Hello. My 9 yr. old Beagle, Treble, is 9 days post op of a ventral slot surgery to clean a herniated disk and decompress 2 more. His whole cervical spine is not in the greatest condition. He could walk prior to and after surgery. He had severe pain after surgery and was placed on gabapentin, ketamine injections, something to protect his stomach, stool softeners, an antibiotic and a steroid. He returned home after 2 days where he was rested and carried downstairs to the bathroom. He seemed better by day 5 but still woke up shaking and in pain. The 5th day, he yelled in pain when we lifted him, and again only worse when we placed him down and he tried to walk. The vet told us to take him to physical therapy. We are 9 days out and since he finished his steroid, they moved him to NSAIDS. He has been doing well. Still stiff and painful in the morning but generally better and walking around by the afternoon. Today, he stepped up while the PT was doing laser therapy and when he moved, he cried out painfully for a while again. The PT immediately took him to the on call vet. His opinion was that Treble, because of his age, would probably deal with that pain (almost like a pinched nerve or catch) for the rest of his life and there’s nothing to stop it. It happens occasionally but not all the time. My questions are, since we are only 9 days out of surgery, could the nerve potentially heal enough that he doesn’t scream in pain every few days, the sound which haunts me. Also, he’s been walking a lot with the PT every day. Is that okay or should he mostly be resting? His neck range of motion is good and the leg causing most of the painful issues has been checked with no pain upon touching. I want to hope that he won’t be in that kind of pain for years. He has always been pretty resilient.

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 have a 15 year old Dachshund, Brody, who is currently suffering from a cervical IVDD injury. This is Brody’s third IVDD injury in his short life, however, it is the most severe. We are not sure what happened this time since Brody was injured when we got home from work. Today is day 7 since Brody went down. While Brody is able to right himself from the lateral position, he does spend most of his time on his side. Brody is able to lift his head and look around, he can scoot himself from one position to another, he has a fantastic appetite, he has feeling in his hind quarters and only deep pain in his front two. My poor boy is not able to consistently empty his bladder and has required cathing; as of today, with the help of lactulose, Brody has been able to empty his bowels, incontinent.

Brody is not a candidate for surgery due to his age and other health conditions, so we are managing him conservatively. Brody has been seen by his regular vet where he was started on prednisone, robaxin, & gabapentin; he also takes CBD and I just started him on tumeric paste. Brody has seen a holistic vet where he had acupuncture done with electro stimulation.

My question is, how long do I give him before we decide that enough is enough? Brody is not in extreme pain, but he does have occasional neck/shoulder spasms that make him scream. I just am afraid of putting him through more than what I should just because I am not ready to let him go. Brody has been my guy for 15 years and I cannot imagine life without him, but I don’t want him to suffer. I have watched Dr. Magnifico’s YouTube videos about giving IVDD dogs time, but what is a realistic timeframe?

Yorker poo, 2.5lbs. She is whining/crying as tho she’s in pain when she gets up to adjust herself as she sleeps, she spent most of the day outside with the family, laying out by the pool. She had plenty of shade, water and food. She is eating drinking and going to the bathroom normally, the whining did not occur until later in the night after dinner. No one has any idea what could be causing her pain. Any ideas?

My cat, Mitsi, is 18 years old. She doesn’t have any signs if the urinary tract infections or lumps or bumps. She has no problem going in her litter box though occasionally she trips and pees when she is getting in the box (it’s only 4 or 5 inches high).
To be more specific with her scratching, she has done it for years but now she screams and pees when she does it.
She’s peeing on everything now and a couple times a day, I don’t know what to do anymore.
My family doesn’t have enough money to take her to the vet and due to her age they probably wouldn’t let me, but thank you for any help!
She has no problem eating or drinking and she pukes every once in a while as she’s always done. Besides the scratching and peeing , she’s just like she’s always been.

Hello , I’m curious of my dogs actions , my dog has this kind of scary attack or something , because when he sleeps he wakes up scared kind of screaming and he pees himself , this happen two times today im really worried because i have a new cat and I’m curious if this is affecting him, do you know what can be happening to him?

there are no clear wounds and he doesn’t scream when you feel along his body and legs, just at random times maybe when he’s moved or especially when picked up.

Being in such a rural area the owner (cambodian) does not seem to understand that his pet could be really hurt on the inside etc

I have a teacup poodle he fell down mid run and started screaming now his eye is swollen shut and he can’t walk straight and only makes it a short distance

When I straighten my dogs front paw she cries out in pain and tries to keep me from touching her paw again. However when I was feeling her bones she had no reaction and I felt no difference when compared to the other paw. Sometimes she limps and other times she’s fine, even has the energy to chase after me and play. I’m really worried because she’s a small 2 year old 4 lb. Yorkshire Terrier and when she cries out in pain it sounds like she’s screaming.

I have a very skittish and small cat that has been eating off and on for the last 2 weeks. She will come out for feeding but only eat a little but will revisit later to munch a little more. I’d say she is eating 50% of what she normally does. Nothing has changed- food, environment, placement, etc. I read how to safely put the cat in the crate, but our problem is just catching her. She only comes out from her basement territory for feeding and late night love when things are calm. She does sleep with us. I have tried trial runs to catch her but she either runs as I approach and darts through her basement cat door where she disappears or if I do get my hands on her she screams, wiggles, scratches and out of fear of hurting her or me I let go, those claws are sharp! In the evening during love time I blocked the cat door and tried to catch her, she flipped out. I tried enticing her with food and cat treats, she is too smart for that, lol. My wife can handle her more than I can and she too has tried without success. We have never been able to pick her up and hold her. She appears and acts perfectly normal. My wife is worried about her and if this continues, she thinks a vet visit may be in order (yet another vet visit, we should buy stock, lol). If we ever get her to the vet, she is their problem then, lol. She is 3 years old and other then when she was a kitten, has never been to the vet because of the above reasons. She is indoor only. Any advice on how to catch this wild crazy cat without hurting her or us?