vet thinks my dog has SM

Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't been here for a long time as my computer broke then I forgot about the forum. I finally remembered about it as I was searching for more info on SM.

My dog today was in a lot of pain all of a sudden, yelping and yelping for a long time and writhing around in pain. I rang the vet immediately and they were about to close so they waited for me to take him down.

The vet deduced the pain was in either his neck or his ears and after checking through his past history of having pains which we weren't sure what was causing it he immediately said he thought it probably is due to SM.

Just in case it is an ear problem he gave Jasper some ear drops and we have to go back on friday to see how he's doing. If he isn't better then he wants to knock him out and put a camera down his ears to see whats going on. Is this a normal test? I thought the only way to test for it was an MRI?

Anyway, Jasper had some metacam to kill the pain but I think it's wearing off now because he is in a lot of pain again. He's been lying with his chin on the floor most of the night and crying every time he moves, or even when he hasn't moved. He's also been hiding in corners which he never does!

Right now he's sitting on the floor with his nose up in the air and has been for ages, like he just can't relax. His breathing has been very shallow too.

Does anyone have any suggestions of anythng I can do to calm him? He cant have any more painkiller till late tomorrow evening and I feel so bad for him that I can't do anything mre to help

Thank you

This sounds either like severe back pain for a disk problem or I'm afraid very likely SM, going by your description and if it has been ongoing and if your vet has found no sign of disk pain previously. I am not sure why your vet didn't supply more metacam, or possibly steroids given the level of pain though.

I'd personally get him immediately tomorrow to a vet practice with more familiarity with SM. Checking his ears would not do anything for the type of pain he seems to be having and I cannot imagine waiting til Friday! I'd get him absolutely first thing to someone who can do something for that level of pain. If there's a history of unexplained pain I'd alternatively have your vet book you immediately for a neurologist consult and absolutely insist the vet talk the neuro about possible interim pain treatment TOMORROW.

Right now, you can try wrapping something cold like a bag of frozen peas in a towel and very gently try placing that on the neck area as this helps some dogs during pain sessions. But if it were me: I'd go right now to the emergency vet, rather than have my dog suffer -- metacam is really not going to be much help for the type of pain he seems to be in. He sounds as if the pain is so bad that he cannot move his neck.

There's lots of info and Clare Rusbridge's medications diagram at my www.smcavalier.com website.

Thankyou for that information. I have got something cold for him now. He's lying down and trying to sleep again now.

Unfortunately I'm not able to get to the vets right now as it's after midnight and my kids are asleep and there's no one to look after them. Jaspers breathing isn't so shallow any more so I think he might be sleeping and hopefully the cold is helping. If he gets worse again through the night I will ring the emergency vet, otherwise I'll ring first thing in the morning and tell them the metacam isn't enough for him as he's in too much pain.

I have video'd him on my phone so I can show them just how bad he has been.

I don't think I can wait till friday to get something else done about this either as I'll get no sleep through worrying about him too much. My kids were really frightened seeing him that way when he was so bad for me to take him to the vets. He's not eating unless someone hand feeds him either, which I think is possibly to do with not being able to bend down.

My cat died at the weekend too so I don't know if he's also sad because he's missing her as well as going through the pain.

Oh btw

I just clicked on the link for your website, I thought you might like to know that is the website the vet showed me in his surgery :rah:

Poor Jaspar...and poor you. I know how hard it is to see your dog in pain. Please let us know how he's doing. I wouldn't wait til Friday either.

Any update? how are things going with Jasper? hope all is well.

Alison.