis, I have noticed with that log that he acts out when he’s having good periods with his pancreatitis. I have a guinea pig but he seems to have a very good bond with him, he also has daily contact with dogs as family members own dogs and I work in a groomers(he comes to work with me). I currently live with my parents and their children have no respect for him, so I can’t do any crate training or that. I constantly having to tell the kids off but because my parents don’t it makes no difference, I am hopefully moving out in the next month at the latest! With his training we do tricks, obedience, some agility, off lead training( he is not getting to that the now due to his relative/aggressive tendancies currently) and grooming training. I am currently doing retraining by basically go over every command he knows for at least 2 days each but building it up for him. He had blood work at the end of last year but I have found that he behaves badly when he’s feeling better. I did speak to the breeder but she didn’t really have anything to help my out and I know a good few dogs she has bred from the same mum and dad just different litters and they are all fine.
What’s your normal training routine? And you’ve gotta advocate for your dog – he’s very small, children are usually larger than toy poodles and often don’t respect their space. Eventually chances are he’ll bite one of the kids if they aren’t respecting his space.
This might mean separating him from the kids. It might mean crating when you can’t be there to supervise 100% of the time.
Well he’s never in the house now when I’m not there and if he can’t come with me I get other family to watch him. We usually do 2 sessions morning and night, for about 10mins. He unfortunately had a seizure today when we were out so I think his behaviours more than just acting up. He will have a vets emergency appointment tomorrow morning so I will hopefully know more then.
Oof, yeah. That may explain quite a bit. Is this is first ever seizure? I hope you get some answers.
Yes, me too but I’ll let you know what they say tomorrow!
Definitely let us know. I’ll keep you guys in my thoughts.
At the vets today they took blood but all his vitals were fine and the only thing wrong with him physically was he was a bit sore on his spine, which we believe that’s due to hurting himself during the seizure. If the blood tests don’t come back with anything he will go and get a head scan.
Did they do a full thyroid panel?
Hiya, his blood results came back clean but I’m going to need to look into something else to do more tests as since he had the seizure his behaviour has became more aggressive rather that reactive.
Hello,
We are a group of individuals that help the street dogs in Turkey. We have a recent case of a baby girl that is below the age of 2 and has heartworm disease. She and a bunch of others were locked up into an abandoned shelter with no food and no clean water (there was water with only blood hence, bacteria and the disease). The medication advised to us by the vet (immiticide) does not exist in Turkey therefore, the baby girl cannot get the treatment. Is there a way you could help us out with this issue we are having?
We would be truly grateful.
The vet is ready to show videos, send necessary documentation and prescription etc.
Thank you in advance.
Hello,
Thank you for all you do. The American Heartworm Association has lots of information available on their site. Please go there. Also look into Advantage multi and doxycycline. They have some promise in treating if you don’t have access to duroban. Good luck!
Thank you so much for your quick and genuine response. We will definitely look into everything you mentioned!
We wish you a great day!
My dog was recently given the prognosis of intervertebral disc disease or herniated disc. His hind legs currently are not working and are possibly paralyzed but he still has feeling in them. The surgery for him to get better is something that we can not afford and our not sure what to do. Is there any way for him to walk again without the surgery? Is there any other treatments we can try?
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your pup. Some dogs can recover from this even if they don’t have the decompression surgery. It takes time, a lot of intensive at home care and assistance and patience. I have a lot of information on conservative management on my blog and YouTube channel. Please search my name and IVDD on both sites and you can see a patient named Hank who recovered without surgery. It took him almost three weeks to be able to walk again. It is absolutely imperative to have access to pain medications, and the time to invest in their care. It is also very important to have a vet who will help you. Good luck.
Hello,
I watched your videos and they were very helpful! I just have a couple more questions though. What type of therapy/rehab did u start hank with? Will starting therapy too early hurt the process? Do you think acupuncture is a good idea?
My dog ran out of my house and got bitten by dogs and returned back . The right front leg has some bite marks and that’s all. It’s day two and he is yelling in pain. In day 1 , he used to walk with 3 legs. But in day 2, he is struggling to walk at all. He got pain in the other 3 legs too. I think rabies is not the issue as it shows symptoms only after a week.
Please see a vet as quickly as possible for treatment.
A dog bite is always an emergency. Even if it looks small- chances are it is much worse and the chance for infection is very high. Please get to a vet if you haven’t already. I hope things are ok!
My dog is doing good now. He can now run with 3 legs. I haven’t seen any rabies dogs in my street. Can I consult a vetenerian after a week or a month? Because vets are hard to find in this quarantine.
No, this needs to be handled immediately due to the risk of infection. If untreated, infection can and will kill your dog.
Hi Dr. Krista,
My name is Yana and I have beagle mix Charlie who injured his neck on 07/08/20 last week. We took him 10 flights of stairs for exercise and 30 min later he started crying in the dog park then yelping in the car and screaming at night. We took him to the ER and he was diagnosed with neck disc injury and prescribed Methocarbamol, Gabapentin, Tramadol and Caprofen. He seemed to be fine, not paralyzed but screaming 1-2 times a day usually on potty brakes. Then he started having episodes when he became more stiff and lifted his front paws…usually in the morning after sleep. We took him to a neurologist on 07/13/20 but he said he is 1 from 6 and not that bad. He stopped Caprofen and prescribed Prednisone, Fentanyl Patch and Acepromazine with other medications from the ER. So we were spacing out medications because we were afraid to give too much. He did not seem to be improving and we started all meds. He seems better after he screams like pressure relieved and he can lift his head and move more free.
Long story short, we placed him in a boarding hospital due to us living in a studio in highrise on the 10th floor, working from home and being 7 month pregnant. We are planning to visit another neurologist on monday and hopefully get x rays or mri.
Questions:
In your video with Hank he was paralysed and recovered in 17 days. So far I don’t see much positive progress in our dog and he is not paralized. How much chance do we have or what we should do moving forward?
October 2019 he had a similar episod and I took him to the vet, no x-rays were performed. Two reasons indicated neck or teeth. More towards teeth inflammation which I was focusing on by brushing and adding supplements. Medications prescribed Cephalexin and Carprofen. He got better in 3 days but his screams were not that severe. Should we try Cephalexin?
Any help, suggestion on advice will be highly appreciated! If we can bring him to your facility for boarding and recovery at least till he doesn’t have those screams we would like to do that! Please let us know how much it costs since it adds up quickly and I know that surgery is very expensive.
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your dog. I’m also sorry but I don’t have a clear picture of what’s going on now or what you are worried about.
I cannot order advice on which medications to use as I don’t know him or his condition.
I have lots of videos on YouTube and lots of advice on my blog. Maybe they can help?
My 11yr old Lab/Mastiff mix was diagnosed with a mass on her spleen. It’s currently not bleeding, but we are trying to figure if we should go ahead with the surgery or not. I feel in my heart she has still more life in her, but I also know that if it’s cancerous she won’t have long. I know in the long run it’s my decision, but I just need to hear what others think.
Hello,
In my experience I have found removing it before it starts bleeding and becomes a serious life threatening issue is far better than waiting for this to happen.
I have a lot of information on my blog and YouTube channel. I think cage rest, analgesics and lots of TLC help. I also know people who think rhat acupuncture has provided great benefits. Good luck.
I just can’t stop crying about this. I just watched your video from the car. God bless you. My sweet Josephine is at the University of Minnesota, where she had her first surgery, to repair her heart valve (stenosis?). My friends did a GoFundMe for her for that surgery, but that time, it wasn’t an immediate emergency and we had some time. Today they called me when they already had her anesthetized for the spinal cord disc surgery and called me to get the deposit of $6000.00. Since I did not have that readily available on a credit card, they canceled her surgery. I am not sure where this is heading, but I truly admire you for standing up for your beliefs. What are we supposed to do? Turn in to these people that say it is cheaper to just get a different one? If they had ever looked in my sweet Joey’s eyes and watched the joy that she has when she gets a new ball and leaps in the air to catch it. Now I know that no matter what, if she does get the back surgery, and if she does survive it, if she ever walks again, if she ever runs again, will she live more than 2 years? Will she be happy? Am I doing this for me? Am I truly doing this for her? Will she be in pain? She didn’t show any pain before or after she couldn’t walk anymore. She is a tough little girl. She has lived through so much in her short little life that I want to keep fighting for her, but is it fair? Am I really doing it for her? I can’t afford this. I don’t know how I will make the credit card payment, but that isn’t what matters. Joey matters.
Two people that care about me have now said that maybe I should let her go. I spent $5000.00 on her original heart valve operation and I am going to spend an additional $7000.00 on disc surgery and if she survives that she will only live for another 2 years. Am I being selfish?