Civvie with invertebral disc disease

[Lori and Atticus]

Atticus's sister was just diagnosed with this the other day from an xray. The vet put her on prednisone and cosequin to see how she does. She has a noticeable weird gait with her back legs, but is able to get around ok. She's a little grumpy, but still purrs a lot when she is snuggling. I know that her quality of life at this point is still ok.

So, I talked the hubby into building a ramp for her for the bed instead of her jumping and barely making it each time. She loves her ramp. Problem is... She decided to jump off the bed and hurt herself just about 30 minutes ago. She's walking, but you can tell her gait is a lot more strained looking. So, while I wait up with Atticus (getting her through some low numbers) tonight, I am in tears because of the other kitty hurting and being terrified of this being the end of her "quality" of life. So, sick to my stomach and really scared to ask... Does anyone have experience with this nasty disease? Is there hope of the steroids working and making her feel better or is it just wishful thinking? I don't want to be selfish and make her live in pain when she has honestly been the best cat I could have ever asked for. She is the most gentle and sweet kitty. She's 15, for anyone who's wondering.

 

[nwnews]

I did an internet search and found this information:
Dexamethasone is considered the anti-inflammatory drug of choice for the IVD syndrome. (28,54) Other frequently prescribed anti-inflammatory agents are phenylbutazone and prednisolone. (2,28,54) Greene reported that intravenous phenylbutazone was ineffective in reducing spinal cord inflammation and promoting clinical improvement following experimental spinal cord trauma. (20) Pharmacologically the anti-inflammatory effects of prednisolone are seven times less than those of dexamethasone. (22)

The optimum dose of dexamethasone has not been determined; however, some guidelines can be offered. Severe or acute spinal cord compression following a cervical IVD protrusion is treated with 2.0 mg/kg intravenous dosage. This initial therapy is followed by more conservative doses (0.2 mg to 0.4 mg/kg sid or bid) for 2 to 3 days or as needed. More subtle episodes are treated with the conservative dosage initially. The possible side-effects of corticosteroid therapy should be discussed with the client before initiating therapy.

Muscle relaxants have been recommended in cervical IVD disease manifested by severe muscle spasms. (64) Methocarbamol and chlorphenesin carbamate have been used effectively for this purpose. The recommended dosages are as follows:

Methocarbamol: 10 mg/kg PO as a loading dose and 5 mg to 19 mg/kg PO tid thereafter (32) Chlorphenesin carbamate: 50 mg/kg divided into three doses for the first day, followed by 25 mg/kg PO divided into three doses per day thereafter (32)

Cage rest (no physical activity or leash exercise only) is employed in all regimens of medical management. When corticosteroid therapy is used, cage rest is mandatory, since alleviation of pain may encourage the patient to exercise. Exercise in the presence of clinical IVD disease may result in extrusion of additional disk material and subsequent severe neurologic damage. (28,54) if the owner refuses hospitalization of the patient, confinement without corticosteroid therapy is highly recommended.
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I'm not wanting to be a Debbie Downer here but the long term outcome of this disease doesn't sound good. Sending big hugs out to you & your furbabies. Jan

 

[Lori and Atticus]

Thank you so much! I haven't had much of a chance to do a lot of searching, but what I did do was not encouraging. We are just watching for quality of life at this point. I will talk to my vet about this treatment and see what she thinks. There may be a reason she didn't do this or she may not have known. I need to see how she's walking this morning, but she's snoozing so I hate to wake her just to irritate her. :lol: I'll let her sleep a little longer. At least she's comfortable right now.

 

[BJM]

Emphasis: CAGE REST
While she is possibly injured, please confine her to a limited space with no levels. Another injury could make it much worse.