Hi all. I had to make the painful decision one week ago today to have my beautiful rottweiler Ilsa put to sleep. My sweet girl was 10, and some of you may remember us from a while back. This girl was so strong. Knee surgery at 2, ruptured disc and paralysis followed by surgery at 6 and 9. Her last i...

Ilsa's home! The vet had me go back with her when she got her out of the cage so I could see how she was moving. She put the towel under her, then Ilsa just came up, using her right leg. The vet said "I'm not doing anything, that's all her!" Obviously she can't walk on her own yet, but I j...

What a great day! Got to visit my girl and she's doing so well! The vet told me she actually pulled herself up on her right hind leg, and they're pretty sure she has movement in the left! This is so much more than I could have hoped for! Apparently they haven't even had to express her bladder at all...

Thanks for your good thoughts...they helped! Got to see my girl today and she looked beautiful! Weird, but she looked younger to me, LOL! She was happy to see me...if I stopped scratching she put her head under my hand to get me going again or put her paw on my arm. Had talked to the vet this mornin...

Hi everyone. My 9 1/2 year old Rottweiler Ilsa ruptured a disc and had surgery on Friday. This is the second time around for us. The first time was 3 years ago and she made a full recovery. This time it came on slowly and I didn't realize what was happening. We went to our regular vet on Monday afte...

Thank you Carol...I still have that picture on my computer! Unfortunately, it looks like I may be doing the same thing this year. Ilsa woke me up at 4 this morning and I thought she wanted to go out. I went to help her up and she was not wanting to stand on her back legs. I towel walked her to the l...

Hi all. Not sure how many of you may still be around from when my Rottweiler Ilsa (9 1/2) went through her IVDD surgery 3 years ago. (She became paralyzed Thanksgiving weekend 2006). If anyone wants to look at my past posts you'll see that her surgery was successful and after a long recovery period ...

Thanks Christine! Seems like a few weeks ago she really turned a corner and then she improved daily. It's so funny...not that long ago it was "Come in Ilsa, just a few steps baby." Now it's "OMG, slow down, where are you going??"
Hugs to all of you!!

It sounds like Snowy is doing great! Just do be sure you don't let her do too much too soon. I'm assuming except for trips outside to do her business Snowy is on strict crate rest. That's so important right now...for 6 to 8 weeks. I'm amazed she's so far along already, but she still needs to heal. I...

Okay, that terribly long post and I forgot to add that Ilsa was diagnosed with IVDD. The vet said that among dogs who have surgery for IVDD, there is a 5% chance that they will need another surgery. In Ilsa's surgery they actually removed the offending disk...not sure what the name is for that proce...

Hi Angela and Snowy!! Sounds like you're doing great! The fact that Snowy is trying to place her feet and standing for even a few seconds is a great sign! My 7 year old Rottweiler Ilsa went down Saturday Nov. 25. It began like you described, but progressed quickly to paralysis of the hind end. We go...

Thanks to Barbara! I hadn't been on the board in a while so didn't see her post. Thanks alot Carol and Cindi...thinking back to that first week and how scared I was...seems like 8 months ago instead of 8 weeks! I do plan to hang around here, and hope I can be of some encouragment to women who may be...

Thanks Christine....and I just realized the pic of Ilsa showed up in the signature! I hadn't messed with it anymore since I had tried it like you told me....but it's working now....thanks a bunch!!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to give a quick update on Ilsa...today is 8 weeks since her disk surgery. She's made a tremendous amount of progress in the last couple of weeks. She actually stood up by herself a few times in anticipation of going outside...that was huge! Her legs are moving very well and ...

Okay, guess I'll have to play with it a bit! I'll go to an html practice board and see if I can figure it out...thanks again!