Discospondylitis complications

[SheriB]

Good morning Dr Jeff
I wanted to start a new thread as Louie’s condition has changed drastically in the last week and Louie is currently in hospital with a possible UTI and I really need help with his diet and care when we bring him home later today.
After putting him on a bland diet and stopping his supplements for a couple weeks, his condition began to decline. For the last week we have had him back on his diet and supplements, as well as pau d’arco but he continued to get worse. Friday he began refusing water and food, so we took him to the emergency hospital where they had been trying to manage his discospondylitis, since they had his history readily available. They have done bloodwork and some urinalysis. At first they were trying to tell us his condition was due to his discospondylitis and not a UTI but we knew otherwise. He began leaking from his bladder, and his urine had a different smell to it. They were trying to encourage us to put him down but we are not ready to give up on him. I know he is feeling a little better because he has been eating food when offered, his fever has come down, and his breathing has regulated. I will include his bloodwork and urinalysis when I pick him up later today but they said his kidney values were elevated, 4 times the normal limits and wanted to keep him an additional day to continue to flush his kidneys with IV fluids.
I am really nervous about bringing him home and wanted to give him everything he needs to do well but im worried about damaging his kidneys when they are already compromised. He will be on two antibiotics, pain medication and an antacid from the hospital. Im hoping the elevated kidney values are due to infection and not disease but the doctors aren’t even sure at this point. I have a regular vet but not a holistic vet as his case is complicated and I dont know where to begin so ive just been trying to research things on my own. I do feel now though after watching the last 2 webinars again that the infection may have happened when he had a diarrhea accident in his bed and was covered. So im hoping once we get rid of the infection, he will once again start to improve but at the moment he is too weak to stand or walk. We were able to go visit him briefly yesterday and his eyes widened and he reached his paw up to my daughter when he saw her. He is a fighter and wants to live, so we are not giving up on him ??
Thanks so much for all your support.

 

[SheriB]

Here he was on May 31st, doing so well on his new diet and supplements, when they told us he needed spinal surgery, so I already know he can heal ??

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Hi Sheri-

I'm so sorry to hear about Louie's continued health challenges.

I have a few questions but have to run now. Maybe @Dr. Christina @dr_ judy herman @GinnyW or another HA! community member will post in the meantime.

Yes, if his kidney values are super high, he should stay on IV fluds to help normalize them.

I'll check in later today.

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Hi again Sheri.

When is Louie due home?

If I have your phone #, I'll also try you by phone now to get more info.

 

[SheriB]

Hi again Sheri.

When is Louie due home?

If I have your phone #, I'll also try you by phone now to get more info.

He’s home. We were going to leave him a third night to continue to flush his kidneys but after we left him last night he refused to eat and became unresponsive. We went to see him again tonight and he wouldn’t stop crying so we knew he thought we had abandoned him so we decided to bring him home instead. His elevated kidney values dropped 50% the first 36 hours, and then another 20% so we are now just slightly elevated. He is much better tonight and happy to be home. He is on pain meds, antibiotics and an antacid for 10 days, and we are anxious to get him back on track with supplements and diet.

 

[SheriB]

Here are Louie’s results and in hospital treatments and medications he is currently on

 

[EdwinA]

Hi Sheri.

Does he definitely need the painkillers? Are you sure they make him better? Stopping them - and other drugs - might relieve the kidneys and let his system balance naturally.

One person who is certainly doing well from all those prescriptions is the vet. I remember when a vet insisted on pumping my cat full of painkillers for a fictitious leg injury (it was actually an inner ear problem), when he was definitely in zero pain.

You can gently make him eat by placing some soft small balls of his favourite meat mashed up at the top of his throat. I bet he wouldn’t mind and it would help build up his strength. You could even mix in a dose of a warming tonic herb like ashwagandha, guggul or reishi.

Most of all, keep touching him, massaging him and giving him all your positive intention. Your intention will manifest your reality!

 

[SheriB]

Yes, his condition was critical and he was in significant pain. We still have yet to find out the route cause of his mystery illness, despite $15,000 spent to date. His condition has improved significantly since coming home from the hospital, though. He is yet to show any interest in food but he is getting stronger everyday and trying to pull himself up when he wants to change positions or when he wants a drink of water. His pain is now under control with Arnica. We have been doing massages hourly and working his legs and are hoping he is well enough to start having him stand for periods of time but with his condition, he loses use of his hind legs frequently but every time we have managed to get him walking again. Really wish we had answers to what was going on with him because is difficult to know what foods and supplements would best suit him to help him heal. I really don’t like having to use antibiotics or other medications but in his case they were necessary, unfortunately. We now have a wheelchair for him in the hopes of getting him mobile and rebuilding strength in his legs.
Thanks for your tips, i will look into that supplement ??

 

[EdwinA]

That is so fantastic! I’m so glad he’s getting better!!

Is there a discernible difference in his response to his pain when he takes the painkillers versus when he doesn’t?

 

[SheriB]

Yes, Monday he cried so much, and I cried along with him. In addition to his bad reaction to the prescription pain meds, they didn’t even seem to do anything for his pain. We immediately switched him to Arnica but it took three days for the side effects to wear off. Never again. We have started him on probiotics/prebiotics and cranberry extract, hopefully it was only a UTI and we ill be able to manage it now so he never has to go on antibiotics again ??

 

[LilF]

@SheriB Sheri, I was just reading the thread and I have nothing medically to add but what you and Louie are going through touches me deeply. I am sure he feels your strength and love, huge healers. So glad you made the decision to bring him home. I believe dogs do so much better at home. Once my Gabby was overnight in the hospital and it crushed me. She would not eat for them but I came to hand feed her. She would cry and I had to leave her. They sedated her so much that she didn't even care or get excited when I picked her up the next day. When Gabby was in the hospital I felt they OVERmedicated her. They gave her Rimadyl When I brought her home, I did ditch the meds I was given on the advice of a holistic vet I had that I trusted implicitly to say it was not needed. But your baby is adorable and with an award winning smile there... I am hoping he makes a full recovery and he is so lucky to have you advocate for him. I know it is draining but I respect and admire you. Louie is so lucky to have you in his corner. My Gabby was in a crisis earlier this year. We were able to avoid a lot of the bad meds and procedures using good supplementation and diet which was critical. So I DO have high hopes for Louie improving!! I look forward to your updates. Please give Louie some positive healing energy from us here!!

 

[EdwinA]

I think you’re doing everything right - ditching the drugs is the single best thing you can do IMO.

Has he eaten? You could pop some squishy balls of boiled chicken or white fish/salmon at the back of his mouth - they’re gentle, nourishing and healing foods. Not too warming nor cooling.

 

[SheriB]

Thank you so much for your kind and supportive words. My adult son, daughter and myself are so exhausted and frustrated trying to figure this all out. It’s been an emotional roller coaster not knowing how to treat or comfort him. I go back and forth with supplementation, diet, even how to position him on his bed. I’m worried that im doing more harm than good, a lot of times. If we knew what was going on with him we could come up with a concrete plan. But the plan changes weekly, daily, even hourly sometimes. It’s such a heavy weight to carry. Poor Louie is depressed, he can’t understand what’s going on with himself. Last night he cried a lot and then finally threw up all his dinner but we figured it out that it was due to his new probiotics that we just started him on. Good that he’s purging toxins but i dont know how to comfort him. So i think for the next week we are going to try very small amounts to see if that helps but he’s still on antibiotics for another few days. They seem to be doing the trick because he has more bladder control, holding his urine for longer periods and his urine has a little more colour. He hasn’t been outside sniffing in over a week so my daughter brought in some cedar, grass and a few sticks which he seems mildly interested in, so that’s something. We have some exercises in mind to try today and we are trying to configure a hand me down wheelchair to his body.
Today I reminded myself of the Serenity Prayers. One day at a time ??

@SheriB Sheri, I was just reading the thread and I have nothing medically to add but what you and Louie are going through touches me deeply. I am sure he feels your strength and love, huge healers. So glad you made the decision to bring him home. I believe dogs do so much better at home. Once my Gabby was overnight in the hospital and it crushed me. She would not eat for them but I came to hand feed her. She would cry and I had to leave her. They sedated her so much that she didn't even care or get excited when I picked her up the next day. When Gabby was in the hospital I felt they OVERmedicated her. They gave her Rimadyl When I brought her home, I did ditch the meds I was given on the advice of a holistic vet I had that I trusted implicitly to say it was not needed. But your baby is adorable and with an award winning smile there... I am hoping he makes a full recovery and he is so lucky to have you advocate for him. I know it is draining but I respect and admire you. Louie is so lucky to have you in his corner. My Gabby was in a crisis earlier this year. We were able to avoid a lot of the bad meds and procedures using good supplementation and diet which was critical. So I DO have high hopes for Louie improving!! I look forward to your updates. Please give Louie some positive healing energy from us here!!

He bought a massive syringe a few months ago and he’s been getting lots of food blend it up and syringe into one we have trust we try regularly to offer him to me just to see if there’s any interest. So far no. But he is getting lots of nutrition every day. Thankfully he drinks on his own and he drinks lots. Apparently he’s

 

[SheriB]

I think you’re doing everything right - ditching the drugs is the single best thing you can do IMO.

Has he eaten? You could pop some squishy balls of boiled chicken or white fish/salmon at the back of his mouth - they’re gentle, nourishing and healing foods. Not too warming nor cooling.

Thank you so much for your kind words. It really means a lot to me because i feel like Im loosing my mind, especially this past week. He still is reluctant to eat on his own but I feel like he’s depressed so we are working hard on getting him strong enough to go outside and hopefully his will to live will be reignited ??

 

[EdwinA]

Do you have a PEMF system? If not, you can get pretty inexpensive ones on Amazon, and it’s a good thing to have anyway. They seem to be able to give the whole body energy. Also, grounding can support the healing process - you can get pretty cheap, good grounding mats/sheets on Amazon. Some ginger and turmeric mixed into a knob of butter a couple of times a day can go a long way too. Also, HIGH-DOSE vitamin C helps everything.

 

[LilF]

Was thinking about Louie some more.... I know you said he hasn't been out to sniff for a week. Does he like to lay outside. Is it too hot for him to lay in the sun or even to get the grounding outside on the grass? I always find that just laying outside lifts my dogs spirits. Right now it is hot in the sun. I let my dogs out in the early mornings and later before the sun goes down. The other thought I had was some calming music to comfort Louie. Fireworks will be starting too. I downloaded several CD's from iTunes a few years ago. Some titles were: Calming Music for Pets, Through a Dogs Ear, Relax My Dog, Relaxing Music For Pets, Dogease, Music My Pet Classic Cuts, Mellow Melodies, and Wholetones For Pets by Michael Tyrrell composed with healing frequencies I recommend all of these. I would keep the music playing putting it on "repeat" and then changing the Cd a few times a day. They use music in some shelters now and have found astounding reductions in barking and lowered stress levels. So I also have used some classical music that is gentle, not too "angry" Caregiver stress is draining. I have it now (like you feel like losing my mind sometimes) and with varying degrees in the past. You are doing a lot and working so hard for him. I find that my dogs are just comforted by" a lot" of petting too. Touch is very healing. Not enough hours in the day to do everything, let alone time for yourself. Please give us updates. You were noting improvements in his bladder. I think it is great you see the positive in the sea of things yet to resolve. Hang in there.... and let us know how the makeshift wheelchair is going too... BTW, thought it was sweet your daughter brought the outside "inside" for him.... He loves you guys.!!!