Neck problems?

Vizslak

Vizslak

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Anyone had any experience of this or know what could be causing it?
Tilly has had several episodes in the last year where she can barely lift her neck up, is obviously in a lot of pain and screams the house down! She walks around with her head hung low and sometimes with a bit of a body curve too. Movement seems to help ease it a bit, she is worst when been led still and goes to move (cue lots of screaming). She has been to the vets several times with it, they have never really given a diagnosis and we have treated with metacam, it resolves fairly quickly (within 24-48 hours). She is having another episode like this today, horrid to see her so uncomfy, she has had metacam but it still causes her to scream out regularly.
I'm going to take her back to the vet tommorrow and insist on xrays this time, its gone on long enough now.
Anyone got any ideas?
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My dads whippet used to have episodes like this, I think the problem was diagnosed as a nerve that kept getting pinched (sorry to be vague it was a long time ago.) My Buffy had a few spells when she would hunch her back and seem very uncomfy but they usually settled quite quickly. However a couple of years ago she was screaming in pain, metacam didn't touch it and after x rays it was discovered a couple of her vertebrae were degenerating and putting pressure on a nerve. She had tramadol (sp?) for the initial attack, and then had a course of cartrophen injections, which fingers crossed have kept her okay since. I would definitely insist on x rays, good luck.
 
Have you had someone to look at her back etc? My goldie managed to fall down a cliff
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and she walked like a banana afterwards. We took her to my dad's chiropractor? (I get foot and back people confused
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) and she sorted her out
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This was 11 years ago now so there weren't many/any dog back people around then. This was after the vet gave her the all clear from the xrays btw.
 
No I haven't Zalacca...well only the vet during one of these episodes. She isn't roached or wonky at all normally though, she moves fine most of the time.
I was thinking degenerating discs or a bone chip. I can't recreate the pain with any amount of poking or prodding so I'm guessing its a nerve being hit/trapped by bone on movement somewhere
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My mother-in-law had a Doberman dog once that had this problem and had to be on medication all the time for it. The vet said it was a congenital problem that was common in the breed. Not sure exactly what it was but as mentioned above think it was to do with nerves etc. Not much help I know but probably needs investigating further.
 
Yea she had them about an hour and a half ago and seems a bit comfier. Will keep you updated of course. Vet thinks is unlikely to be anything too dramatic (ie a tumour or anything) as its been going on a while and the attacks are'nt getting any worse or more frequent. If it's disc degeneration we can't afford nearly 3k to operate though so I hope its something more easily sorted or manageable.
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Tumour was my concern with my girl but totally unfounded, like Tilly it had been going on a while. If it is degeneration as long as not too severe I would ask about cartrophen, not sure how it is working but certainly seems to be helping Buffy.
 
My horse has cartrophen in her hock...wonderful stuff. Will try not to think to much about it before we know the xray result I reckon! I don't think its unfair to her to manage it and not operate as she is 100% fine in between attacks of it and they are only once every few months. If I had the money to operate I would but I don't and nor does OH who I would have a job to get to fork out for it even if he did!
I did wonder last night if a migrating microchip could cause it? She was done at the same time as my male parson and his is now in his armpit! Don't know how likely that is though!
 
How old is she and what breed? Does she seem collapsed on her toes?
I would check for Dermoid Sinus. You may need an experienced vet, there used to be an Irish lady vet at Langford who knew all about it, not sure if she's there still.
 
shes 7 nearly 8, lurcher. what do you mean by collapsed on her toes? she has always been fairly flat footed. Have only heard of it in ridgebacks and don't know much about it, can you tell me more?
 
You should be able to feel if she has any kind of connection from her skin to her spine. At her age you would expect her to have had more issues from it by now if she'd had it.
Any breed can get it. It's like Spina Bifida, a birth/congenital defect. I've had an EBT with it and know of a border terrier.
Her symptoms sound very similar though - the dog I had which had it developed encephalitis he screamed if you touched him, was hunched & wouldn't move. They have a distinctive stance where their legs bend backward. It's very hard to describe, bit like really sloping fetlocks.
 
Thanks, it doesn't sound like thats the cause, she doesn't have any lumps anywhere and as you say at her age I would think she would have shown more problems by now. Thank you for the information though.
She is absolutely fine this morning by the way, no screaming, so that was 48 hours as I predicted! Hopefully we will get to the bottom of it before next time.
 
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