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Update on Daisy's SM.

sins

Well-known member
When I joined CT three and a half years ago,I never expected to find myself posting in this forum. SM was something that happened to other people's dogs but not to mine...or so I thought.
As many of you know, Daisy was diagnosed during a low cost scan last December and apart from scratching had no obvious symptoms.
Unfortunately,since December her deterioration has been alarmingly fast.
She still scrathes,but has become unsound on her front right leg and spends most of her time lying in her basket.For the last two nights she's had a screaming fit,short,sharp and literally came from nowhere.
So following a trip to the vet tonight,she's started on Furosemide.We need to go back in two weeks to see how she's doing and possibly introduce Metacam if she's not showing improvement.
This is really not good for my equilibrium!
Oh and he refused to take any money as "she's contributed so much to his education"...some vets are just amazing.
Sins
 
Hello Sins

So sorry to hear about your beautiful little girl Daisy it makes me so sad to read your comments ,I can only offer my heartfelt wishes to you both and pray that Daisy's deterioration is arrested by her medication and she is therefore enabled to live a long and fulfilled life as she can for both your needs.And after last nights vet programme which I decided not to watch it is heart warming to read there are still good and kind people around who are driven by their love of animals and not the thickness of their wallet.

Best Wishes to you all over there .

bri:)
 
Update on Daisy's SM

Hello there
When my dog, Daffy was diagnosed with moderate sm last year, he had a weakness in his hind legs, the neuro vet , put him put on 3 types of medication, cimetidine (zitac), a diuretic , gabapentin (for neuropathic pain) and previcox (anti inflammatory), I would check out with your vet again on Daisy's medication and, I would also recommend your vet to take look at Clare Rusbridge website on medication for sm dogs. It's nearly a year on, Daffy is doing reasonably well on the medication, we recently switch to pregabalin instead of gabapentin since its longer lasting and has a less lethargic effect, so now apart from the occasional scratching, Daffy is managing 2 walks (20 minutes) a day, and jumps on sofas without any difficulty.
http://www.veterinary-neurologist.co.uk/syringomyelia/docs/treatalgo.pdf.
Good luck with Daisy, she looks just like Daffy in the photo.
Daffymum
cavtiny
 
So sorry that this is happening to Daisy.

I think that anyone that has experienced their cavalier screaming with the pain of SM will never forget it.

I do hope the medication makes her more comfortable.
 
Aww bless Daisy, I too hope that the meds will relieve her pain and that she'll be much more comfortable.
Thinking of you Sins, having to witness Daisy in distress and pain from her SM must be heartbreaking, sending my best wishes to you all :flwr:
 
My heart goes out to you and daisy. Seeing that so fast must be tough but hopefully the medication will help. Your vet seems like a wonderful person and someone who is fully invested in daisy's health. thanks to vets like him
 
This all seems so quick Sinead. You were the one helping me cope with Dylan right from the start...and now Daisy is overtaking him. It just feels so unfair that you should be going through this. I'm so sorry. :(

Is there any sign of improvement on the Furosemide?

:hug:
 
Morning all! Thanks for the replies.
I didn't get much sleep last night,even though I was exhausted everything kept turning over in my mind.Yes the fact that she has gone downhill so fast is hard to get my head around and I know I should have intervened much faster.
She got a furosemide injection(a loading dose equivalent of five doses) so she's peeing for Ireland:D.
but I'm happy that we now have a plan for managing her and everything has been discussed. My next plan is to tackle the insurance company to see if they'll pay for the Metacam.
Sins
 
I'm so sorry Sins, it's really scary when things change so rapidly.

Lying in her bed a lot suggests to me that she does actually have pain, and I really think she needs to be on more than just the Frusemide - that, like Cimetidine, Losec etc, reduces the volume of spinal fluid but doesn't actually help at all with pain. With the screaming, she really does need some pain relief.

As suggested above, take Clare's treatment diagram in for your vet.

It's fantastic that he treated her free though, what a star!!
Your insurance should cover the Metacam - I'm sure you started it well before her MRI scan?


Don't forget you can obtain a prescription from your vet and then obtain it online from someone like www.vetuk.co.uk, it is usually much cheaper. Your vet should be able to put several repeats on the prescription too.


We are thinking of you all, so sorry you are having to deal with this :(
 
I too will echo everyone else's thoughts and say that I'm so sorry you're going through this with Daisy. I hope I never experience a screaming episode with Riley like you did with Daisy and Karlin just did with Leo - and many others have also. Is Daisy on Gabapentin already? I hope you find the right combination of meds for her. Maybe even some prednisone to start for a while. Thinking about you during this trying time.
 
So sorry to read this -- it is really upsetting when they are suddenly in obvious pain. :(

I would agree with Nicki -- furosimide alone is pretty minimal and while it relieves pressure generally doesn't relieve pain. It may be worth seeing a neurologist for advice as most vets are very conservative in medications and don't really know what should form the basis of medication for a neurological problem of this sort. My understanding is that legally in Ireland they need to have had a human medication like gabapentin prescribed from a specialist, too.

Generally I've always seen furosimide alone prescribed when there are no or very mild symptoms such as scratching, but once there's actual pain -- especially screaming -- most dogs will need gabapentin and maybe something else on top, especially with limb weakness. The fact that she's sitting in her basket a lot may actually be more neuropathic pain rather than limb weakness, which again would make me think gabapentin would really give her some relief?

Thinking of you and Daisy. :flwr:
 
UP Date on Daisy's SM

So sorry to read this -- it is really upsetting when they are suddenly in obvious pain. :(

I would agree with Nicki -- furosimide alone is pretty minimal and while it relieves pressure generally doesn't relieve pain. It may be worth seeing a neurologist for advice as most vets are very conservative in medications and don't really know what should form the basis of medication for a neurological problem of this sort. My understanding is that legally in Ireland they need to have had a human medication like gabapentin prescribed from a specialist, too.

Generally I've always seen furosimide alone prescribed when there are no or very mild symptoms such as scratching, but once there's actual pain -- especially screaming -- most dogs will need gabapentin and maybe something else on top, especially with limb weakness. The fact that she's sitting in her basket a lot may actually be more neuropathic pain rather than limb weakness, which again would make me think gabapentin would really give her some relief?

Thinking of you and Daisy. :flwr:

Sins,

I was so sorry to read your Post about Daisy,it was the Screaming from the wee Tri on the PDE TV Program that brought home to me what this awful Disease meant to Cavaliers and their owners.

I have never forgotten it.

I do so hope that Daisy can get some relief,

Bet
 
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