Spondylitis in dogs....

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Slightlyconfused

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What are your experiences?

One of mine has been acting odd lately, put a post up wondering if it was the Metacam long term use. Took back to vets for a check up and he had hip and spine X-rays.

His HD has gotten worse and he now has spondylitis forming in his spine. He had a notice able arch in his back.

He has been on trocoxil for a week, next set of tablets is next week but after the first three days of looking good he has gotten worse again.

Back down vets this morning as I can't keep him in a heightened state of awareness and not letting the others near him and he is nit allowed to play or run which he lives for so in a very confused state of mind today.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
Hi,
I had a dog with spondulosis of the spine and he did really well for four years after diagnosis. My vet told me that it does not normally effect the dog very much and it's usually an incidental finding, in my dogs case it was noticed on a hip X-ray. My dog had some of the worst spondulosis the vet had ever seen and you could feel every ridge along his spine yet wasn't really effected very much.
I used to give him previcox and sometimes pardale if he was painful although these days were very rare. He died of an unrelated condition not relating to his bones!

I did find that hip problems are very painful though and this could be why your dog is feeling down? I really hope that he picks up soon for you!
 
This sounds very similar to what happened to my mum's collie cross when he was approx 10 years old (3 years ago now). We have a small piece of land that he's free to roam around and he came in one night as if he'd been hit by a car, really sore, not himself and just wanted to sleep and he's usually a nutcase - always wanting to play with his ball. We also could feel and see a large hump on his back (i thought he'd broken his spine and it was sticking up) After a few visits from the vets whom said it was nothing to worry about, x rays revealed he had extra bone growing around his spine and this bone had actually broken, so spine was ok. Not sure how, we can only presume he'd fallen or jumped and landed funny whilst playing. The vet gave us some medication (I'll have to find out what it was called) It knocked him out most days and he went very strange. Hiding under the cars and refusing to come inside some nights, he could only mooch around the living room and wasn't able to get up and down steps without help.

After about 6 months the vet said he felt ok, and soon enough returned back to his playful self, he's now coming up to 13 and is not on any meds and seems fine. He's definitely not 100% and I put that down to the meds he took, or the fact he's a collie cross with god knows what! He's back to his playful self, but does become stiff but I think this is just due to his age.

Sorry I haven't got specific names of meds or timescales, I can find out. He's my mums dog so she will know all the details. Message me if you want and I'll ask her because we'd never heard or seen anything like it before, we really thought that was the end, but he is still the same crazy dog chasing his ball! Hope you manage to sort your doggy out, it's sad to see them in that state and I hope he gets back to his normal self soon. x
 
Thanks, he has got to stay in, no walks, plays or running about for at least eight weeks while the bones are fusing. If it's more than one bone in the back then it will be longer. He has had injection and back on a longer course of old tablets that didn't really work to see if he just needed to be on them longer.


Don't know how I am going to keep him quiet for that long :(

Sparky boy will pm you in a bit. Brain is completely fried and don't know what to do.
 
My dog has just been diagnosed with spondylosis of her spine, but hers is a solid bone growth, like a bridge, under her spine, she is on loxicom daily, and i am just playing it by ear, she is used to being exercised with my daughters dogs, but that's where i noticed she was not comfortable, crying spasmodically when running about, so went for an xray where it was diagnosed.
I have got her booked for another xray in June so we can see how fast/slow it is progressing, i have cut her walks to just her and me as i cant risk her being bouncy and flying about, and have stopped playing tuggy with her toys and try to keep her as comfortable as i can.
Dreading the June xrays, but keeping my fingers crossed that with careful management i will have her for many years yet.....she is my sole companion, my life and my baby, and the thought that i am going to be without her sooner than i thought upsets me too much.
 
Sprytzer I know how you feel.
Fingers crossed for.June xrays.

A friend has.recommended a specialist hospital near me so am going go give them a ring tomorrow as they might have more ideas as they have orthopaedic vets there.
 
My ACD was diagnosed with spondylitis at about 7 yrs old. She was being xrayed as she had started leaking whilst asleep after heavy exercise.
Daily dose of rimadyl sorted the leaking. Vet advised avoiding jumping stiles \ squeezing under gates etc, try to keep exercise to straight lines, no ball chasing etc.
It took several months for things to settle, but she was able to come horse riding with me again (typically2-3 hours with lots of cantering on the moor} she managed that for several more years.
She's now approaching 15, the vet is amazed she's gone on this long, but her time is sadly looming now, but dont think I can blame the spondylitis, just standard old age, although she is still on the rimadyl + paracetamol.
 
Slightlyconfused said:
Thanks, he has got to stay in, no walks, plays or running about for at least eight weeks while the bones are fusing. If it's more than one bone in the back then it will be longer. He has had injection and back on a longer course of old tablets that didn't really work to see if he just needed to be on them longer.



Don't know how I am going to keep him quiet for that long :(

Sparky boy will pm you in a bit. Brain is completely fried and don't know what to do.
Click to expand...

Ok no worries, it's hard work when they are active dogs. Just FYI the medication was Tramadol that he was on, which basically knocked him out and sent him slightly do-lally.
 
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