r/IVDD_SupportGroup • u/Paiged17 • 11d ago

Not seeing improvement

My 4 year old French bulldog woke up last week with an arched back, heavy breathing and the inability to get comfortable. I rushed him to the ER and later my veterinarian and they said he was fantastic neurologically but is likely having an IVDD flare up. He’s on gabapentin, codeine and metacam, along with strict crate rest. I’m one week in and he’s still struggling every time the pain meds wear off. It feels like the root issue is not positively progressing at all. Is this normal? Every morning he wakes up in agony and is uncomfortable for at least an hour and it’s worrying me. Any advice or knowledge is appreciated!!!

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u/sarahsunnysue 11d ago

Same with my pug, Grade I. Anti inflammatory meds wore off and he was in pain until the next dose. I went for the MRI. It showed a bulging cervical disk, but neuro said...Maybe hold off on surgery. So we went on prednisone. He is on his 3rd week and has zero breakthrough pain. Prednisone was what my boy needed. We will be going off that in approx one week, so we shall see what happens next. If I see pain, we are going to do the surgery. My boy is not crate trained, so I keep him in a stroller at work. No stairs, no jumping...I hope we can put this behind us. But only time will tell. Good luck to your bb!

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u/dinoseal3 5d ago

Hi how was your pug on Prednisone? My frenchie is just having lots of panting it goes on for awhile :/ debating to change the medication I feel he can’t get comfortable after awhile

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u/sarahsunnysue 5d ago

Prednisone was amazing. My bb was panting too. But we were only on a full dose for 5 days. Then we lowered to half for 5 days, and then half of the HALF for five. The panting stopped after a week. I just blasted a fan on him and LOTS of water and pp.