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angny · May 21, 2009, 04:12 AM

I have a 9 year old lab. He is very tall, but a good weight for his size and good muscles, looking at him he is a dog in excellent shape, he swims a lot. What he does have is hip displaycia and arthritis in his hind quarters. He gets up slowly, but other then that in good shape. He tore his ACL several years ago we had surgery and he has regained use of that leg.

to my question, 6 days ago my dog woke up and could barely move. X-rays showed he has a ruptured disc in his neck. They sent him home with major steroids to reduce swelling, he seemed better for a few days. But yesterday worse and today he can't even stand. I'm waiting for the vet to open. In your experience, is it worth doing surgery on a dog of his age? I don't want to put him through surgery and he still doesn't recover. The knee surgery broke my heart to crate him for 12 weeks. I can't see him suffer, so either he has the surgery or he is put to sleep, those are my options I don't do chiro or acupuncture. What is your opinion?

tickle · May 21, 2009, 05:04 AM

There are benefits to acupuncture, sometimes it helps the condition but in this case, I guess surgery is the only answer. Your lab is only 9, angny, he has many years ahead of him yet.

Tick

shazamataz · May 21, 2009, 06:44 AM

He still has a few good years left in him.

There are more risks the older a dog gets but if he is in good health apart from the ruptured disc and there is a chance at a better quality of life I would say yes.

tickle · May 21, 2009, 06:59 AM

I would still recommend acupuncture for pain. My Walker Hound Taffy had that done a few times and it was so much better then giving her meds. Dogs actually enjoy the experience and relax and sleep. It is not painful to administer the needles.

Cesar Milan uses an acupuncturist for stressed animals.

Tick

peterslis · May 21, 2009, 05:10 PM

I believe that the surgery for this is very common and successful, a labs life span is up to 12 years, sounds like the poor guy is in pain, I haven't heard too much about the recovery time though, but you could potentially give him 3 more years, I guess get all the information, it sounds like you love your dog very much, you are the only one that can see his face, and knows him, personally I would take that facts and his suffering into account, weigh them both out, then make a good well informed and not feel so guilty either way.

shazamataz · May 22, 2009, 04:50 AM

Originally Posted by tickle

I would still recommend acupuncture for pain. My Walker Hound Taffy had that done a few times and it was so much better then giving her meds. Dogs actually enjoy the experience and relax and sleep. It is not painful to administer the needles.

Cesar Milan uses an acupuncturist for stressed animals.

tick

I have had good and bad experiences with acupuncture, some people swear by it and it truly has worked miracles on their dogs.
I've had a few friends with dogs that have had muscle problems and it has completely healed them.

Personally I don't like it, there is a TV vet here that used one of our old great danes on his show and did acupuncture on her... it made her worse...
I don't know what happened or whether it was a fluke but I wouldn't do it again.

Sariss · May 22, 2009, 03:47 PM

A new up and coming treatment technique for things like this is laser therapy - you should look into it!

Alty · May 22, 2009, 04:02 PM

I say do whatever it takes. Nine years old, he still has lots of good years in him.

My lab cross is 14 years old. Just fyi. ;)