Poor girl....I personally know how painful spinal degeneration is!

Acupuncture is an excellent choice, and there are things you can do at home to help relieve pain in the spine. My holistic vet did some acupuncture on Belle, and then taught me to massage the very tip of her tail, as well as a couple of specific spots on her neck and rump. It seems to help.

If you have a canine pool around, water therapy can also be excellent for dogs with spinal problems since it is good non-weightbearing exercise.

Here's hoping she's pain free and feeling much better soon.

Jean

I think the Torb aka narcotic is making her constipated (after our reg visit yesterday, we upped it a bit - so she can't operate any heavy equipment or drive for a few days the vet said!)...so she got to try pumpkin for breakfast...if looks could kill! She's so not a veggie eater! However, pumpkin with Omega 3's on top, that's a big hit. The Omega 3 I use has lemon oil in it to reduce gassy and burp taste.....I guess on pumpkin it is yummy.

Last night was rough, but not as rough as the night before...DH and the Monster and the cat got put in the dog room on the Futon and so less people and critters moving around and she settled a bit better. Of course the Queen and her mother got to have the nice comfy king sized bed with pillows all around so no one would roll off....ahh, the live of a Queen.

Cross your fingers that we can manage the pain until 8 am on 11/28 when she sees Dr. Wynn. So long as she doesn't turn her neck the wrong way, she does ok...but oh boy, when she does......you could hear her a block away I think..it's pitiful.

I have discovered the best way to get all these supplements and her drugs down here is mixing them in the chicken baby food.....of course she loves it, it's 90 cents a jar.

Jean, I am very anxious for her to get chiro and accupuncture, both they do at Dr. Wynn's office.

I hope the best for you guys. My heart just breaks for that girl.

I am so very late to this but am sending major healing vibes your way! Poor, poor sweet Gina!

Robyn, so sorry to hear all this, although I'm behind on the story. Puppy mills. Yeesh. There aren't any words for the people who run them. I saw a HUGE billboard today on Jimmy Carter Blvd (GA) that advertised: Puppies! Every kind!

Grrrrrr.

Are you serious? A billboard? That's disgusting! Dr. Wynn is way north on I-75 - we will need to pack a lunch, but I am hopeful.

Today has been pretty good...the Monster went to DDC and I did adoptions and she slept most of the day ....we had a poop tonight, which is good because she had not gone in three days...so last night she got a psyllium/olive oil, baby food sundae.....yummer in her tummer.

Let's hope we have turned the corner and with some help from the holistic vet, I have her back on track.

Oh I wish I could fast forward to after she's seen the chiro and had some accupuncture. Poor girlie.

Robin, I'm so glad you're going to see Dr. Wynn, I've heard really good things about her and I'm hopeful that she can address Gina's problems and get Gina the quality of life she deserves.

Meanwhile, I hope the pain meds have kicked in!!

This morning was her visit with Dr. Wynn.....we adjusted some of her supplements slightly:

1/2 Agility tablet daily
50 mg COq10 daily (she had been on 10 mg a day)
1/2 capsule of Ginko/Hawthorn Daily
1/2 tsp of the fish oil daily
1/2 capsule of L-carnitine daily
Distress Remedy as needed

New tincture she made up that has three herbs (devils claw, corydalis, prickly ash)designed to break up the stagnation in her neck (TCM theory) and give some pain relief...she gets 1/8th tsp mixed with food 3 times a day. Interesting, she told me that never should an herbal tincture be given alone...always with food. Even if it is in glycerin, always with food.

We started with accupuncture today.....within in minutes of the needles going in you could see the endorphins kicking in her and her relaxing...she fell asleep until they came into adjust them...fell back asleep and then got ticked off for the final adjustment.

She's going to go again next week for more accupuncture and see if we can schedule an orthopedic specialist visit. The pin in her jaw is like an inch too long and we want to see if that's causing pain in the soft tissue.

She's still on Metacam, Tramadol and Methacarbomae (sic?) for now. The Tramadol has made a big difference in her pain management.

Her weight today was 8 lb and 5 oz.

She enjoyed her ride home today.

Awwwww, little girl. She's so lucky at last to have landed with you - you are so tenacious in the fight to make her as comfortable as a little Queen can be. Sounds like the acupuncture was really therapeutic for her!!

Fingers crossed this all makes for a quieter night and a restful weekend for you all!

Wow. This is a good kick in the tail feather for me.
I was just whining about the $120 in stomach drugs for Sammy. I shudder to think what all this is costing and how much time you spend preparing meals and meds.
I'm so happy to hear that your wee girl is getting some relief. It's not fair to have awful pain after all she's been through. I was quite worried for her. Thanks for the update.

$243 today.

Supports my theory that a person can have dogs OR money but can never have dogs AND money.

I'm so glad your visit to Dr. Wynn seems to have been helpful. I hope Gina's situation continues to improve.

I have seen acupuncture do wonders for pain management for dogs. My sister's OES dealt with OCD without surgery, by having chiro adjustments twice a month for 6 months and acupuncture in between the visits to keep the discomfort minimal.

I'm so glad to hear of your success so far. I hope Gina continues to have relief from her pain. I'm still trying to picture a pin that's an inch too long in Gina's little jaw.

Update! We went for a 2nd accupuncture at the GA Vet Specialists where Dr. Wynn practices 4 days a week, but the scheduler screwed up and we didn't have an appt for an ortho consult. We have reduced some of the meds she is taking, but we aren't ready to take her off any of them yet until she is totally pain free.

So, on Tues she gets another accpuncture visit and an ortho appt. She's much improved, only little yips here and there.

She was very happy to go for a long ride today and get to come to work with Mommy. She's sound to sleep under my desk (where she sleeps when we are at home too)...I guess we will never break her of the habit of sleeping/hiding in dark closed in spaces.

We got to talking about parasites and how Frontline doesn't work anymore and she feels it's due to overuse, and it will happen with the other products eventually. She recommends flea combing and using a product called Flea Busters in the home...and spraying Frontline (not the oil) only when you have a problem, not using it routinely...if you use DE, she doesn't like it put on the pet due to them inhaling it.

We also talked about Heartworms and she said there are several holistic vets out there who have had success with Black Walnut and other herbs, but they don't publish, and so the information isn't out there. She was very supportive of the program I am using. That made me feel good..most vets look at me like I have lost my ever lovin' mind. She mentioned that it's obvious with all the heartworm drugs out there and dogs still getting heartworms that something is wrong in the approach that veterinary medicine is taking. We discussed the "slow kill" method with the antibiotics and Heartgard and she noted that it certainly wasn't without risk, but definitely easier on the dogs than the traditional approach.

It's longer than that! It's an inch tooooo long.

I'm glad to hear she is doing better.

So great to hear she's doing better!!! She really is so lucky that she ended up part of your family.

Yay! Glad to hear that she was very supportive of your protocol--go Robin! You guys are such great troopers! Sending you tons of healing vibes!

Gina is extremely lucky to have ended up in your home! What a wonderful turn around for a special little dog Robin I really admire you for all that you have done and for not giving up. I am also a hater of puppy mills, I get to see a lot of the cast off's from the local mills that end up with the local SPCA.

Today's visit was another accpuncture...she has not had any major pain episodes since our last visit, so all pain meds are down to half the dosage. Today we had a consult with the neurologist and the orthopedist. She has no neurological deficits and exam did not reveal any painful areas other than when they messed with her jaw...and that's clearly due to the pin that is sticking out the back of her left side jaw. The Ortho doc thinks it could be removed if it is causing her pain, by doing a local and just slitting the skin and pulling on it. Our concern is that what was causing the pain or is it the neck pain...today she exhibited no pain response to any of the manipulations, so we think the neck is doing well and perhaps any pain now may be from the jaw. WE are going to see how she does weaning her off the pain drugs and keeping her supplements going. We also noted a white spot on her right eye this weekend, so next week when she gets accupuncture she will also have an opthalmology visit....I think I will take out a 2nd mortgage soon! Really, it is insane what they charge for this stuff...it's cheaper for a human to go to the doctor that's for sure.

Anyway, let's hope for continued improvement and that the spot on her eye is not a tumor or anything life threatening.

Robin, must be ESP. I was just wondering about Gina earlier. Having just had some lower jaw pain myself that caused ear pain & headaches, I wonder if Gina is having referred neck pain along with the jaw pain.

Poor girl, she deserves to be comfortable. You are truly an angel.

That's what they wonder too, but because of the condition of her cervical spine and upon all the range of motion they did on her, no reaction..however, she is an incredibly stoic dog. I wish she would talk to me....and tell me her life story....well, maybe I am glad I don't know it, because I would probably drive to South GA and commit a crime.