lumbosacral instability

[jessaroo]

I'd sure love to hear if anyone has any experience with lumbsacral instability or anything else that would cause a rapid deterioration of rear end control.
I had to euthanize my best girl on Thursday for just such a problem. Since then I've been scouring our threads and other websites trying to get info on her condition and what would cause such a rapid decline. So far, LI is what I've come up with.
She would have been 13 yrs. old next month and had been limping for sometime and tho her activity level was that of an old dog, she was still able to move about at will. She's been on F&S Joint Care Plus for quite some time. I figured it was just arthritis. Then I noticed that she had trouble rising. She could get the front up but had trouble with her rear. Also she had been panting for quite some time, which looking back, I now believe may have indicated pain since that's the only outward sign she gave. Honestly, I suspected bone cancer with metastasis to the lungs because she was behaving much like our other dog who died of bone/lung cancer. I took her to the vet on Saturday; x-rays showed clear lungs and heart so she was put on Etogesic. Didn't see any improvement. Tuesday she couldn't seem to get up at all and we took her in that morning. X-rays done of her back. Vet said disk injury. Gave her a cortisone shot and put her on Dexamethesone. Tuesday she still had function and. tho experienced difficulty, was able to get up to get water and to go out to the bathroom. Tuesday night she couldn't get up on her own and when we tried to help her she growled and snapped. She has never done that to another human being, ever, so I was VERY concerned. I called my vet to see if I could give her pain meds but was told that wasn't a good idea to combine with the cortisone. Wednesday morning she would not go outside. I tried to help her but she kept trying to lay down. I had a foreboding feeling but I gave her her first dose of the Dex. and sat in the floor with her and cried. I called the Emergency vet clinic who said to test her for paralysis. I pinched every known sensitive area, with no response. Yet, her little nubby tail wagged when I stroked her. About an hour later she was able to get up and go outside. I went to work and my husband called later to say he'd been in the kitchen and she came in to see what treats she could snag. I was elated and thought she was on the road to recovery. Wednesday night, she made it outside but kept stumbling until finally she just collapsed and could not hold her rear end up. I tried and tried to lift her but it was if she had given up because her rear kept folding underneath her. She didn't even try to lift it. My husband had to carry her back into the house. Thursday morning she was very still and not responsive to my offer of water. She had to have been thirsty because she was not able to get up to get a drink on her own. I gave her her meds (wrapped in some chicken which she hungrily devoured) and she seemed to improve somewhat. I left for work with the assurance from my husband that he would get her up to go to the bathroom and see if she'd eat, then he'd call me. He was able to get her to go outside but she could not make it back to the house on her own. He called our vet who said it sounded like the cortisone wasn't working and that it was "probably time". You can imagine how I felt. Just two short weeks ago she was walking around and now we were facing her death. The vet said it was POSSIBLE tho not very likely that she would improve but she was also concerned about lumps that she had felt on her liver. Her weight had held steady tho she was not eating much, so I wonder if tumors could have accounted for that. I hated to have to make the ultimate decision but I also hated seeing her waste away and become a shell of her former vital devoted little self.
I've been on line today trying to get some information that will help answer the many questions I have so I can get some closure. What I did read helped a little - her symptoms seemed to mimic those of lumbosacral instability which does cause a rapid decline and for which surgery is indicated. I find some measure of comfort in that since if surgery was the only option, and I wouldn't put her thru that at her age, I didn't end her life hastily.
I'm sorry this is so long but I wanted to provide details to anyone who may have some like-experience or information to share. Thank you for reading.

[mmgy]

I'm sorry you had to lose your old girl. I lost mine on the 10th of April...Delilah was 12 3/4, just a bit younger than yours. These are sad days.

I lost a dog a few years ago that had fairly rapid loss of strength due to degenerative myelopathy------degeneration of the nerves, often in old age. But as I read further in your post, I've decided that your dog's ailment was more structurally related, like your research has shown. My dog felt no pain, he just couldn't walk.

I hope you find some peace in your research.

[jessaroo]

Thanks. My sympathies to you as well.
Everywhere you look there's a memory, isn't there. One of these days maybe we'll be able to take comfort from the fact that we were fortunate enough to have them with us longer than a lot of folks.

[yuki]

Sorry about your girl, I know how you feel. I lost my boy in August, 2002. Even though he was sick for almost 8 months nobody could diagnose him. About lumbar-sacral instability: I don't deal at work with dogs but see people for spine instability. In your girl it was obvioulsy spinal cord compression and only surgery could fix that problem. For human I would recommed if there is no chance for surgery to wear lumbar belt support, compression time. It would keep vertebraes from moving and slipping and pinching on spinal cord and spinal nerves. But still it's only temporarily. I don't even know if something like this exists for dogs but I can visualize it. Probably would be helpful even as pain control especially if there is some waddling gait. Sorry again.

[SLI]

We are dealing with 3 of our guys who have varing degrees of spondylosis, and diskospondylitis. Our 10 yr old had pretty severe back pain with limping. On x-ray we found spondylosis with bridging (fusing) in her lumbar area. Our 8 yr. has the same diagnosis but also had an infection from prostatits, UTI called diskospondylitis which caused muscle atrophy and weakness on his right hind leg. Both also have cancer. To make a long story short both have no signs of cancer but are having significant problems with the instability of their backs. We are taking both to a vet Chiropractor. Our girl is getting good relief from the adjustments the other is not so we are in the process of checking further for a lingering infection. Our other 8 yr old also has the same problems but is such a low energy dog he isn't bothered with the pain. It's really ironic that both should be having significant problems from their respective cancers of osteosarcoma and mammary cancer but the lumbar spondylosis is their main source of pain and debilitation.