With all of the medical illnesses going on, I neglected to blog about my wonderful King Neptune. In mid Dec. 2009, Neptune woke up one morning screaming in pain. It was heartbreaking to hear and to look at the poor guy. He’s a malamute, so sometimes I’m not sure if he’s just a drama queen and overreacting, but I brought him to the vet.
After a bunch of ex-rays (on a really cool digital radiograph machine), he was diagnosed with Intervertebral Disk Disease (IVDD). Neptune was given a prescription for Prednisone (20mg 2x a day for 5 days, 20 mg 1X a day for 5 days, 20mg every other day for 5 days), and Tramadol (pain medication). The vet told us that he should be crated for two weeks and taken outside for leash walks; no couch jumping or stair climbing.
Crating Neptune is very difficult because he whines and whines and whines. I crated him for the first several days, and when he seemed to feel better, we let him out of the crate. I told him that he needed to take the doggie ramp and he wasn’t allowed on the couch.
Almost two weeks after the diagnosis, he developed a skin condition (hair loss and pulling chunks of hair out of his tail), and he appeared to have a slight pain relapse, so I brought him to the vet. He was prescribed another round of Pred, and Cephalexin for 15 days. His neuro response in his back right foot was still slow.
As I write this, Neptune is still on the two meds mentioned above. We haven’t taken him on walks (even though he desperately wants to go). He is not screaming in pain, but it’s difficult for him to lay down and he has a limp in his right leg.