Doesn’t walk anymore

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ashleykendra
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Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2023 1:11 pm

Doesn’t walk anymore

Post by ashleykendra »

Hi, I need some help please. My dog cookie is going to be 15 this month. He has arthritis. On February 28th he woke up perfectly happy. Took him for his walk, walked very good also. I went in he slipped cause outside was snowing and since then he can’t walk. The same day I took him to the vet. He can’t seem to work his front left leg and his left hind leg. The vet told me it might that he hurt his neck. She gave muscle relaxer, gapabentin and rimadyl. She told me that he should get up by 2 days. Yesterday I took him also for acupuncture and laser therapy. He still have deep pain feeling in his both legs that are injured. He still eats and alert and tries to
Get up. The same night of the acupuncture he was more steady on his legs. Today I took him for a follow up to his regular vet and she is telling me she is very concerned cause she didn’t see any improvement and she thinks it’s a tumor now. I can’t afford an mri. What do you think? Putting him down is not even an option. I am doing acupuncture, laser therapy, meds and Chinese medicine, on the 14th I have a consultation with a rehab place. Any thoughts please. I can’t stop crying. He is my baby. I had him since he was 4 weeks.




I want also to add that his front leg and back leg knuckles but now he is correcting them by himself. And not as much as before. And the vet is telling me that his back leg is knucklingmore now and not correcting it. He doesn’t like to go to the vet and he shakes there. And also when she checked him we weren’t with him. I am doing also adequan
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critters
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Re: Doesn’t walk anymore

Post by critters »

:whale: Personally, I don't like time limits on these things ("If he's not walking by x days he won't" sort of statements. If he seems happy & reasonably healthy I'd keep going. I also find it helpful to find a vet who isn't too negative; the best vet we've ever had for disability stuff was an RN turned DVM. NOT every vet is willing or able to deal with handicappers.
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CarolC
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Re: Doesn’t walk anymore

Post by CarolC »

I agree. Every case is different. There was a dog here many years ago named Winni the Lemon Beagle. When Winni was 3 she was run over by a moped but survived, and when she was 5 her neck went out and she had neck surgery. Then when she was 21 years old, she was attacked by a 90 lb/40 kg dog and thrown around like a rag doll. She could not get up at all, all she could do was lie on her side. Nancy cared for Winni at home, and kept caring for her, and gave her time and refused to give up.

I'm not sure the exact date she was attacked, but the first post was Feb 17 so it was before that. Nancy posted that Winni had sat up for the first time on March 5. On March 14 she stood up and walked. On March 18 she was trying to climb the stairs.

It can take time for any dog to recover from an injury. Winni was 21 and it took her about a month. When my golden retriver fell getting into the station wagon, it took him maybe 8 weeks (I'd have to go back and check) till he was off meds and fairly back to normal. The vet had him on meds, and we went back for a recheck and continued meds, and then another recheck. For him the key was rest and medication.

I don't know if your vet is always negative with this kind of injury, or if maybe there is age discrimination going on? Since the vet is saying the opposite of what you know to be true, and your dog seems to feel very uncomfortable around the vet, I wouldn't take my dog back to that vet for this injury. The vet might be fine for some other things, but like critters said, not all vets are good about disability.

When you say he has feeling in both feet and is correcting his paws to the correct position, that sounds like a dog that is recovering. Just the fact of having deep pain in both feet is great! I would defintely give it as much time as you can. You didn't say what size your dog is. I don't know if he's a big dog or if you are able to handle him easily. It hasn't even been a week yet, but I absolutely would give it more time. If this is a neck/spinal injury, they take time to heal. I'd try more rest and TLC and time and let it heal.

You could also consider trying another vet if you want to continue the western medicine. If it was my dog, I'd probably want him to have prednisone. But if you are using both western medicine and Chinese medicine, I'd want to be sure the vet and practitioner know everything your dog is on. I don't know if you have any other vet you've sometimes taken your pets to, but maybe it would be better to chose one of them for this case? Nowadays vets are becoming more aware of the possiblities for handicapped pets. They can still live full lives even with disability. But it sounds like your dog is recovering. You may want to have a harness to help him and ensure he doesn't slip again. It's important for him not to make the injury worse while going out to potty or travelling to an appointment.

I think I'd be optimistic about him, based on the deep pain and correcting the feet. I have a Yokie mix about that age and she's barely slowed down, so age isn't everything.

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ashleykendra
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Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2023 1:11 pm

Re: Doesn’t walk anymore

Post by ashleykendra »

Thank you all so much for the encouragement. I am not giving up on him. He is 36 pounds and the vet didn’t try steroids cause he is diabetic but she said that’s next if he doesn’t get better. Should I do hydrotherapy or I should wait? Again I am so grateful to be in this group. Your encouragement and positivity is helping me cope. But putting him down is not even an option. Me and my husband are going to do everything for him. We love him so much. If nothing works I am thinking about getting him a wheelchair. Again thank you so much.
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CarolC
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Re: Doesn’t walk anymore

Post by CarolC »

I'm not a vet or physical therapist, but I'd be inclined to wait. You're wanting him to rest his neck, in case it's a disk injury. There are 2 common types of injuries that would fit with what you describe (where he slipped on the ice). In one type, all of the damage is done at the time of the injury and it isn't going to get worse after the first day or two, so PT is helpful. But the other kind is a disk injury, where activity could make it worse, even much worse (worst case is severe pain or even quadriplegia and trouble breathing).

Since there is no way to really tell the 2 apart without expensive imaging, the best thing (my 2 cents) is to play it safe and treat it as if it is a disk injury, since you don't know. In that case, you'd want to rest the dog for a number of weeks and not exercise him. Cold laser or acupuncture could be helpful, but hydrotherapy would wait till at least 6 weeks post injury, or maybe even longer. Dogs like to shake themselves when they are wet, or even shake their ears. It's also a lot of driving back and forth to rehab, with the car bouncing and turning and stopping. I'd probably wait on hydrotherapy till after he has been well rested. After his crate rest period, it would be a wonderful thing to do if he still needs it.
:swim:
I have a dog who gets a recurring neck problem. The vet gave me some really good practical advice. He said it is hard to rest a neck problem because the dog is always looking around the room at whatever is going on. He said he's had people who even rested their dog for 10 weeks but the dog was looking around all time so it wasn't effective. He said it was best to put her in a place where she is not looking around, or even in her own room and close the door. I didn't really want to put her in a room and close the door, but I have one bedroom where if I put her crate against the far wall, she can look across the room and out the bedroom door and see the other pets and me in the kitchen. So she is looking one direction all the time, toward the bedroom door, instead of being in a room where activity is coming and going around her and she is looking left and right. Anyway, it really works for her. She can lie in her crate and gaze toward the kitchen and nap and get her rest.

36 lbs is not a big dog, but definitely not small either. He's about the size where you can lift him if you really need to, but it would be nice not to have to do it too often. It sounds like he still has bladder control. I don't know if you are taking him outdoors to potty, or how you are handling that. One option is to get a harness with both front and rear support since he's affected in one front leg and one hind leg. If you do, I'd definitely choose one that is easy to get the dog in and out of. Another option is to let him wear a male doggy diaper which is a belt around the waist that fastens with velcro and you put an absorbent pad in it over the male area, and change the pad when it's wet. You'll probably want some ointment to protect his skin if you do that, to prevent diaper rash. However if you're having no trouble taking him outdoors to potty (carrying him) then there are advantages to that. I think the smells outdoors inspire them to urinate. :) It's a judgment call.
:malewrap:
ashleykendra
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Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2023 1:11 pm

Re: Doesn’t walk anymore

Post by ashleykendra »

He doesn’t seem to be in pain at all thank god. He still has bladder control. I put a pad under him and sometimes we take him out and he pees and sometimes he pees on it than we wash him. But for bowel movements he does only outside. What kind of ointment rash I can use. Again thank you so much. It’s a relieve to chat with someone who understands you.
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CarolC
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Re: Doesn’t walk anymore

Post by CarolC »

That's really good that he has no pain. Maybe it doesn't hurt, or maybe the meds are working. I've found from experience with Dolly (my dog with periodic neck pain) that it's better not to run low on meds and have to refill at the last minute. If you've got liquid gabapentin, you can calculate how many doses are in the bottle by using the size of his dose, number of doses per day, and the size of the bottle. My dog is only 8 lbs and they give her a 15ml bottle of gabapentin that lasts a week or a little more depending on if she's getting it 2x/day or 3x/day. If you have tablets, you can just count the doses remaining. It's no fun to run low on the weekend and have to try to figure out where you're going to get refills when the vet is closed.

My dog, Merlin, wore a belly band 24/7 for about 3 years. For him I used Desitin original white diaper cream. The important thing to know about diaper cream is that the white ointments usually contain zinc oxide, and zinc is toxic to pets if they lick enough of it. I asked my vet about it and he says they haven't really seen a problem with zinc toxicity in dogs (unless they swallowed coins) and he said they use Desitin in their hospital. I tried it on Merlin and he did NOT lick it so we were OK. If he would have licked it I would have had to use something else. Before trying Desitin, I tried a couple of other ointments and the thing I noticed was you have to keep reapplying them. It doesn't sound like a problem, but it's a pain when every time you change his pad you have to get your fingers goopy, especially if you're on a tight schedule. The Desitin was different, because he could go a number of diaper changes without having to reapply it, it coated him and stayed on, so it was wonderful.

The other thing to consider about diaper creams is whether your dog will wear his belly band 24/7 or only during the daytime and sleep without it at night. It can be good to let the skin breathe at night, but you have to get all the ointment off before you do, because obviously he may be tempted to groom himself once the belly band is off. I didn't have to worry about wiping it all off Merlin at night because he wore his belly band at night, too.

I like a belly band better than putting a pad underneath, because a dog lying on a wet underpad is a wet dog. People talk about down dogs getting pressure sores, and that can happen, but I think what happens more easily is the dog gets wet from urine, which leads to skin breakdown, and soon you have a weeping raw sore. It didn't start due to pressure, it started due to a urine burn. But it can easily happen on the hip, because if the dog is lying on a pad and wets the pad, the urine will tend to follow gravity and travel down to the lowest part of the pad, which is probably under the hip. Disposable incontinence bedpads for humans (white papery stuff on top and waterproof plastic on the bottom) or puppytraining pads are not absorbent enough to keep dogs dry. A belly band with a Poise pad (or even with a baby diaper laid flat against the belly and held in place with the wrap) will keep him dryer and help prevent a sore on the hip. Sores are easier to prevent than to treat.

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