Spine sickness?

Vizwik · 11-10-2009, 10:12 AM

I have a small toy fox terrier. She seems to be very ill. She is just laying in the same spot and not moving. Its as if she is in alot of pain..she even has her ears down..when they are usually up and alert.
I poked and prodded all over her belly to see if something internal was damaged..and shes fine there. It seems to be her spine that hurts her. She yelps if she tries to jump, or get on the couch etc..anything that stretches her back out.
This same thing happened about 5 months ago. The vet gave us doggy pain pills and my diligent wife saw her through. She was laid up in pain almost 2 weeks..and then recovered fully. Now it came back again. Wish i knew how to help her!

NOTE: last time after she recovered i felt down her spine and there was a spot where there was a small swelling.

Anyone have any knowledge on this matter? Anything you can offer would be very helpful, thanks.

lulusmom · 11-10-2009, 02:37 PM

This probably isn't going to be helpful but if you think your dog is in severe pain, then you really should get her to a vet. Nobody here can diagnose your dog nor would anyone assume that she is suffering with the same condition she had five months ago. What exactly was she diagnosed with five months ago and did your vet tell you that it is a chronic problem?

MelB · 11-10-2009, 04:22 PM

definitely vet time. Unfortunately they can blow the discs in their backs same as we can and the pain is horrendous. I'd call and get her in ASAP!

Vizwik · 11-10-2009, 04:23 PM

The first time it happened we took her to the vet and he gave her some vetprofen. He really didnt tell us anything..they said they wanted to do x rays and it was 250 bucks..and we couldnt afford it at the time. So we just nursed her through it and she recovered fully.

Also, she has a fever when this happens too.

MelB · 11-10-2009, 04:37 PM

the fever could be simply from the stress of the pain not from a "sickness". Dogs in pain, or stressful situations will often spike a temp.
I had a beagle who herniated the disc in his neck this past spring. He started not wanting to jump on the couch, jumping and eventually refused to do the steps to outside. I took him to the vet and had the x-rays done and discovered the disc issue. He also had another one further down his back. Surgery was only 65% in his favor that they could fix the problem and he would have no more issues. We tried various medications and total crate rest for 2 weeks, nothing worked. We ended up euthanizing him at the age of 8 yrs old due to the excrutiating pain he was in despite mega doses of pain killers. In the end, he could not lift his left front leg without literally screaming in pain. It's not fun to watch your pet go through pain like that, but the surgery option was a minimum of $3500, with a high risk that he'd herniate another disc somewhere down the road. I didn't know that beagles are prone to back problems until I researched it. you may want to look into back issues in your breed also.