I am a newbie, will introduce myself later, but right now, I am desperate for information.
I apologise, in advance, for the long thread.
We rescued a Brittany about 3 years ago, he was 2 at the time. He had been in a few homes and had spent a few months in kennels before we resuced him.
We have had a lot of problems with this poor boy, seperation anxiety, messing in the house and a bunch of others. In the last year, he has really matured and seemed to be happier.
About a week and a half ago, he started crying and yelping in pain. He would not let me touch him, and when I tried to see what was wrong, he nipped me. Completely out of characted.
I eventually got him to the vet, where he stayed overnight on morphine and anti inflamatories. When we went to see him before bed time, he was clearly still in pain and uncomfortable.
He had stabilised sufficiently by the next morning for them to do x-rays. (Thursday last week), when the vet saw the x-rays she sent them to a specialist for analysis because she was not happy about someting that she saw between the shoulder blades.
He still has some pain and will give a little yelp from time to time, but it is not as severe or as constant as it was when I took him to the vet.
On this Friday she got the report from the specialist that it looks like he has a wedged?? vertabrae. They have recommended an MRI and then possibly surgery. I am beside myself as this sounds like such a drastic measure.
He is booked in for his MRI on Tuesday and once we have the results we will get a few other opinions etc. before we resort to spinal surgery.
My question: Is this common in a brittany, spinal trouble?
And while I am about it, any suggestions on possible alternatives to sugery?
MY POOR BOY
guy
Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear your news.
It is not a problem I have heard about. Patricia or Annie may know different
Mugi
Hi and firstly sorry to hear his problems.
I have an interest in spinal problems as my weimaraner had one and my WSS has arthritis in his spine following some abuse. I also used to be an orthopaedic nurse (human sort) .
First off I don't know of specific spinal issues being common in Brittany's (new to the breed though so I could be wrong).
Secondly once you get the MRI results you will have a much clearer idea of what you are dealing with and whether the spinal cord is involved - if it is then my gut feeling is that surgery is probably the best option. If the spinal cord is not involved then there may be options to try a course of canine physiotherapy/hydrotherapy/chiropracter or acupuncture. If surgery is mooted then obviously you will want to see a surgeon who has an interest in spinal surgery and they will be best placed to discuss other options.
With my weim she had a slow degenerative condition but I decided the odds of spinal surgery helping were not good enough to put her through it, she maintained a good quality of life with diet and exercise being modified to keep her lean, fit, happy and painfree (she didn't take painkillers as she didn't tolerate them but we used supplements and Vitamins).
Also, is he insured? - some alternative treatments may be covered but some insurers are quite specific about working with only certain hydrotherapy pools etc so it is worth checking your policy carefully and perhaps phoning to discuss.
Liz
Hi and welcome. Sorry to hear about Luc's spinal problems. It is so worrying when a dog is in so much pain like that.
I don't know that this is a problem in the breed - haven't come across anything myself, but others may know.
Spinal surgery in dogs can be very successful. We had a 10 year old Weim bitch a few years ago who developed calcified disks in her neck, she was in intense pain as this was pressing on the spinal cord. We were worried about putting her through an op at that age, but she recovered very well after surgery and returned to full painfree movement afterwards.
Hope all goes well for Luc.
doganjo
Sosorry to ehar of Luc's problems, welcome to the forum - if nothing else you can let off steam here adn spill out your worries. We will al try to help if we can. I have had Brittanys for 25 years and havent't heard of any spinal problems so I'm not of much help to you. Patricia has had the breed since she was a child and is French herslef so may have information on this.
Let us know how the MRI goes - we're thinking of you and Luc
Annie
Patricia
I am not aware it is a problem specific to Brittanys...
I know of one who has had spinal troubel as I groom that particular one.
He is very very short in back, maybe too much so.
I have to be careful how he goes on the table. I will have to ring the owner to see how she coped with it...That is the only other case I know of...
Lin Dyke
Hi and welcome to the forum. I am sorry to hear about Luc's spinal problem. Like others on here I am also unaware of it being a particular issue with Brittanys. Good luck for the MRI, fingers and paws crossed for a good prognosis.
Luc's Mom
Thank you for your responses and good thoughts.
I have done a little research and have found someone close to us that does Acupunture on doggies, so we will certainly explore that as a route if need be.
I agree that once we have the results of the MRI we will know what we are dealing with and will be able to make decisions from there.
I will let you know what the MRI results are as soon as I have them.
Thanks again, it is so nice to be able to share with doggie people.
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