June 28, 2008 - Burrito is a past dog that we adopted out and we happen to give him to my niece.  JC called and emails me all upset last week because her "only child" Burrito was down last week.  Went to work he was fine.  Came home and he was not fine.  There is not other dogs or children so not sure if he injured himself.  My guess is not an injury after you read below.

I asked JC to tell me exactly what happened and exactly what the vet said and they had diagnosed a "slipped disk."  Sounds right to you?  They did not do an Xray on his yet that was what they had diagnosed.  That sounded utterly wrong to me when they started talking surgery immediately. 

I then told Jessica get a second opinion and the second vet in the town she lives in, a small town in Washington state, also refused to do an Xray on him too.  I told her, "I could nurse him here and bring B to my vet as they obviously have a ton more experience.  Plus I can't help her if they do not give her an Xray.  And that this will be the fifth one that I have nursed and helped here." 

My vet over here knows their thing about wiener back injuries.  They are the Medical Lake Vet Clinic in Medical Lake, WA at 509-299-3675.  In case you want to ask questions of have your vet ask questions too. 

So Burrito is here and we went to the vet this morning.  Here is what the vet did:

The exam was done with two fingers along the spine on each side pushing gently to see where there is pain.  There is another test also where the back feet and put face down on the table.  If a dog can feel them they will immediately pull them back into correct position.  His behind left side is staying put and his behind right side he is trying to get back to normal so he has some feeling in his back end. 

Normally when I nurse a Dachshund with a damaged spine they have no feeling at all and are completely dragging their hind ends around hence the term "downed dog."  But light at the end of Burrito's tunnel as he is not completely down.

Below is what we have done for today with specifics on meds and the amounts.  There will be a follow up visit.  The bill was only $267 to my vet and thousands less then surgery so we are starting with meds and bed rest first to see  any improvement.  I will keep this journal so others can benefit from Burrito's journey back to zooming and chasing cats for fun.

We could see on the Xrays in between disks was too close in two different back bone areas which means congential from what we could see on the Xrays.  The upper one he reacted in pain.  Probably not caused by an injury if the best guess. She saw one other location without pain with the same close verterbrea that he did not react, but she shaved him lower so the DMSO could be applied.  This come in liquid form in a dauber with clear liquid.  They put something else in there too, but not on the label.  You can call the vet clinic and ask them exactly what it is, if needed.

The amount of steriods or prednisone was correct at 5 mg for his body weight of 11 pounds.  She gave me for two weeks worth plus what he was on already prescribed at 5 mg for one week from a previous vet.  Because this can cause stomach ulcers I am to give him 200 I.U of Vitamin E for the whole time he is on the steriods plus one week.  Of course when I bought the Vitamin E today and it only comes in 400 I.U. each capsule, but that will not hurt him to give him extra for a nice soft coat.  That will also help with bowel movements too.

They also gave me some muscle relaxers which also makes him sleepy slightly called Methocarbamol in 500 mb so give 1/8 to 1/4 tab of that three times a day.  The pills are too small to get a 1/8 tab dose.  Sleepy in a dog crate is not a bad thing.  I use peanut butter so they eat the meds willingly.  I get like 1/4 teaspoon and wrap it around the pill.  Butter works well for this as well if they have a nut allergy.  If they have a milk allergy then use steak and mush in the pill.  Most dogs grab and swallow without chewing as we know.

The vet and I were both surprised they gave nothing for the pain or back spasms which is usually one of the first things the dogs and I was prescribed when there were previous injured backs.  I myself am battling a back injury from a car wreck vfor the last two years and they prescribed a person with a back injury muscle relaxers as I did have back spasms.  I was on those for a couple of months.  Made me sleepy too which was also not a bad thing while healing. 

We have the liquid DMSO to apply to cleaned area with water three times a day.  No soap needed as the DMSO will pull whatever is on his skin into his body and not good having soap sucked into their body.

Then she gave me an herbal supplement that has been clinically shown to "support the natural release of adult stem cells" which is the new meds since I took my last one into the vet.  I have 60 tabs at 1/2 tab a day until gone.  Couldn't hurt and natural so not bad for him.  That is called StemPets and made in the USA.  I have a label over their contact info but you can search online for that and order it I am sure.

I also asked about joint health supplements and she said it could not hurt.  The brand name is Dasuquin and what she recommended.  You can check out their web site here: www.dasuquin.com.  The vet ones are better then just the over the counter ones, but we could try people supplements first and then switch later if the cost is too much.

Burrito was full of poo so I am to start him on a people fiber tab to help his bowel movements if I do not see him pooping regulary.  He left a nice load last night (I always pay attention to bowel movements in any sick or injured animals).  He never left anything today yet so I will watch that and find him some of those people fiber tabs if needed.  The full load of poo showed up plainly on the Xray!

Normally when a dog goes down they can not feel either their bladder or their bowels and they have to be expressed to get them to defacate and urinate.  This one is doing that on his own so no problems there, but be aware if it looks like they have a full tummy it might be a bladder or bowel backup which they might need some help getting that out of their system. 

Your vet can show you how to express and most dogs do get that feeling back and can start making their usual messes without you even after injuries.  It might take a couple months, but do not give up on them.  If they can't feel their tails and one day the tail starts wagging then you know they are healing.  Always makes my day when a downed dog is happy and I see that tail going a million miles an hour.  Always a great sign.

Xrays do not show soft tissue damage and folks have have to pay for a doggie MRI for that.  But at least with an Xray common sense tells me we can eliminate bone structure problems like a vet saying he has a slipped disk when if fact B did not.

So surgery would not of helped and those idiot vets diagnosed a slipped disk and there was not any disks out of place just too close together.  If there is anything else going on we can't see if but nice to have some Xrays for comparison down the road in his recovery too it if takes longer then the two months complete crate rest that we were prescribed today. 

I have had dogs on crate rest upwards of six months or more here too and got them to walk again.  So two months is a minimum but play it by ear to see how they are progressing as each dog heals at different rates just like people.

Glad B is here and we will do a follow up visit in a week or so.  Then we shall see if what the vet has me doing is working and if yes then he can go home after that with complete crate rest for two months.  I will post what we find out here so we can help others in the same boat and do not have thousands to spend on back surgery when most vets never tell patients they still have to do months of physical therapy too after the surgery.  But an Xray will tell if the spine itself is damaged from a massive injury, in our case NO!, and if surgery can help.

We also discussed that some back injuries could take up to two years to heal and I am a testament to that here for me personally recoverign from a nasty car wreck.  So B can never be allowed to jump off anything high, etc., once he is moving around better.

Stay tuned for the next update!