I was wondering about the different alternatives to surgery. It's hard for me to trust western medicine, it's so caustic and invasive. I know I talk tough, but it's difficult to even consider giving up without exploring every applicable treatment I can unearth. Not just for Zevon, but for any animal/human in my care. Which is why my funds are depleted and I look 10 years older than my age! The East/West vet I found for Gypsy does acupuncture, I'll give her a call when the time comes. Thank you again.
Nina
tamara stickler wrote:
Nina, you have my prayers. I've seen acupuncture work WONDERS for dogs that had lost the use of their back legs...even old dogs. If western medicine can no longer help...and you feel you aren't ready to give up...find an animal acupuncturist....you just might be amazed.
Good luck, God Bless you both.
*/Nina <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>/* wrote:
Hi Everyone, Bruce and I just got back from the Vet. Our 8 year old German Shepherd Dog, Zevon has been having trouble with his back legs for the last couple of months. I guess I've been in denial and have been giving him stuff for arthritis etc. The vet (not his regular ortho surgeon, he's out of town at conferences), suspects either a disc problem or something called, Degenerative Myelopathy, (a degenerative neurologic disease), something GSDs are prone to apparently. He had to stay at the vet overnight to treat him intravenously with steroids to see if whatever is causing his paralysis lessens. The ER vet said that there is a chance that the steroid therapy alone could help him regain the full use of his legs, (let's hope so, tonight's therapy is costing over $1100 bucks and we haven't even started diagnostic work yet). If this doesn't help him, Bruce and I have a tough decision to make. About 4 years ago, Zevon took a leap off a very high cliff in Santa Barbara trying to get to the surf below. He sustained severe sprains on both his front legs and we were told by three vets to have him PTS before we found a surgeon that took on his case and saved his life. Zevon is a highly energetic dog that never lets pain get in his way of having a good time. The operations and months of recooperative down-stays were extremely hard on him. He is also vulnerable to reinjury of his front legs and now with his back legs in jeopardy, not to mention the fact that he's no longer a young dog, make his prognosis for a quality life in a wheel chair very poor. Please include him in your prayers. Please pray that tonight's treatment brings us a miracle of at least temporary recovery. He's so important to our household, we all love him so much, dogs, cats and humans alike. He's such a sweet soul, I don't know how we'd get along without him.
Thanks for caring, Nina
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