->  > One morning he was in so much pain he could not stand.
->  > To get him outside I cut the sides down on some
->  > soft side luggage and hauled him outside with the
->  > handy
->  > handles.

->  > Upon seeing his good friend and my neighbor he stood
->  > right
->  > up and ran over to her.
->  > Later the same day he caught the ride to the Vet
->  > without a problem.

->  > Advised of this the vet said it was his adrenal gland
->  > kicked in
->  > when excited and he was prescribed a steroid which I
->  > administer on a
->  > very carefully determined minimal as required
->  > schedule.

-> That's interesting.  One of my options for arthritis pain was a steroid shot in
-> each hip every six months.  I declined, but it appears to be worth thinking
-> about, for future reference.

Steroids do work but over use causes risk.

There's additional risk when a steroid is injected right into the spine.

That said, I've taken a very low number of steroids over
a period of years for a number of conditions with good result.

Less than 25 does in all.

Without availability of steroids for the dog he'd have had to be put
down.
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