Any vets able to advise?

You could try a longer lasting NSAID? I had great success with Trocoxil with my collie before she went. It lasts something like four weeks. During the later stages of her life she took tramadol alongside this.
 
He's doing much better thanks, was a bit too active on Monday night when the gabapentin had left his system so a quite sore again on Tuesday but bright and perky the last few days, walking quite carefully / gingerly but definitely getting back to his usual self. The vet gave him tramadol instead of gabapentin, he's meant to take that twice a day so he has something approx every 8 hours but OH can't follow simple instructions (I'm staying at a friend's to look after her dogs this week) so he has had tramadol with breakfast and onsior with tea and that seems to be enough. Just a waiting game to see if this is an ongoing health issue or one off injury.
 
It's great that Ash is improving, the drugs will take some time to build in his system so it is good news that he is doing well at this early stage. 😍
 
Well having had a good few days, I came home this morning and he really struggled to get up, wasn't too bad when he got going but getting up and down is still very hard for him. OH says he was his normal self for breakfast, which unfortunately often means small backwards jumps on his hind legs so he might have just done a bit too much again. Very pleased I'm home again from tonight and try to limit his movement more....
 
Only seems right to add a pic as we are talking about him, think we might be back at the vets tonight or the morning just currently waiting for him to call us again but he is really struggling this morning 😢
 
Just an update for anyone following and because it does me good to get some stuff off my chest, having appeared to be getting better once off the gabapentin he seems to go backwards everytime he does some exercise when he feels better (trotting in from the garden etc) so in the interest of enforcing rest for a few days (OH can't seem to understand taking him in the garden on a lead to avoid too much activity 😠) he is back on the gabapentin to keep him dopey, whi h means him not wanting to move and me panicking that he's really bad but it's only for a few days to let the back rest properly, he has dog chiro coming out on Friday for a 2nd opinion then reassess after that and discuss with vets again.
 
Thanks SK, when the gabapentin wears off he seems quite perky and gets up much easier so I think the onsior is working well just bloody boyfriend has been letting him have free rein in the garden so he undoes some of the progress, am home at tea times now for next 4 days so can make sure he only goes in the garden on the lead so will see how much he improves, vet did start mentioning possible ligament damage and 6 weeks of rest but not how we would diagnose that...
 
It's very difficult to medicate at a level that takes away the worst of the pain, but not so much that they are left feeling invincible so they begin to throw themselves around and do more damage or aggravate the condition. Hugs to you and to Ash.
 
He seems to be getting there slowly, chiropractor is back on Tuesday so will be good to get her view but he's moving well on straight lines just still pivots on hind leg when turning rather than stepping through the turn if that makes sense, he had a few days of diarrhoea so was a bit sorry for himself and had to come off the onsior as vet thought that may be the cause so has only been on a low dose of pardale for the last few days and he hasn't gone backwards so I'm cautiously optimistic that we might be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
 
May have spoke too soon, having had a few really good days and me getting really excited that yesterday he finally started stepping through on his turns he seems to have taken a step backwards again 😭
 
He had a pardale when I was up with him at 3am and he seems good again now so hopefully it was just a case of him having been under dosed for a few days due to trialing his belly without the onsior, will get more pardale in the morning and ask to swap onsior for a different anti inflammatory that hopefully won't upset his belly, I am that owner that just stares at him, over analysing every bit of movement. He is generally the dopiest, laziest dog who just likes to chill on his own in his hallway and pop in to see you for 5 min as and when he likes, but now if he's lying in the hallway minding his own business I worry that he's not getting up coz he's in pain, or depressed or any other thing that pops into my head 😔
 
I am exactly the same, I think it is perfectly normal behaviour when you're worried about them. When Jake had to have his spleen removed my first words to the vet at 4am were "can I bring my Lab in to see you, he looks a bit pi@@ed off" because I new he wasn't right, anyone who didn't know him as well as we do would have just thought he was tired because it was 4am. The vet told me that many splenic tumour surgeries are unsuccessful because the bleed is too far gone for them to fix, and in fact the vet who looked after Jake following his surgery had lost his own dog to a ruptured splenic tumour because he had missed the signs, sometimes these signs can be so subtle that you just have to go with your gut instinct. I'd rather take them to the vet and pay for them to find nothing wrong than risk missing something serious. 🐾❤️
 
Well I'd say he's about 90% back to normal now, odd bit of movement every now and then but seems happy and pain free, he's on 1 dose of meloxidyl per day and 1 pardale twice a day so next step is to check with vet which one he comes off first, chiro said the soft tissue damage will be painful for up to 6 weeks so obviously want to keep him comfortable while that repairs. It's such a huge relief given what I was fearing when he was reacting to the gabapentin but I didn't know it was the drugs making him so bad.
 
Hit a new problem 😢, the meloxidyl also gives him a bad belly, he had seemed OK on just the pardale but only been a few days, however ran out of pardale today and its out of stock at the vets and online 😠, have given him meloxidyl again this morning to help with the pain and probs tramadol tonight until I can talk to the vet again in the morning. The prediction at his check up on Wednesday was that he will need some maintenence pain meds for the next 5 - 6 weeks but struggling to find ones that agree with him 😢, chiropractor is coming back next week too as I'm not convinced he didn't aggrevate something on the car journey to the vets as he was such a stress head and wouldn't lie down...
 
He's not making this easy for you is he? Can your vet prescribe some ranitidine alongside the meloxidyl or is the problem a runny bum rather than an acid reflux one? 🐾
 
Problem is a runny bum, he did say he could give him something to bind it up a bit but even as loose as it is the pain in his back is making him reluctant to push so loose is good until it builds up so much that it explosively comes out all over the laminate floor 🤣
 
We've used canned pumpkin to very good effect for both runny and hard stools. Good Luck to you, Ash and your laminate floor!!
 
And the saga continues, vet took him off metacam due to his unsettled tummy last Wednesday, stayed on low dose of pardale as no more available anywhere, Sunday morning he was showing pain symptoms again so had to give him some metacam again. Spoke with vets on Monday who said to try metacam with gastro guard and added paracetamol in instead of pardale. Wednesday morning I came down to vomit everywhere so now vets say he can't have any pain meds as his stomach needs time to clear up. He seemed bright and happy last night (last metacam was Tuesday morning and last paracetamol Tuesday afternoon) but by this morning he was a bit reluctant to move and when he does his pelvic area looks a bit unstable and wobbly. Chiro saw him on Tuesday morning and said he was making good progress and she only did a small adjustment and although grumbly with her he didn't shriek in pain anywhere near as much as he did on either of the last 2 treatments. Just don't know what to do now, he seems almost back to normal if on anti inflammatories but he can't have them 😢, am tempted to give cbd oil a go but I know this is about me wanting to feel like I'm doing something to help him.
 
He is shrieking in pain when the chiro treats him???!!! Wow....

ETA - I will reiterate what I have been saying for a while, which is that sadly for me he doesn’t appear to be enjoying a good quality of life. I agree with CC and MM that I would be strongly considering making the kindest decision for him now ☹️
 
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I've been reading this thread but not commenting as would only be duplicating what others have said. It would appear he has been struggling for coming up to 2 months now, I hate to say it but if he was mine I would be seriously considering pts. Tough decision I know but it doesn't sound as if his quality of life is good.
 
what is the diagnosis from the vet? Has he had x rays? I've read over this thread and am struggling a bit OP, that your dog has been in a lot of pain, that has barely been kept under control and is seeing a chiro that evidently hurts him-why is he seeing a chiro? is the chiro a vet? I thought a chiro couldn't diagnose and that only a vet can?

I'd be having a long hard chat with myself about his quality of life right now, I know its hard-we've all been there .
 
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