Buddha could use some good thoughts...

[buddha]

My little man has been having a rough couple of weeks & could use some good thoughts.

We took him to the vet a few weeks ago as he was yipping in pain at very random times.  We knew he had arthritis in both hips & knees & figured it might be time to get him on something stronger than the supplements he's currently on.  After a thorough exam, our vet felt it could be the arthritis or possibly a pinched nerve or ruptured disk.  She put him on Prednisone & after 2 doses he was like a brand new puppy (prancing around, wanting to play, etc) which was awesome as he's really started to slow down these past couple of months.  We went back after a week for a recheck & we agreed that he probably needs to be on an anti-inflammatory from now on so we got a bottle of Rimadyl to start once he was weaned off of the Prednisone.  We had to wait 5 days to give his system time to work out the Prednisone & Monday night would be the start of the Rimadyl.  On Sunday he was cranky & a bit stiff but he slept most of the day.  Yesterday morning Jer called me at work to tell me that he woke up to Buddha peeing & pooping all over the bed.  It wasn't diarrhea so we chalked it up to him being sore & not getting up until it was too late.  He's 10 so we're prepared to deal with accidents & such now.  He seemed ok when I ran home at lunch but when I got home from work he was real restless & didn't want to settle down at all.   We both napped for a little bit and I took him up to bed with me when Jer got home from work at midnight.  Around 1AM I woke up to him yipping and having trouble sitting up.  I jumped out of bed, called for Jeremy & as I turned on the light, I saw that he had peed & pooped again.      We got him cleaned up & rushed him over to the emergency vet.

The vet we saw was really nice and she thinks that he might just need pain management until the Rimadyl kicks in fully in a few days or like our regular vet mentioned, he could possibly have a pinched nerve or ruptured disk.  The only real way to tell that is with an MRI but she didn't feel strongly enough to recommend it at the moment.  She gave him a shot of pain meds then 5 days worth of Tramodol.  I spoke with our regular vet this morning & she agrees & we'll be bringing him back in if anything changes.  He was moving around pretty good when I let him out this morning but we are keeping him restricted and they told us what signs to look out for if it is a ruptured disk.

So we're hoping that within a few days he'll be somewhat back to normal.  Anyone else ever dealt with anything like this?

[ksdstny]

Oh man! Niki im so sorry buddha n u are going through this. Poor precious. I dont have any experience with anything like this but i do know...i have a very bad back, had surgery..and my docs always ask me about changes with bowels etc.

I guess it could b a nerve issue but id guess disk issue first.  Nerve pain is really something that doesnt go away no matter the meds and i know this first hand.

I hope whatever it is it goes away as quickly as it came.  Here if u need me! Xo

[winwinsmom]

Oh we are so hoping Buddha is doing better.   Good thoughts and prayers coming your way!  We used Tramadol with Winston  (RIP sweet boy  we miss you sooooo much) for his owies and it seemed to work a lot better than rimadyl.  My hairdresser is even on it for her back  - she takes it 3 times a day and swears by it.  I gave one to my dh last week when his back was hurting him and it helped him too!  We call it the "woof woof" medicine around here 

[brumzoo]

Prayers and good thoughts for buddha!  I know someone who just went through disc problems with their bullie. He had to have surgery. I will PM you her info.