[Dailydrool] Spondylosis Deformons

[Kathleen Lewis]

First, I want to send drool to everyone who needs some.  Second, I'd
like to ask for drool for Oswald again, but also some advice.  

 

About 2 and a half weeks ago, Oz started having back pain, so we took
him to the vet who gave him a shot of Rimadyl and then sent us home with
3 days worth of Rimadyl pills to try to help since he couldn't figure
exactly what was wrong without an x-ray.  He said if he was feeling
better by the time the pain meds ran out then it was likely just a
strained muscle or something like that.  Well he was still moving a
little slower than usual after the pain meds were gone, but seemed like
he was getting better, so the Hubby and I went on our 5 day trip we had
planned, leaving Oswald with my brother-in-law.  He said he seemed like
he was still moving slowly, but had been giving him a doggy aspirin a
day to try to make sure he wasn't hurting.  Well, the day we were coming
back, Oz was in bad shape.  He was obviously in pain and had a very
difficult time standing up without shaking panting and shaking in pain.
We got home that night and gave him a second aspirin and he obviously
felt a bit better.  We called the vet the next morning and scheduled an
x-ray as Oz's back was obviously not getting better and that led us to
believe it was something much more severe than a muscle sprain.  It
turns out that when the vet saw the x-ray, he saw that Oswald has
Spondylosis Deformons.  He told us that we could take Oz to a
specialist, but that the diagnostics alone would probably be several
thousand dollars and that's not even counting the surgery that would
likely follow.  The other option is to treat with pain meds as
necessary, but as this is a degenerative disease it probably will get
worse over time, which could lead to paralysis of his back end.  There's
also the fact that all that pain medicine is bad for internal organs.
The problem we have is what should we do?  I am really leaning towards
the pain medicine right now because I don't really have the money for
surgery and/or diagnostics, and if this is a degenerative disease, won't
it just get bad after the surgery?  What are your experiences with this
disease?  I really want the best for Oswald, he's our kid and we love
him dearly.  Thanks ahead of time for the advice!

 

--Kat, Mom to Oswald with an ouchie back.

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