anyone know about Cauda equina syndrome? - Page 2

Please research the anti inflamatories, and pain meds before giving them to him...DON'T USE RIMADYL!!!!!!!!! Just look it up on the internet and you'll see why.. I hope he gets better...I have heard of chiropractors doing well with this sort of thing.

Hello...I have extensive knowledge and experience with cauda equinae..I am a physical therapist by profession and I had to put down my 5 year old GSD with Cauda Equine. The name does come from horse's tail because of the physical appearance of the distribution of nerves at around lumbar 7-8.. X-rays are not always enough...you may have to have a venogram and/or mylegram.. Whether the dog will sit or not depends on the level of insult.........My dog would sit..but, it was very painful to him to have his tail raised. It is better to have surgical intervention prior to the nerve involvement...once there is nerve involvement, it can not be corrected. What is left , is what is. It will progress...affecting urination, defecation, jumping, resting, etc. This is an EXTREMELY PAINFUL CONDITION. My dog literally ground its teeth down significally. Finally, my vet said it was selfish of me to hold on.....in his particular case....surgury was not encouraged secondary to the nerve damage and other factors inhibiting the outcome. The surgury generally runs around $3k...and outcome % is 70/30 This dx has nothing to do with soft tissue//etc/// It is where the spinal column narrows and presses on the spinal cord itself....the symptoms depend on the level of compression. Its a very serious dx. I wish you the best of luck.

Hi GSDWins, Your input is very informative in its own right. I simply made comments I did because of simple fact that cauda equina doesn't here to have been firmly proven or diagnosed to any reasonable degree. I had female that displayed identical symptoms as described by OSO, including serious pain and, eventually it was determined she suffered from a tissue infection adjacent to lumbar spinal area, requiring immediate anti-biotic application and pain relief.(The emergency vet first seen misdiagnosed this completely!) It also seems to me that a ten-day wait and see period is rather a long one here, and welcome your opinion thereon. Finally, and this will probably appear very ignorant to you, but what is mylegram! Thanks and best in the coming year.

Brandoggy no offense, but rimadyl is not even a potential candidate for this animal- he needs a steriod, & rimadyl is a non-steriodal anti-inflammatory. i really think it's way too late for this discussion, but here goes: NOT EVERYTHING YOU READ ONLINE IS TRUE! just make sure your vet runs bloodwork panel, esp to look at liver function, before starting the medication. fda would not approve a drug that was killing animals left & right every day & despite the popular conception, vets are not always out for the buck. sometimes they do actually care about animals for carings sake. oso please keep in mind on a post note that prednisone may cause increase thirst, which you should not deny him water- realize that what goes in must come out, so he may have to visit outside on leash more than usual. it may also increase appetite, however, it is not recommended to feed more than you normally would- more food plus less activity equals fat dog, which is just asking for more pain with more pounds. question-- did your vet administer an antibiotic?

I'm speaking from memory here but, the anti-steroidal class - or NSAIF's - may also promote bleeding, internal and external - the narcotic-based ones are often more appropriate, I believe, although those based on codeine are apparently not suitable for dogs. As said, I certainly think more testing may be appropriate rather than waiting 10 days.

I'm really getting worried now as there is no improvement so far, I think more tests are definitely necessary to find out whats going on and am trying to get this done today. I am not in the US but in South America, but have worked with this vet for years and nomally he's very good. Another vet I spoke to by phone mentioned that there could be an infection of the tendons, which would need antibiotics, and presumably the steroids would be he worst thing. He is quite thirsty, but does not have much appetite. I am not convinced its cauda equina from what everyone says here. His tail seems ok, he has nervous reflexes - someone told me to test with a needle between his toes, and he reacts fine, also in response to earlier posts I can stretch his legs out behind when he is lying and he lifts his feet OK if I put hind toes on the ground. But he obviously has pain and won't put much weight on the hind legs. thanks all for your input.....

Lioness 9918-"NOT EVERYTHING YOU READ ONLINE IS TRUE! just make sure your vet runs bloodwork panel, esp to look at liver function, before starting the medication. fda would not approve a drug that was killing animals left & right every day & despite the popular conception, vets are not always out for the buck. sometimes they do actually care about animals for carings sake." I didn't just read about Rimadyl in the internet...I have experienced first hand what Rimadyl can do to a dog..It slowly killed mine...and yes Pfizer was involed in the testing of tissues to prove the cause of death and it is on record that Rimadyl was the cause of his death...I was trying to warn someone who might try it for pain without having to tell my story.

more....there could be a whole other thread about rimadyl..just look up the class action law suit against Pfizer..they did not disclose all side effects to the vets & the public..Death is a side effect NOW listed on the medication...bloodwork doesnt always help because they don't all die from liver or kidney failure....I could go on & on but this thread is about helping someone with a problem and that's all I was trying to do.... OSO..good luck I hope someone out there can help you.

Hi Oso, From what I know now (and it's not much!), I wish I 'd taken my female to second vet sooner, after she was misdiagnosed by the first. Even a simple red cell blood count can be very revealing. I think a very careful messaging/kneading of rear quarters is in order to see if location of pain can be established - if this hasn't been carried out already. I don't think I'd get to hung up on the initial cauda equina thing, but approach with open mind till something more definite is established. Good luck.

Hi to all of you who replied, and anyone else who may have any ideas. I tried to update and ask some specific questions a while ago but the board wasn't working. My dog spent several days on steriod pills and injections but showed no improvements then began to vomit white froth, so was taken off this treatment, given a muscle relaxant and 4 injections of neurobion (Vitamin B complex) and then piroxicam, a non steroid anti inflammatory since taking this he has shown some improvement and is walking more normally with his back much less hunched, seems more animated, but still can't walk very far before sitting down, and still can't go up steps. In any case I have tried to keep him still most of the time. In the meantime we took an X-ray, just one view, lateral which did not reveal anything. He has had a whole range of bloodwork done and I only got the results yesterday, the only abnormal result was elevated ASTO (this might be the spanish name, but it indicated infection with streptocioccus type bacteria ). The vet now is doing cultures on the blood. But could a bacterial infection cause this type of symptom? He has no fever and is now eating normally (lost his appetitie in the first few days but soon got it back). re some of your earlier comments, he has normal bowel and bladder function, can lift his tail completely and stretch his back legs out, has no paralysis or loss of reflexes, he doesn't yelp as if in sudden sharp pain and its difficult to localise the source of the pain, he doesn't mind his hips being manipulated and never shows aggression. He was checked for HD at 1 year as is usual here and was "a" normal, has always been extremely fit and active, competed in a show in december in top condition so this was very sudden. To do more complicated tests like myelogram or MRI (not sure if this is possible on dogs here anyway) I can't do in our town, almost took him to Quito on Monday but he started looking better and thought it best to wait for the blood results. I have tried to research possibilities on the Internet, but nothing exactly seems to match.....anyone have any ideas? I am also looking for chiropracter willing/able to work on a dog. Olddog did your female with infected lumbar tissue have any other signs of illness, high temperature etc.? How as she diagnosed in the end? I wonder about infection because this dog has a wound on his back foot that was caused initially by a bite from another dog, and took ages to heal because he keeps licking it. My vet seemed to think that an infection eg abcess would show up on the x-ray. But if it is infection maybe thats why he didn't respond to the steroids? Any thoughts? and what about safety of piroxicam? he's not on antibiotics yet because the vet wants to wait for the culture results, but I worry about the delay. Sorry this is so long...