You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

Diskospondylitis is not uncommon in dogs, and treatment involves the administration of appropriate antibiotics as well as surgical drainage

Without surgical drainage it may be impossible to isolate the bacteria and fungi that can be involved in cases of diskospondylitis, and without culture and sensitivity results appropriate antibiosis may not be given. 

Organisms most frequently isolated from the site of canine diskospondylitis include :

• Actinomyces spp
• Bacteroides spp
• Brucella canis - rare in the UK
• Escherichia coli
• Corynebacterium spp
• Mycobacterium spp
• Nocardia spp
• Pasteurella spp
• Proteus spp
• Staphylococcus aureus
• Staphylococcus intermedius - the most common isolate
• Streptococcal spp

Recently, there has been a report* of three new infectious agents being involved in severe cases of diskospondylitis :

• Enterococcus faecalis, sensitive to :
  • ampicillin
  • amoxycillin/clavulanate
  • ceftriaxone
  • piperacillin
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa - sensitive to :
  • ceftazidime
  • ciprofloxacin
  • piperacillin
• Staphylococcus epidermidis - sensitive to:
  • amoxycillin/clavulanate
  • cefamandolo
  • ceftriaxone
  • cephalexin

In Summary, the administration of  antibiosis without specific culture and sensitivity may be an inadequate way of managing cases of canine diskospondylitis and drainage and culture and sensitivity should be performed so that the most appropriate treatment can be administered, especially as mild, inadequately treated cases may progress to meningitis and myelitis and severe disability.

*Reference

Adamo PF and Cherubini GB "Discospondylitis associated with three unreported bacteria in the dog " Journal of Small Animal Practice (2001) 42; 352-355

.Updated January 2016