# Have anyone ever heard or experienced anything like that



## Stefan Nadzam (Jul 20, 2012)

I have a GSD 7 yrs old, in 2012 summer he was diagnosed with right hindlimb lameness and was resolved with tramadol and gabapentin over 2-4 weeks. Then in November 2014 he started trying to poop every time he went outside and nothing came out. He had an abdominal ultrasound and was diagnosed with dysautonomia. He then had an MRI and had spinal surgery on Feb 12 2014. Diagnosis was significant lumbosacral stenosis secondary to multiple factors (previous LS instability, type II disc protrusion, bilateral facet capsular thickening with nerve inpingement. On Feb 12 2014 he had a standard lumbosacral dorsal laminectomy. Extensive capsular and yellow ligament thickening was present, with a large firm disc protrusion. Both L7 roots were extremely swollen and decompressed via partial foraminotomies. The disc protrusion was leveld using a high speed burr. The scral floor was slight decompressed compared with floor of L7, with a slight ventral angulation to the left. All remaining sacral and coccygeal roots were swollen. Since his surgery Gunnar has been in pain trying to poop, if his colon was full he wasn't able to pee, we went to vet twice a week to have him catheterized and measured urine removed, sometimes it was alot, 920cc and sometimes hardly any pee, 140 cc. He is still on tramadol and gabapentin for the pain, when we give him enemas (every other day) he cries out in pain, leans to the left taking all weight off his right hind leg and poops out. We don't think he completely eliminates everything in his colon. On April 25th we started giving him Canna-Pet pills, cannaiods without the THC, first 2 days were promising, every time he tried to poop something would come out, but very thin. Then on April 30th vet put him on Rimadyl for inflammation, 75mg, he weighs 88 lbs. Since then he has only wet his anus with dark smelly liquid poop, hardly any poop on his own. He has lots of gas and today vet put him on Sucralfate as his poop is mushy dark smelly and he only poops while lying flat, when he positions to defecate nothing comes out, only wets his anus. I am at a total loss here, from one day he was pooping fine to the next where every 2 seconds he positioned himself to poop and nothing came out. We are at almost the 3 month mark from his surgery, I think he might have something else wrong with him which isn't allowing him to poop. Today we gave him 2 enemas and almost nothing came out, but when he was lying down a pool of poop came out. Have you seen this before and can you help? He still has a good appetite and wants to play but he cannot go on this way. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## Alice Bezemer (Aug 4, 2010)

Im no expert by any means but if he lies down and gets to poop that way I would say there is nerve or muscle damage somewhere since he can't poop any other way then lying down? 

I have to be honest tho and I probably shouldn't say anything but what is the prognosis for this dogs quality of life? If I read that he has to get an enema every other day and screams out in pain that for me would add up very quickly to stopping his suffering and making sure he does not endure any more pain any longer. He has a long list of problems that have been worked on for the last 18 months or so and they seem to only get worse. Regardless of him still wanting to play and eat, is this a road one should keep travelling down when most of the dogs life is not healthy and the pain level is this high?

No offense intended, Stefan. 




Stefan Nadzam said:


> I have a GSD 7 yrs old, in 2012 summer he was diagnosed with right hindlimb lameness and was resolved with tramadol and gabapentin over 2-4 weeks. Then in November 2014 he started trying to poop every time he went outside and nothing came out. He had an abdominal ultrasound and was diagnosed with dysautonomia. He then had an MRI and had spinal surgery on Feb 12 2014. Diagnosis was significant lumbosacral stenosis secondary to multiple factors (previous LS instability, type II disc protrusion, bilateral facet capsular thickening with nerve inpingement. On Feb 12 2014 he had a standard lumbosacral dorsal laminectomy. Extensive capsular and yellow ligament thickening was present, with a large firm disc protrusion. Both L7 roots were extremely swollen and decompressed via partial foraminotomies. The disc protrusion was leveld using a high speed burr. The scral floor was slight decompressed compared with floor of L7, with a slight ventral angulation to the left. All remaining sacral and coccygeal roots were swollen. Since his surgery Gunnar has been in pain trying to poop, if his colon was full he wasn't able to pee, we went to vet twice a week to have him catheterized and measured urine removed, sometimes it was alot, 920cc and sometimes hardly any pee, 140 cc. He is still on tramadol and gabapentin for the pain, when we give him enemas (every other day) he cries out in pain, leans to the left taking all weight off his right hind leg and poops out. We don't think he completely eliminates everything in his colon. On April 25th we started giving him Canna-Pet pills, cannaiods without the THC, first 2 days were promising, every time he tried to poop something would come out, but very thin. Then on April 30th vet put him on Rimadyl for inflammation, 75mg, he weighs 88 lbs. Since then he has only wet his anus with dark smelly liquid poop, hardly any poop on his own. He has lots of gas and today vet put him on Sucralfate as his poop is mushy dark smelly and he only poops while lying flat, when he positions to defecate nothing comes out, only wets his anus. I am at a total loss here, from one day he was pooping fine to the next where every 2 seconds he positioned himself to poop and nothing came out. We are at almost the 3 month mark from his surgery, I think he might have something else wrong with him which isn't allowing him to poop. Today we gave him 2 enemas and almost nothing came out, but when he was lying down a pool of poop came out. Have you seen this before and can you help? He still has a good appetite and wants to play but he cannot go on this way. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

I would have to agree with Alice on this!

What has the vet told you about the dog's prognosis?


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## Karen M Wood (Jun 23, 2012)

I'm sorry but if this were my dog he would already be in the ground. I would never put my pet through this, he doesn't get a say in anything. You have to do what is right for your dog, not for your self. Screaming in pain and crapping on your self is not great quality of life.
Please think of the dog.

(And yes i've been in this sort of difficult spot before, it's very hard.)


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