this happend four days ago and dog was taken to vets that day, told to cage rest him and give him tablets discribed by the vet, he seems to be improving .this morning a bill arrived for £3000+ fo a ct scan booked for next week,the vet has not seen the dog since last monday so we dont understand why they have booked a ct scan and sent the bill before the scan.the dog is walking but will still have crate rest but we may be wrong but seems like the vet wants us to pay for an unneeded scan.i know you have not see the dog but wondered if ivdd is a commom in dashies and really costs that amount of money to treat.!!
question about ivdd in small dog.< dachshund male. > vet wants to charge £3000 plus for a ct scan on the dog as he slipped into a dich
- Thread starter ashray
- Start date
Cut down on the walking even though it's improving. The more strictly it's rested the better for long term recovery.
Something like 80-90% of these cases will resolve well with strict crate rest and anti-inflammatoires.
Imaging doesn't fix anything, it just tells you how bad things are. If the dog wasn't improving then maybe there's an argument to scan in case surgery is needed but if a patient was improving with conservative treatment as you report, I used to just recommend carrying on with conservative treatment.
You can say no to the scan, may be worth phoning your vet to say the dog is improving so you'd like to continue without further investigation for now although if it stops improving or gets worse it's always an option later on. Vet should be able to justify why they want the scan and it could just be crossed wires on their part.
Keep it friendly if you can. Better for vets snd owners to work together not against each other.
Something like 80-90% of these cases will resolve well with strict crate rest and anti-inflammatoires.
Imaging doesn't fix anything, it just tells you how bad things are. If the dog wasn't improving then maybe there's an argument to scan in case surgery is needed but if a patient was improving with conservative treatment as you report, I used to just recommend carrying on with conservative treatment.
You can say no to the scan, may be worth phoning your vet to say the dog is improving so you'd like to continue without further investigation for now although if it stops improving or gets worse it's always an option later on. Vet should be able to justify why they want the scan and it could just be crossed wires on their part.
Keep it friendly if you can. Better for vets snd owners to work together not against each other.
Sounds like crossed wires to me, have a chat
Occams razor applies. Perhaps the fog was having an off day. Rest and watch rather than CT scan.
When you hear good beats it’s more likely to be horses than zebras.
When you hear good beats it’s more likely to be horses than zebras.
Corporates, greed and it being the UK.
There was a point I was considering referring a patient to the Netherlands for a CT as the owner was Dutch and the total cost of travel and accommodation plus CT, GA and interpretation there was less than having it done in the UK.
Many vet bills are justified. I struggle with pricing of advanced imaging.
Disc disease is very common in dachshunds.
I’m sorry but this is awful advice. Dachshunds can go from normal to paraplegic in a matter of hours, this has the potential to be a life threatening situation for the dog and manipulation is contraindicated.
£3k is very steep for a CT scan - I would have thought £1k to £1.5k is reasonable at this time but it isn’t clear what is included in that price.
Norfolk Horn
Well-Known Member
I would have a word with the vet and get a breakdown of his costs, if I still wasn't happy I would take my dog to another vet who isn't anything to do with the first one and get a second opinion.
Nickb
Well-Known Member
Be careful there's a few that will take offence to that on here ....
But you're right a few where a mask
NoIDeer
Well-Known Member
If the dog fell and hurt it's back it probably has a hurt back. My teckel acquired a bad back and same as you the vet suspected ivdd, after 6 weeks of crate rest, pain relief, anti inflamatories and good ongoing advice from the vet, Ted's back resolved and he is back to normal.
We haven't a clue how it happened but you cant slow this little sod down!
Scans and the like were only mentioned as the next steps if there was no improvement.
The crate rest needs to be just that total rest and only take him out on his lead to do his business with a slow and careful reintroduction to normal exercise after the rest.
Good luck.
We haven't a clue how it happened but you cant slow this little sod down!
Scans and the like were only mentioned as the next steps if there was no improvement.
The crate rest needs to be just that total rest and only take him out on his lead to do his business with a slow and careful reintroduction to normal exercise after the rest.
Good luck.
I have seen, investigated and operated on many hundreds of dachshunds over the years. As a breed their intervertebral disc degenerate very early in life (by the age of 1 yr in most cases occording to the definitive PHD thesis by Hansen ). This leaves the discs highly susceptible to extruding and putting direct pressure on the spinal cord , often following a complex movement where flexion and torsion occur simultaneously. Remember on the manual handling courses not to bend and twist when lifting? It’s the same with dogs! The degenerate discs are literally a little time bomb sitting underneath the spinal cord. Often dogs will show early signs of back pain where they won’t climb steps but they can then go on to deteriorate and may end up losing coordination first, then strength and motor function and finally sensation. The important thing is to prevent them from deteriorating to the point where they lose sensation to the affected limbs as the likelihood of remaining able to walk after surgery reduces from 90% plus to 50%. Strict cage rest helps to reduce the chance of more disc material extruding into the vertebral canal next to the spinal cord which often causes deterioration. It often takes 4 weeks of confinement and some dogs will deteriorate anyway even with cage rest. If you see deterioration then get the imaging done if surgery is something you would consider to be feasible. If your dog becomes weak/wobbly or paraplegic then time is of the essence.
SikaSeeker
Well-Known Member
Cancel the CT, get the dog to a boneman dog at a greyhound track. If your haven’t fixed the dog with rest, meds or boneman. Then decide if the dog needs that money spent on him.
PS: get registered in a new vets practice.
PS: get registered in a new vets practice.
How many dachshunds do you see racing at a greyhound track
SikaSeeker
Well-Known Member
Not many since it’s called a greyhound track, but beats giving the robbing vets money. A boneman can fix a lot of problems.How many dachshunds do you see racing at a greyhound track
But not a spinal cord compression…and it depends whether the dog walking again is important to the dog owner. Most greyhounds that have anything serious are euthanased. The ones that see the “bone man” would probably have got better on their own anyway!
Not trying to be dismissive of your opinions but there are times when expert assessment and precise, accurate treatment (including in this scenario decompressive spinal surgery are needed, and dachshunds with intervertebral disc disease is definitely one of them.
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