Spondylosis

This is what my little boy/dog has.  Spondylosis.  It is horrible.  I found out in December 2008.  He had been holding his leg up and wouldn't put any pressure on it, so I figured he had pulled a muscle.  BOY WAS I WRONG.  I took him to the vet to get some x-rays on his leg.  They were shocked at what they saw.  They said it was one of the worst spinal x-rays they had ever seen.
They told me he had Spondylosis.  I was blindsided, devastated and heart broken.  Basically, his spinal cord is fusing into one solid bone. He has no movement up and down or back and forth.  It also, almost grows another bone below the spine.  So not only has it fused together, it is a lot larger than it was before.

What is Spondylosis?

Spondylosis, also known as spondylosis deformans in dogs, is a condition where osteophytes grow on the ventral and lateral surfaces of the vertebral bodies. Osteophytes are commonly referred to asbone spurs and are bony projections that can form along joints in the body of a dog. The reason behind the formation is an increase of damaged joint surface area.

The growths are normally found by incident when the vet is examining the dog for some other reason using radiographs.

Normal Spine

Spondylosis Spine

    

Spondylosis, arthritis of the spine

The vet at the time told us the worst case scenario: he would be completely stiff and wouldn't be able to move within a year and I would have to put in down.  My world stopped.  (This hasn't been the case...until now...) The following Spring, he had total knee replacement surgery.  Because of the spondylosis, his nerves do not run good up and down his spinal cord, which in return (from what they told us) caused his knee to "blow out".  At this time, they also told us his bones, especially spinal cord/hips/knees have arthritis.  Just added insult to injury.  He fully recovered from his surgery and was done great.  For the past few years we have been able to manage his pain with pain meds.  They told us whenever we notice that he is having "bad" days to just give him a pill.  This has been going on since Spring 2009.  So far so good...until now.  A few weeks ago we noticed him having sharp pains.  He would sit down very quickly and look at his bad legs.  It lasted for about a week and then went away.  We just upped his pain meds to help his as best we could. 


Where we are today and why I am writing this post: The pain is back and it is worse than ever.  A few nights ago the pain was so bad, he was pretty much running around in circles, heart racing, breathing so hard-he looked like he was literally going crazy.  We figured it was the last of the fusing and hopefully it would be over soon.  My dad talked with a vet in Greenwood who deals with dogs with spondylosis everyday, the news wasn't good.  He said the pain will probably never go away.  He said it just a side effect of the spondylosis.  He said the pain is so severe a human probably wouldn't be able to withstand it.  He gave us some more medication and some shots to give him once a week.  This is our last hope.  Please pray that he isn't enduring too much pain and that it will ease up.  I know some people may find this silly but I LOVE my dog.  He is like my child.  I can't imagine my life without him.  But on the same note, I can not let him live in this extreme pain forever.  Please pray that it eases up and I don't have to put him down.  Any prayers would be so, extremely appreciated.  I know he's "just a dog" but he's my  angel and I love him. Thanks.