Thank you! I'm so pleased your Pointer made such a great recovery. What did you do during the recovery period while waiting for the bones to fuse? Any medications, any nutritional supplements? Physio? Particular exercises? Did he have a follow-up x-ray or did you assess with physical examinations? And thank you for sharing the story of your friend's Weimaraner. Makes me less anxious knowing other dogs have experienced similar and recovered. Do you know what caused the prolapsed disc?
@Karen As you say, so difficult to know what is stressful for a dog. Snowie very seldom shows signs of distress, always happy-go-lucky. The telltale sign that something is off is that he will go to our sofas in the lounge and start digging and burrowing, throwing off the sofa cushions. It's very funny (now that we've come to terms with the ragged fabric underneath the sofa cushions, good thing you can't usually see it!) but also concerning cos then we start worrying if we should be worried that a seizure is coming (it doesn't always). He did dig the night before he had this seizure. His seizures are always early morning. It could well have been a temperature change for him, coming from the holiday where we stayed on the beach (very cool breeze at night) to our house on a particularly hot day. He does seem to suffer more from the heat than other dogs -- his dad is from the UK and likely genetically conditioned for cooler weather. I do hope that Poppy never has another seizure. Hopefully it was just a one-off.
Hi, My Pointer had to be kept on cage rest for the first 8wks and only allowed in the garden to toilet on a lead. It was a logistical nightmare really as we didn't have a cage big enough so partitioned off part of the kitchen, then needed a stairgate across the kitchen door to keep our Lab out as we couldn't risk him being anywhere near Bracken. It didn't matter where we were in the house one or other of the dogs was whining for company, although they did get used to it eventually. Bracken was on Tramadol and Metacam for the first few weeks. He was lucky that he regained full use of his legs very soon after the op so his physio just consisted of very gradually building up lead walks after the initial rest period. He did seem to suffer with what I imagine was either sharp pains or pins and needles in his front legs, as he would jump up and stand looking at his legs for ages, but this has gradually eased off, although even now he will occasionally still do it. To keep him occupied while stuck in the kitchen we spent a fortune on bones and chews but to be honest he slept through most of the early weeks. Langford were happy for our own vet to do any follow ups on the proviso that we went back for any problems, as for supplements we haven't bothered yet, Bracken was 7 when this happened, a very fit and athletic dog, even now at nearly 10 he's showing no signs of slowing down but I may look into something for his joints soon. I believe it was just one of those things with Ellie the Weimaraner, just like us it only takes a twist or jolt at the wrong time to slip a disc. She too was treated with Tramadol and Metacam, her recovery took a long time and I know her owner questioned whether she was doing the right thing by putting her through it on a couple of occasions. Hope this has helped.
It did, THANK YOU! It really does help to hear about other dogs, especially all the little details. I really do appreciate it. My greatest fear is hearing Snowie scream in pain -- couldn't bear to hear him in so much pain. Thankfully it has only happened once, and then a few times he has whimpered in pain (pierces my heart, too). Last night I leapt out of bed cos I heard him give an odd cry, not a scream, but one of his moans when he's being demanding. Got to him and his eyes were shut tight, so he was probably dreaming (probably of us not giving him something he wanted!!). But because he's epileptic I then think, if he's not responding perhaps he's having a minor seizure. He did wake up and moved to another sleeping place, but his joints clicked and he looked stiff, so of course I was worried! We had done a long walk in the morning (I had missed the right path) -- even my joints and muscles are sore -- so that could've been it. Unfortunately he has slowed down, unlike your Bracken. And I wonder if that is normal for his age (4 years old) or because of his current condition. We passed six big dogs on our walk, walking together with a few dog walkers, chasing after a ball that was being thrown (fairly steep slope!), and they were racing around together having so much fun. Snowie initially ran to greet them, but then just kept walking on the path, wagging his tail, but not joining in, which I was thankful for given his back condition, but still it seemed odd that he wasn't joining in the fun.
Just catching up with Snowie's story. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed for a happy outcome. He's so lucky to have you, he's getting all the love and care he could possibly wish for. Xx
