Down the Cushings Road Again -- Abbie, 15 year old beagle is now at peace

Oh I too hate to hear of Abbie being in pain, just breaks my heart as I'm sure it does yours. I know I get really freaky and upset when molly is in any kind of pain/distress.

Maybe she is going to have to not do any steps for awhile, as that seems to bother her. :(

Hi -- just a quick update. I spoke with the vet last night and we decided to add another dose of tramadol to 3x/day. Abbie is still not sleeping well (and neither is her mother ...) and was obviously in a lot of pain this morning. She was willing to eat some hand fed chicken so I just kept tucking in pills until she had gotten them all. About an hour after she gets the valium/tramadol/prednisone she was much more comfortable. She then ate some canned food mixed in with pumpkin. I am taking her out to pee fairly often and, so far, no accidents in the house. Poops are very normal but, interestingly, she poops on the driveway instead of on the grass. I am thinking the valium is making her a little loopy.

The vet wants me to call him tomorrow with an update. He will be out Friday - Monday so I want to ask him to give a heads up to one of his associates just in case I need to talk with someone. If Abbie is still having significant issues when we see the vet on Tuesday, he said he will probably switch her from tramadol to methocarbamol (Robaxin) which is a muscle relaxer often used for spinal pain.

I just get butterflies in my stomach when I see a post for Abbie. The little darlin, I just worry about her. Her and molly have followed some similiar paths and others not so similiar but still its that connection of what is your result, here is mine, that makes my stomach flutter with worry for you both.

You both need rest I'm sure.

Well I certainly do hope that she starts showing some improvement but you know how these back injuries are, they take a long time to heal and the worse they are the longer they seem to take.
Having someone aware of what is going on though just seems like the smart thing to do.

Crossing fingers. I think valium would make most of us loopy. LOL

Hi Judy

I am not sure if it is available where you are but I had Tramadol drops for Flynn at one stage. It was great as I could just squirt it in his mouth. When it was a new bottle he had no problem with it, but after a while it did get bitter and he hated it. I squirted a bit on my tongue once to see what all the fuss was about and dear god in heaven it was awful so I could see why he didn't like it and threw it out. I have also split his tramadol capsules and I would take the powder out. They were not slow release which as you know should not be cut or divided as they might get too much at once. But our vet said it was ok with these capsules. Again very bitter and I had a devil of a job hiding it. He was prescribed codeine phos once it worked really well but had to watch for constipation.

He remains on previcox, despite his liver and kidney issues they have not deteriorated for the two years he has been on it daily. He has had PLN for 4 years. Our vet went into a lot of detail on how this Cox II inhibitor if given at the right dose per weight of your dog should not impact on kidneys and despite my initial reservations he has proven to be right. Luckily for us it has been a godsend.

I hope she is feeling better soon
Trish

Hi Judy, how was Abbie today on the 3rd of tramadol a day? Just checking in on you both. Did you get any sleep last night

Hi! Thanks for checking on us, Sharlene -- both of us slept better last night. Abbie started the day out the same as others -- head down, almost touching the floor and shuffling her feet. It's odd because, when she wakes up, she comes and sits near me and wants to be rubbed and seems okay. She was hungry for some chicken -- I could barely get it to her mouth as her head is so low to the ground! I was able to get her meds into her. She perked up about 45 minutes later. She ate a pretty good meal mid-morning. Had a "duh" moment when it was time to give her the nasty tramadol at noon time -- took out the cheese and cat food. She eagerly swallowed it. At 3:30 she ate a regular meal out of her food bowl for the first time all week. It was a busy day at my house as a new air conditioner was installed -- Abbie did pretty good with all the traffic. She slept most of the afternoon. I am going to give her evening meds in cheese. All in all, a better day!

Trish -- I give you a lot of credit for doing the taste tests with the tramadol! I take it myself and, thankfully, don't have to break it up. I'll have to ask the vet about the previcox -- not sure if that would help Abbie's disc issues or not.

Hi, folks! A Valentine's Day hug to everyone's pups! :D Unfortunately, Abbie has not been improving at all and slid back a bit as we started to wean her off the prednisone. Friday night she was awake off and on and, from about 6:00 am, started shaking very badly. She finally stopped a few hours later. On Saturday the associate vet consulted by phone with my vet. We went back to twice a day prednisone and, instead of valium, started her on Robaxin. Abbie slept better last night but had a rough start this morning. The drugs kicked in about 9:30 and she is now resting. The associate vet will call tomorrow to check on her and we go in on Tuesday to see our vet. I so hate to see Miss Abbie in pain and really hope the Robaxin will work on the muscle spasms.

Oh Judy,

It is so hard to see our pups not feeling well :( Hopefully the Robaxin will make her feel much better. Sending healing and comforting hugs, Lori

I really hoped that she'd be making some improvements. :( Very sorry to hear that she isn't. I too hop ethat the Robaxin helps her to feel better.

Sending you big hugs!! Happy Valentines day

Poor Abby....feel better.