[Dailydrool] Disk problems

[Pamela McQuade]

We had back surgery done on our Abner, many years ago. I saw him 
suddenly sit down and look surprised and rushed him to the vet's. We 
shot down to an ER that could do the back surgery.

If you do get this surgery, be sure you choose a top-notch vet. I do not 
think the one we had was very good--he was certainly obnoxious to 
Abs--and therefore to me--after the surgery, and when I found out that 
Abs had bitten a vet, I figured it was this one and hardly blamed the 
dog. If I had known this doc before the surgery, he would never have 
touched my sweet pup. Abner ended up having frequent if not constant 
pain, possibly because his back was not well aligned. I understand this 
is a very delicate surgery, and you need a very skilled person doing it. 
I would ask how many surgeries of this sort the vet had done. (I know 
you can't ask if the vet is an idiot.)

Despite all this, Abner recovered well, but he became aggressive because 
of the pain. Years later, a surgeon suggested that we put him on 
glucosamine and chondroitin, and that seemed to ease the pain, Abs never 
got aggressive again. I would recommend that any dog with back surgery 
use this, since it helps the bones to be more slippery.

I have always wondered if it would have been better not to do the 
surgery.

Recovery from this surgery is a real challenge for both the dog and 
human. In a couple of weeks, though, Abs was back on his feet and doing 
fairly well, except for aggression issues.

I would ask the folks on this list who have not done surgery what it's 
like to care for a dog who does not have it. But I, for one, do not 
blame anyone who decides not to go for the surgery. It's best judged on 
a case-by-case basis, I think.

Another consideration is that the best chances for improvement are 
within 48 hours of the dog going down. After this, success rates drop 
drastically. If it's been longer, I would seriously consider not doing 
the surgery.

I'd also be interested in knowing what your vet had to say about the 
medication (I'm sorry I forget which you used) and the possibility of 
this being a drug reaction. Trusting a pharma company to tell you their 
drug caused the problem could be akin to trusting Jesse James with the 
bank.

Pam, food slave to the Dashing Bassets