I have a puppy owner that has a 5 year old male I bred. The poor dog is suffering from significant cervical spondylosis. They are asking for treatment advice. The dog is on steroids now. Thankfully I have never dealt with this before. Has anyone else? What seemed to help?
I had a boy with that. He lived to just short of 15. He was put on a month of cephalexin when it started. The ortho vet said the area can become infected and that is what happened to him. We occasionally had to put him back on ceph when he had episodes.
The biggest help came when we got him a really large crate that he could easily turn around in. If he was not crated, he absolutely had to pee on the laundry room door, so leaving him loose in the kitchen was not an option.
I have a 13yr old girl w/ this. Has had this for nearly 5yrs now. She is on a maintenance dose of Meloxicam (which I get at Walmart via Rx - cheapest price around). She also gets Osteo-Biflex too (Tramadol when needed for more pain management too). She's a slow mover most days due to age now, but couldn't tolerate much exercise in her early days following diagnosis. She was very limited in mobility following any exercise at all. So, she has only been allowed to move at her own pace with other old-timers. Overall, I would say she has managed quite well and has been kept comfortable except for the intermittent flare-ups. She is never crated and has her doggy bed from Royal Cabana as her perch of preference each day.
