Our dog's spine problem

I've just seen your post, I've no experience of degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis. Surgery sounds risky. Steroids are fantastic in helping humans and other animals with joint pain.
Have you researched turmeric and an anti inflammatory. Several people in our dog groups are giving their older dogs who have arthritic problems turmeric tabs with good results.

Thank's for your reply Iam64, yes he is on anti inflammatories and joint supplements as we thought the problem was arthritis. I think we have tried everything going including acupuncture. We now find his pain is due to swollen, inflamed nerves in the spine because of an bony outgrowth on a disc. We had almost decided to try the steroid injection when our own vet informed us yesterday that because it would be into the spine it could cause paralysis if anything goes wrong, so we are off to the physiotherapist next week to try some laser therapy on his spine. It is so stressful when you can't help them isn't it. Thank you again for taking the time to reply.

Hi Nannyinthekitchen , how sad for the poor old chap. I'm not sure if this was what our cavalier was edging towards a couple of years ago but when i read up on it , it also involved cage rest for months after the surgery, only being allowed out for a quick wee.

We discussed it at length and felt for our young chap( he was about 3 at the time) it would being cruel to be kind and not something we could do. A lively young dog in every other way to be confined like that just didn't seem to be the answer.

Luckily for us , 2 weeks of enforced rest , no jumping up or pulling on the lead seemed to do the trick, even though he can yelp unexpectedly sometimes and we have to be very careful picking him up.

We're just careful now , he gets green lipped mussel extract which I've used for several years with other breeds too to good effect.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

Thanks for your reply NanaandGrampy and yes we thought the cage confinement was not something we could consider either. At the moment we are juggling with his medication to get the right balance of pain relief. I would much prefer to be using just alternative remedies but this is not an option for him at present. Hopefully some laser therapy will help. Thanks for your sharing your dog's story with us and for your best wishes

Its one of those difficult decisions isn't it Nanny? We truly felt , given the amount of pain and the surgery having less than positive results that we would have to put him to sleep .

A terribly decision which we were lucky enough to have avoided but i think it was a close thing. Your boy will be much bigger i suspect than our Sam so it must be doubly difficult to manage the pain for him.

Do pop in and let us know how he's doing ?

Thanks N&G, I will do

NannyIntheKitchen I have had steroid injections in my back joints and it has helped. But that was at least 10ys ago and I am not a dog and I don't walk in all fours. Your dog's results could be very different.
It certainly helped me to start with but your dog is not a consenting human. How well is the dog apart from that?

Hello Nelliemoser

Thanks for taking the time to leave a reply.
He is well apart from pain in one back leg, after he has been lying down for a while. He occasionally whimpers when getting up and carries his leg for a short time. He is a lot better once he has got going, enjoys his walks and playing with his toys and eats well.
On the down side he has trouble settling at night and is waking us up several times during the night. The neurologist suggested an increase in his pain medication to see if that helps. I certainly don't want to subdue him with more tablets but it is better than the alternative as long as it helps him

I have RA so whilst it's different, I empathise with chronic pain sufferers, whether they are human or animal. I mentioned earlier I've been given steroid injections in the past which have helped for a few months and the respite was appreciated. I understand your reluctance given a previous bad experience with one of your dogs and steroids but my experience for myself, friends and family as well as dogs has been positive. I'm impressed by the research into the positive benefits in reducing inflammation associated with turmeric. I do hope you can find something that helps your dog

Thank you so much Iam64, we may well have to try the steroid injections in the end after we have exhausted all other possibilities. He has had a good day today though so we are feeling a bit more positive and I have actually been on line earlier to order turmeric tablets. If only they could tell us how they are feeling

You need to mix turmeric with oil and pepper for it to work.

NannyInTheKitchen I’ve no advice to offer just sympathy as the owner of an ageing but beloved dog ???

Tegan, I believe the tablets contain everything needed to help it work.

Thank you Meg

Tegan & Iam, I know there is a recipe on the internet to make 'golden paste' for dogs which uses turmeric powder and includes oil and pepper.

Thank you again to everyone who has taken the time to respond

Are they made for dog use? I'm asking because Hattie has started to get funny about eating her food with golden paste in recently and I'm looking for an alternative way of getting her to take turmeric.

I found quite a few brands of turmeric tablets specifically for dogs when I searched online. The ones I have ordered are from Zestlife

Thanks

It’s the online tablets my dog group friends are using tegan