For urgent matters only. Please post all other requests in the appropriate category. Do not post "Rescue Needed" or "Financial Aid Needed" here. They have their own forums (below).
Forum rules
If your pet has a medical emergency, please contact a veterinarian immediately.
MyTinyPomBella wrote:I went to a vet for a second opinion last week and he said "amputate at the hip, it is the best way to fix this and it should be done soon; nerves do not regenerate, they grow so slow that they die before they can repair" I cried but knew it did not feel right - there had to be a better answer.
This medical text says a nerve that is cut in two and the ends are up to 3/4" apart can regrow itself and close the gap:
http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/saortho/chapter_65/65mast.htm wrote:NERVE GAPS
On occasion, a short irreducible gap may be encountered without immediate provision for graft repair as described above. In these cases, an alternative approach may be to bring the nerve stumps as close as possible in a dry tissue bed and tack the stumps to the tissue bed with two epineurial sutures in each stump. This will create a nerve gap without continuity. This technique may be used for defects not exceeding 1 cm to 2 cm in length. Successful regeneration across nerve gaps has been reported in the dog and in children. However, factors discussed previously must be overcome to obtain success. In addition, increased regeneration time should be expected.
Thank you, very interesting article, I saved it to my favorites.
We have our appt up in Rio Rancho tomorrow with the rehab specialist, I will let you all know how it goes for Bella.
Hoping for a knowledgeable diagnosis as to what her chances are.
She was hopping all over an hour ago with a smile, leg curled under her and seemingly not too much bothered by it, so hopefully her story will have a happy ending.
The apparent lack of pain today and no foot or leg chewing are good things I think...
Bella has been going to Physical Therapy now for 3 or 4 weeks ( time is a blur ) and today she got a special boot to help her try to use her leg. It is not curled up as tight as it was and now she bites at your hand when you try to pet her leg from just above the hock to the hip so she must feel something - still no motor control, but she must feel it or she would not react like that! Touching her leg below hock, her foot or her paw still goes unnoticed.
We are going to using the boot during the day to encourage her to try to search for the ground - she seems to do better in grass so I have been putting her outside in a portable puppy pen so the other pms do not bother her.
The good news is she is in better spirits now and is SMILING often.
What is the medication you were referring to for nerve pain? I would love to have her be as comfortable as possible (of course) and we have a long road ahead of us. Hopping on the other leg has brought on a luxating patella problem on her good leg, so I fear time is crucial to get her trying to bear a bit of weight on her damaged side.
I believe I just had this happen with my puppy. She had bi-lateral FHO surgery last Thursday and is still at the vet. Her left leg seems to be healing normally but her right leg hangs limp and she drags it behind her like it is completely dead. I am just beside myself. I was wondering if Bella made a recovery after they repaired the nerve? I don't even know if they will go back in and do this? Did they repair it during the actual surgery for Bella or did they have to go back in? I am worried sick. Any info about this subject would help!
Whitney.. I am so sorry to hear this happened to your dog! It has been 4 years since Bella's sciatic nerve was severed. Through physical therapy, she regained use of all but her paw, which knuckles under so she wears a walking wheels boot in xx small and I vet wrap the boot lightly and pad the toe piece each morning for added support, take boot off an night and massage her foot. It takes time and rehab to get them to even try to use their leg again, and for some it is better to use a brace. I would talk with a canine rehabilitation person, as well as discuss what the surgery vet thinks is going on as well.
AS a side note, she was almost 'there' in the rehab and I got this gut feeling it was time to quit and I believe pushing her too hard strained the tiny paw and that is what ruined her chances for a 100% comeback. You have to really manage their recovery!
Thank you SO much for your reply. I am headed back to the vet now. One thing I really would like to know with Bella...did her vet repair the severed nerve during the surgery or did s/he have to go back in to repair it? My puppy has already been stitched up so if they do feel it is severed they will have to go back in. I am trying to decide what my next step is going to be since they haven't given me any options yet except waiting. I hope to know more after seeing the doctor today. Thanks. And thanks again for answering. I am so glad to see Bella toodling around with her boot and seeing her so happy. I hope we can get there!
There was no way to go back in and repair it with Bella- she weighs 4lbs and locating it and repairing it was not possible, not to mention the trauma of another surgery. I was given the option of amputation and I chose rehab. Nerves can grow back depending on multiple factors. Your puppy had both hips done at once? That seems unusual - what was the situation?
I see...so they didn't actually sew the nerve back together it just took time and rehab to have it regenerate?
Yes, she had both done at once due to severe degenerative joint disease in right one and subluxation of femoral head in left one. I rescued her and her sister from our local shelter when they were seven weeks old. I've had labs all my life and these girls have a little mix of chow in them (purple coloring on their tongues) but for the most part Raven looks like a purebred black lab and her sister Sunny looks like a golden retriever. Raven would never run or jump or want to swim like my other labs have done in the past and I took her in to our local vet who I totally trust and she and her husband are a team for more than 20 years and she suggested the surgery. I am moving in June so I wanted to minimize recovery time although I knew it would be harder for rehab. I now have looked up many bi-lateral procedures and have seen success so I signed off thinking it would be a fairly simple procedure with more of an effort in recovery. I just thought in 6-7 weeks, by the time we moved, she would be on the mend. This looks to be the case on the left side but the right side just dangles like a wet noodle! She also drags her toes on that leg like you were saying. She can't feel the last three toes at all but has some response to stimulus in the first two. I feel so terrible about this now because I should have researched this more before making the decision. I would do anything, pay anything to take it back. The vet said it would be $700-$800 just for the anesthesia and a single surgery would only mean paying for it once. I knew she was very experienced and had done several others in tandem with her husband. But now they are concerned and I am concerned because they don't see this after prior surgeries. So this means a much longer and more complicated recovery than I ever thought possible. The thought of amputating my 7 month old puppy's leg because I made the decision to have the surgery makes me cry every time I think about it. She walked in there very much in pain but she could use both of her legs! It is so hard. Plus I have her sister who is terribly sad and misses her and will not be able to play for a long time with her litter mate. We will just have to make it work and do like you did with your poms and sweet little Bella and maybe we will be as blessed to have her back on that foot. I am afraid the hip surgery will not be successful since she can't exercise the leg at all and it will atrophy. All questions I can't get answered. BTW did your vet admit to severing the nerve and say it was a risk of the surgery? No one at my vet wants to say anything definitive and that makes me worried a little. I just want the facts! Thanks again.
Good for you rescuing those dogs! My vet was very honest and told me he saw her paw twitch during the procedure, which indicates the nerve was clipped. The sciatic nerve can thru tissue in a hip surgery and while it is not a common risk, it can happen in those rare instances so given his honesty and heart felt apology, I was left with the issue. If your dog can feel her paw on the limp leg, could it be a complication further up? Perhaps swelling or trauma in the muscle, a different nerve being pinched or clipped? I totally understand why you did them at once and do not blame yourself. There is no do over, and it does not mean y our vets did not do the very best they could. Of course I wish I would have left Bella's hip alone or taken her to my old vet which was my gut instinct to do ( we had just moved to a new area) and I wish I would have pulled her earlier out of rehab when she was 'there' then backslid after too much pressure, and I wished we never moved out here where she fell playing in the big yard in the first place!
The biggest problem with doing them both at once is that there is no 'good leg' to support the other healing one and as a result the chances for restored movement reduced. You may want to look into the wheelchair option so she can start moving and touching her better leg down and using it some without risking falling or pulling something else out. it affects back shoulders and neck when they are moving 'off' plus their mental states can take a dive and they get depressed and quit trying.
One of my other poms had knee surgery - just one side- and it took much effort to get him to use it again. Once that knee was fixed, the other one never needed to be done as there was less pressure on it with the one good one. That was 4.5 years ago, he is 9 years old and still racing around.
After Bella's tragic mishap, I have been on the 'less is more' side of things. I would not do another surgery on your beloved lab, I would check into lite wheelchair type options to see if you get her to start safely finding her way to move. She should try to move, and if it does not scare her or hurt her when she does, you should start seeing results. In the meantime, I would let the vets give you Free diagnostics and an MRI to see what happened on their watch.
Thank you! An MRI would be a good next step, I think. I will ask the vet about this. I went this morning, had to leave to get my son from school who is sick, and will go back this afternoon! It's like having 4 babies! (2 boys, 2 puppies!) I really appreciate your encouragement. I will keep you posted on her status!
