Roscoe Update

Well I've chatted with two different general practice vets here in the Dayton in the last two days. Each took the time to call me back and speak to me personally for 10 - 15 minutes and both were the owners of the respective practices. I really thought both were good potential fits for our family.

The first suggested trying Class IV laser therapy before anything else. He believes it really helps reduce inflammation and pain, speeds healing and helps the cells in the treated area get oxygen and nutrients. It has no known side effects and the price is reasonable at $35 per session. He said we'd know within 4 sessions whether it was helping. He had some other options he'd reccomend over adequan injections if the laser therapy results were not what we were looking for. One of them was something like Duralact - made from milk derivatives. He thinks Adequan is better suited towards joints with more synovial fluid, like knees. He also works with another vet who does acupuncture if we think that might help after seeing how laser therapy goes. They are pretty modern (use old school xrays though) but also open to alternative medicine options.

The second vet is in practice with his two sons. Their office performs back surgeries, they prescribe adequan, the prescribe conventional rest and steroids, but they also have used Stem Cell therapy. The stem cell therapy sounded interesting, but runs about $2600.00. They use digital xrays, they can perform myelograms on site. He does not use laser therapy, but didn't say it wouldn't work either. He said some animals are helped by it, and others might not be. That pretty much applies to any conservative treatment course for disk disease. The practice is very modern, has a great website and is open to new treatment options.

We decided to try out the laser therapy first. We have an appointment today at 4:00pm and he'll have two treatments a week for the next two weeks as a starting place. We'll see how it goes.