Trouble with Troubles

[troubles]

Hi everyone. I have a 12 year old Beagle Bassett mix, named troubles, who has been having trouble walking. My father took her to the vet today and found out she has paralysis of her hind legs. She has little feeling in her hind legs and can hardly stand.

What do we do now? Troubles was my moms dog and my mother recently passed away from cancer. It is really heartbreaking. Troubles has been with us since the day she was born. I really don't know where to turn. I cannot afford to buy the wheelchair for her (I even thought about not paying the light bill, phone bill, or my car payment to have the money to buy the thing!). My father is quite handy, are there any ideas on homemade wheelchairs out there?

Any help would really mean a lot right now. I just lost my mother, I cannot bare to lose her dog or see Troubles suffer. She was my first dog, I went to college, and my mom took over. She has been a wonderful member of our family since the day she was born. Please, any advice you could give would really help!

[connie]

hi and welcome,
first thing is crate troubles till you know the cause. my cricket has a ruptured disk and lost use of hind legs last nov. he had the surgery and now after 10 months he is beginning to walk again and getting deep pain back. but he had to be crated for 6 weeks. letting trouble move around will cause more damage. so please complete crate rest.
and if troubles can't walk, her bladder might not be getting empty, make sure to take to vet and ask about expressing bladder. if not empty, pet will get a infection.
there are so many of us here who has paralyzed pets. give us an update on any info you have on injury. have you seen a vet at all yet?
it is stressful, but managable, as far as vet bills, there are lists of aids posted here on the site. i was lucky, my vets let me pay my bill out, never hurts to ask.
prayers are with you and troubles.
hugs, connie and cricket

[CarolC]

I agree with Connie, your dog should be on crate rest. Did the vet tell you to put Troubles on crate rest? Here is a link describing how to do it:

http://www.dodgerslist.com/lit/After_Surgery.htm

Your dog is a basset and beagle mix. Dogs with long backs can develop back problems easily. It can affect the ability to walk. They call it IVDD, which means intervertebral disk disease. Disks are the soft pillows between the vertebrae in the spine. With IVDD the pillows can deteriorate. They may merely get squished out of shape, or they may rupture and the fluid inside can leak out. They press on the spinal cord and cause the symptoms you are seeing, difficulty walking, or even complete paralysis and loss of bladder control.

When you see your dog starting to have those symptoms, you need to stop your dog from trying to move around. Sometimes with complete rest, the pillowy disk can plump back up and stop pressing on the spinal cord. But it must be complete rest, in a crate 24/7 and only out to potty. No trying to walk around, no dragging. Crate rest can last for weeks. I've had 2 dogs on crate rest for 4 weeks each, but it can go up to 8 or 10 weeks.

Often the vet will prescribe steroids like prednisone when a dog has these symptoms. Steroids help to reduce inflammation in the spine, but they carry a slight risk. Ask your vet about the risks and benefits of steroids. One thing to keep in mind is that with steroids, the dog may show rapid improvement and be able to walk again, but you still need to continue crate rest. The disk still needs a chance to heal, and it can't return to its proper shape if your dog keeps moving around and putting pressure on it. She needs to lie still. If you let her continue to move around and it gets worse, you will not only have a dog who can't walk, you will have a dog who can't urinate, and that is an added problem you do not want!

How is your dog doing today? We can give you links for homemade wheelchairs, but hopefully with proper crate rest, your dog will recover the ability to walk and won't need one.

Here are two websites with information on beagles and IVDD:

http://murphysworld.jaisp.com/
http://tinkerbeagle.blogspot.com/

[Cindidoxiemom]

Get Troubles a good safe crate. The wire ones are nice because they can see out of it.
Connie and Carol are dead on with their recomendations.

1.Call your vet about getting trouble on Prednisone. Give trouble a dose of Pepsid 1/2 hour before the prednisone.

2. Crate rest for 6-8 weeks.

3. Talk to your vet about Trouble's bladder and bowel . As Connie pointed out, if Troubles is paralyzed chances are very good that his bladder is effected. You will need to learn to express.

Right now...those are the steps you need to take. I'm glad you found us, and we will be here to help in any way we can!
Cindi