My 12 year old has slowed down quite suddenly and the vet has prescribed Metacam and K Laser therapy. Has anyone experience of the laser treatment?
I'll be interested to hear how the laser treatment goes. My vet recommended acupuncture for my boy with a bulging disc. She doesn't do it, she recommended a vet who does, said she'd seen excellent results. He had his first treatment today. The acupuncture vet said the acupuncture increases blood circulation to the area and relaxes the muscles -- to speed up healing and reduce pain. I forgot to ask him about the laser treatment -- it was something recommended by a dog physio. What does Metacam do? I will have to remember to ask my vet about it next time cos our boy has arthritis where the disc is bulging. Although according to the acupuncture vet, arthritis is the spine's way of stabilising the area so that the vertebrae move less and hopefully will form a bridge around the bulging disc.
Yes, we had the laser treatment! I must say I was very cynical as to whether it would work, done by the vet nurse and very short treatment, about 3 - 4 minutes each session if I remember, we had about 4 treatments, each a few days apart and didn't need to go on the maintenance programme of one a week for a period and then one a month. He hasn't had a problem since and the x-ray showed very bad arthritis in his left fore paw due to the fractured elbow when he was a pup.
Be aware that some dogs don't do well on Metacam; Poppy was very sick and had diarrhea on it. She had a very bad reaction to Rimadyl too, but my old dogs were on Rimadyl for a long time for arthritis, and it definitely improved their quality of life.
In your previous posts you said your vet had prescribed Rimadyl - this is an NSAID (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug). Metacam is also an NSAID, just a different drug, it has the same action.
I prefer Cartrophen Vet injections to Metacam. It worked wonders and I saw results immediately after the first loading injection. After the four loading doses you have to watch as each individual animal will have it's own booster rate. Two of my dogs and one cat have had Cartrophen. I give the injections at home myself, something you can ask your Vet about if you look into this med. Did laser therapy for Oban. Difficult to say how effective it was as he underwent several different therapies during his ortho rehab. In the long run, once we quit the rehab the results of simply shortening walks (which we were told to do anyway) and continuing the icing after walks was just as successful. I imagine how all these things work on each dog depends a lot on the dog, your exercise regime and where the arthritis is.
Thanks! My vet recommended Rimadyl only when my boy shows pain (limping, not wanting to walk). The vet who did the acupuncture was not keen on Rimadyl for regular use in our case, said that by removing pain in this way, Snowie will overdo it and possibly cause damage, that pain is the body's way of preventing further damage. I will start a separate thread to provide an update on Snowie's bulging disc and therapy in case anyone finds the info useful or interesting.
We used Deramaxx for our previous Lab, Ginger and now sometimes for our 10 yr old Tilly. It worked so well for Ginger that I wanted to take it myself. (Vet said don't do that). We have also used enteric Asprin, but our Vet said Deramaxx was easier on the stomach, and that we should not mix them, and should separate the meds by a couple of days at least.
I can't help as Dexter is my first dog but I just wanted to Welcome you here and hope you can find meds and a or treatment schedule to bring her some relief x
Can't help with the laser therapy but I find the metacam very good for Juno, who has ED, if she is in a lot of discomfort but some dogs don't tolerate it very well but there are alternatives.
We have tried laser therapy - it seems to help him feel better in the moment. We have also tried Arthrimaxx - it's added to his food. He seems to be able to walk better after adding this. It's hard to see a senior dog not be able to do the things he wants to do!
