Help Needed: healing.....need support/advice

[jessi]

hi,

i havent posted on here in a while, but my dog bella injured her spine almost 8 weeks ago when she got hit by a car. she can walk now pretty well...sometimes we take her on mile long walks, but she still cannot use the bathroom on her own. does anyone know if this could be permanent? does anyone else have a pet that can walk but not pee or poo? it really seems like she can feel her anus. if she has feeling down there should it heal eventually?

this is so hard on us because we just moved into a new house and since she can walk she leaves pee trails wherever she goes. she hates the cloth diaper that i tried to put on because she likes to spend a lot of time licking down there and can't walk with it on anyways. we have resorted to penning her up on her bed in the corner of the living room all day except for a couple of romps outside and putting her in a kennel in our bedroom at night and when we leave the house. is there a better way to manage this? thanks for listening.

[jessi]

here is a picture of Bella!

[Cindidoxiemom]

Jessi,
Are you expressing Bella? If you are expressing her often enough, every 4-8 hours, that should cut down on the leaking. I don't know what kind of diapers you got, but the ones they make for dogs in heat are very durable, and you can just put a poise pad in them. My gosh Bella is beautiful. What a pretty girl.
A. Work on expressing her fully,
B. Try the "heat" type diaper with a poise pad.
C. Do you do poop on command?
D. Yes, the function may return. There is really no way to know for sure.
E. Leaking like she is doing is often a sign of bladder infection. I would go have her tested.

Hang in there...try some of these options...Your not alone...I have 1500 square feet of tile because of my doggers Mop and go!!!!!!!!
LOL.
Hugs,
Cindi

[Stephanie]

She is just a pretty little thing, isn’t she? How BEAUTIFUL!!!! Everyone who has been on this board long enough to know me, knows of my dog Tama. He is recently deceased and he had a spinal stroke over a year ago. He recovered to about 85% in the bladder/bowel area and only about 65-70% in the hind legs. He leaked horribly in the beginning and eventually it tapered off to a few dribbles. It is also a matter of timing. We would have to time Tamas water intake, unless it was hot, then we just knew we were going to be cleaning messes. We never got mad. Like Cindi said about mopping…we always had our carpet shampooer on standby. It takes a special person to deal with it and not get upset. You really just have to reserve yourself to knowing that accidents will happen more often than an uninjured dog. I did notice recovery in Tama over different periods of time. It is a matter of getting the feeling back too. With Tama, he did not know until it was ready to come out, then it was a MAD DASH to the door and we just hoped we could make it)) Most of the time we did, other times my husband or I would take turns mopping. She could be a bit more submissive right now too, she could feel that she is far inferior with her injury. Just love her and let her know that it is ok. She knows when she makes a mess and it could scare her. We found with Tama, the less of a deal we made over his accidents, the less often they happened. Keep us posted and hug your girl for us.

Stephanie, Missy and Monty
Remebering Tama

[jessi]

it's great to know that at least some function may return. i was thinking before that it would be more all or nothing. i guess these things happen over such a long time scale that its hard to see it in perspective...she is probably improving though very slowly. we definitely don't get mad or blame her for accidents though my fiance tends to worry and be more bothered about the smell (it seems to soak into our wood floors quite a bit.) it puts some stress on our relationship because she is MY dog, you know? we just moved in together we have different opinions on the quality and value of her life. (you can't keep doing all of this for her, etc.)

[jessi]

i do express her at least 6 times a day. pooping on command has been harder because her anus keeps getting very irritated and swollen. getting the poo out that's right there is quite a mission, and i can't figure out how to get more to come out right then. i have tried massaging her belly and pinching around her anus. pinching around her anus hurts her quite badly. it seems to hurt for even the softest little piece to come out. and none ever comes out on its own unless she pulls it out with her mouth and eats it. we have seen a vet about this. he didn't have much advice other than that he thought it would heal quickly. it has not. i think we are about due for another vet trip . we will have go to a different vet since i have moved to another state since the last trip. we will also get her urine checked, that is a good idea. i really wish her anus would heal. i feel like i wouldn't mind taking care of her so much if it didn't hurt so bad when she is pooping.

[critters]

Lactulose is a softener VERY frequently given to paralyzed critters; it's a liquid, cheap, and, in my experience, not a problem to give. Many vets rec. canned food for softer poop, too.

PS Lactulose is Rx.