ruptured disc
 

I have a tree year old yorkie that was just diagnosed with a ruptured disc. Id there anything I can do to prevent this from happening again? Her name is Lucy and she is only about 5lbs. Vet said eventually it will get so bad that surgery would be needed. I would love to prevent that if at all possible. :( any help would be greatly appreciated.

The two most important things I can think of offhand are keeping her weight down and preventing her from jumping.
Is this a new diagnosis? If so, she should be crated. I am sure your vet advised you of that?
I am going to PM a member who has lots of experience with this. I am sure she will help you out! :)

Read about Layla!

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sic...out-layla.html

I'm so sorry to hear that. I've never had to deal with that kind of problem...but I'm sure you'll get some good advice.

Thanks I have heard Accupresure sometimes has helped.

I had a pup with two herniated cervical discs. He was unable to stand. I rushed him to Texas A&M and had the surgery done and he was fine.
I personally do not use methods other than those suggested by board certified neurologists for such conditions.

First of all, CRATE REST! I can't stress that enough. It is the number one most important thing you can do right now. The more your baby moves, the more painful her back will be. Your vet is right that if she keeps moving it will get worse and she most likely will need surgery. YOU CAN AVOID THIS! Is she in pain right now? Did the vet prescribe any medications such as a steroid or non steroidal anti inflammatory? The ruptured disc is probably causing a lot of pain and swelling around her spinal cord, and the sooner she is out of pain, the sooner she will start to heal. Has she lost any neuro functions at all?

Now, I'll let you know my Layla had a ruptured disc as well, and she is now paralyzed for the rest of her life. She's still a happy little girl in a cart, but she needs to have her bladder expressed and she can't walk or wag her tail anymore. We didn't know anything about her condition (she has been diagnosed with IVDD, a degenerative disc disease) and as soon as we saw symptoms, we didn't know the importance of crate rest, and it didn't take long for her to aggravate the rupture enough that she did severe damage to her spinal cord.

Check out this Yahoo group for more information and a whole community of people who have gone through this with their pets:

Dodgerslist : Support & Education for Disc Disease

And their website:

Dodgerslist Home Page

It is very very important for the rest of her life to keep her from jumping, running up and down stairs, or any rough play that might hurt her back further.

My little 3 year old just had emergency surgery Sunday evening for ruptured disc. It is critical if they lose feeling to get the surgery done ASAP. Each hour there is a lesser chance of recovery. My little man has been given a 50/50 chance of recovery. If we had been in just a few hours earlier recovery would have increased to 85%. He is a fighter we had to give him a chance.

I hope both your puppies are doing better. I am so sorry to hear this has happened to them. Please keep us updated. Prayers for both of them.

I hope your little guy does well! Please consider joining Dodgerslist on Yahoo groups. It helped me a lot when we went through this a year ago. They have a ton of information there! I know how heartbreaking this is. And of course, stick around YT too! If you have any questions, let me know. There is a link further up about my Layla, and I recently posted a video of her one year after surgery. She was also given a 50/50 chance, and did not recover use of her legs or bladder, but is still a happy little dog! It just took awhile for us to stop feeling sorry for her and ourselves and see how great our lives could still be together :) Lots of hugs to you and your pup!