CANINE CHIROPRACTOR RECOMMENDATIONS

[Jacqs]

I’m looking for a tried and trusted canine chiropractor.
I’m in Cheshire but I am prepared to travel and would be grateful for any recommendations.

Our dog keeps bouncing back from whatever’s going on with her but it’s now the fourth time in over a period of about six months, that she’s obviously in some discomfort.
She walking fine but struggling to get comfortable when she’s lying down.
The vet thinks it’s her spine and we’re very close to going down the X-ray route.

I was hoping a chiropractor might be able to pinpoint the problem and even hopefully fix it.

[lescef]

Hi. I'm on the Wirral and we had a canine physiotherapist out to see us for the first time last week.  She seems good ( she does horses and humans too!) If that's any help.
I think she will travel but depends how far out in Cheshire you are.

[Darwin]

Hope your little one is OK.
How old is she ?  Has she done anything specific?

What has the Vet recommend?

If it’s her spine, it may be a case of an MRI, hopefully to rule out IVDD. In the mean time I would  recommend no stairs, jumping on the furniture, and limited exercise.  Mild IVDD can be managed, but in some case surgery is required.

[Jacqs]

We personally think she’s pulled, twisted or trapped something, roughly 4-5 months ago.
It came on very suddenly, she started yelping getting up and down off sofa and even the steps in and out of the house.
She’s always raced up and down the stairs but has been permanently banned since this started.
(Stair-gate installed).

We rested her, along with a sofa ban and she improved...but only for so long.
This will be her fourth relapse now.
She recovers, then relapses...but never as bad as the first time.

She’s obviously in discomfort yet again (but bizarrely never when she’s walking and there’s no lameness or limping).
It’s much more noticeable when she’s trying to get comfy, sitting or lying down.

She’s seen two different vets now, both have manipulated and stretched her all over to try and pinpoint the problem but she’s never really reacted enough for them to get a definitive idea of what’s going on with her.

The last visit was two weeks ago and the vet said one of her anal glands was blocked and they were quite full, (no infection), and there might be a correlation?
We rested her again and she WAS improving but she’s slipped back again.
The vet is suggesting we do bloods (incase something really ominous is going on), X-ray and Ultrasound.
Maybe we should be considering an MRI?

She’s responded well to Metacam and rest but it only ever seems to be a temporary fix, I feel we need to start trying to get to the root cause.

I thought maybe taking her to a chiropractor first could help, if it’s potentially skeletal/muscular?

Obviously ANY advice would be gratefully received.

(She’s eight years old).

[lescef]

I do  think that a physio or chiropractor has more experience looking at physical problems in dogs than vets. They would also advise if x rays etc were necessary.
The physio we saw had me walking Maddie up and down the road so she could study her gait and gave a thorough examination of her spine and back legs.  Maddie is nine and appears to have some arthritis and muscle weakness so we have started exercises to strengthen  her back legs. As your dog is eight it could well be a similar problem.  Sadly, at eight they are considered old by our vet.
Message me if you would like our physio contact details.

[Darwin]

Really hope it’s not the start of IVDD ( degenerative disc disease), where the jelly of the disc dehydrates, so it’s like dry toothpaste and the calcification can dig into their spine, causing pain, in some instances discs can rupture.

The short version is Darwin has acute IVDD. At age 7, without any warning he went from being perfectly ok to complete paralysis.  We had an emergency referral to the RVC, an MRI which showed 3 ruptured disc with bits of broken disc pressing on the spinal cord and then major spinal surgery.  It’s been a long and difficult journey but now he’s nearly 11 and it’s virtually 4 years since his surgery  He’s happy, he’s mobile, but has a restricted life to reduce the chance of more damage

[Darwin]

Hope you find some answers  but ,please do your research before the seeing a chiropractor, as I just did a web search and the article/paper states that dog with ( or suspected herniated discs, which is part of IVDD ) should not see a chiropractor as it can worsen the condition.

To me this seems to make sense as if there is a calcification on a disc that moves during the chiropractor session I can imagine it causing more pain and or damage.

[Jacqs]

I have spoken at length to our veterinary nurse this morning and she’s advised exactly the same!
The chiropractor I’ve contacted wouldn’t even consider seeing her without my vet’s consent, which is obviously the way it should be.
She’s now booked in for X-rays and an Ultrasound on Friday.
Your advice is absolutely spot on.
We could indeed make things worse for her!

I appreciate you taking the time out to advise me over this.

I’m hoping these initial tests will be able to determine the problem.
So fingers crossed for my darling fur baby on Friday.

[Darwin]

Fingers and Paws crossed for Friday.  Hopefully you’ll get some answers