So, mere months after River was diagnosed with a prolapsed disc, one of Remy's appears to have done exactly the same thing :-(  Although worse than hers.  He is still mobile, he can still walk (and goes out for walks) but his back right leg is painful where it's pressing on the nerve roots (it's quite far back so past the spinal cord proper, just like River's).  Despite that he is still happy though, still scrounging when he feels it's called for, still demanding his bedtime biccy (two now, in fact, the cheeky sod), still plays biteyface with Willow so he is nowhere near ready to go yet.  So I need to get his pain levels down so he can enjoy the time he does have left.

At present he's just been started on gabapentin, and another possibility if that doesn't help is amantadine but I thought I'd ask on here if anyone knows of anything else that might help - supplements, conventional meds etc.  He's on a lot already for his various medical troubles:

B12
Zinc
Calcium/Magnesium
E
Trocoxil (though probably going to stop this soon as it's not doing much now)
DLPA
Shark cartilage
Tiromel (T3 hormone for his thyroid)
Gabapentin

He's booked in to go to the same rehab centre that River's at, so he should be getting acupuncture as of next week and then stretches etc as he (hopefully) improves.  But as he has a long history of not responding to painkillers of various types for his other painful conditions (osteoarthritis, and FM causing general joint/muscle pains), I thought it best to try and keep ahead of the game with him and have options at the ready, should the gabapentin not do anything.  Tramadol has been tried at high dose and did nothing for him.

Surgery is NOT an option for him - he is 10yrs old, he has no good legs left even before this happened, and with all his medical troubles recovery would just be too hard on him.  I have tried his shock absorbing boots but they actually make him worse as they are too rigid (and add weight), he knuckles a bit on the most affected leg so with a boot on he really struggles.

I'm going to keep his front boots in use I think as they mainly help with keeping his feet warmer, so he doesn't struggle as much with aches later in the day, and maybe sort some grippy socks out for indoors but any suggestions anyone has would be most welcome :-)

Would a steroid injection be any good? I know you might have to stop certain painkillers.

Why gabapentin? That is usually used to stop them chewing their feet as sensation comes back. Usually for slipped disc it is a balance of rymadil or steroid injection,  tramadol and diazapam, it is however a fine line between making them pain free and making them that comfortable they make the injury worse. Strict crate rest for 6 to 8 weeks can be very successful but I understand that at his age you may just want him to have a happy life without restricting  him to a crate for 24/7 only being allowed out to pee.
Dodgerslist is a great website full of very useful info on disc injury.

Annie has back problems and not sure if Nutraquin plus would help River,can only get this from your vet,she is also having cartrophen injections,I have seen a big difference with her mobility to the point that she only requires this treatment now,so pleased to say she is no longer taking tablets,however cartrophen can only be given up to 4 x ayear,hope you can manage to get her comfortable.

Sheila xx

Gabapentin was recommended by the rehab therapist that River sees, as it is often a very effective painkiller for this sort of injury :-)

He's not had diazepam but he has had xanax, and alongside the tramadol as he gets the xanax for fireworks and it's similar to diazepam.  But no improvement in pain levels.

ETA he is on trocoxil atm too which is a non-steroidal.

Crate rest not an option all things considered and he's actually a lot less comfortable in there - but being old and with his other problems, when he's at home he's lying down still 99% of the time anyway so I'm not worried on that front.  And when I'm out, everyone is split 2 or 3 ways to keep them calm and quiet, which means that he's not left with Willow or River or Linc so he's got no inclination to start playing and hurt himself when I'm not here to stop him.

I'll have a look at Dodgerslist, thank you :-)

my rott had a ruptured disc in her neck in feb this year, was totally paralysed in all 4 legs. she had surgery and recovery was very slow. long story short she relapsed a few months back and went off her legs again, vet put her on rimadyl and it didn't seem to help at all. I asked to try plt's as I had great results with 2 previous dogs with bone cancer, within a week the difference was remarkable and now currently she is the best she has ever been. I used plt, diazepam and if she ever relapses I would do it again. if you haven't tried them for him yet I would say give them a go as if surgery isn't an option (like for my rotts with cancer) then you have nothing to lose and hopefully you will get the response that I have had with them on 3 occasions and 3 different dogs now.

I hope things improve for your boy soon x

Thanks Mandy.  PLT is actually the only typical NSAID I haven't tried with him, purely on cost grounds - it worked wonders for my lab but Remy's arthritis/Fm etc isn't covered on insurance so I had to give it a miss.  But as this should be (just going to chase up the claim now) it is something I can try :-)

I reconsidered the crate rest - the effect the DLPA has had on his other pains has been brilliant, even with the disc he was overtaking me and River on the last walk we did :-O   with that improvement I think now he'll have a lot more time left than if that hadn't helped, so I went ahead and started the 8 weeks on Thursday.  He's not happy about it but he's doing ok, he's getting frozen kongs with his mince in, he's warm and he's not whining half as much as he has been before I started the DLPA so it's definitely helping.  He's certainly not as stiff as I would expect him to be now after 5 days in there.

I've had advice from the guys over on dodgerslist, lovely people :-)  I'm still taking Remy to rehab on Thursday but, just to get the initial consult/assessment out of the way so the therapist is up to speed and also so that she can prescribe drugs with much more knowledge of this condition than my normal vet has.