My Biewer Yorky is 10 years old. 12.5 pounds. She was perfectly fine. Went to sleep on my bed and when she heard me get up to go to bathroom at 2:30 a.m she tried to get up very fast and she fell (on the bed). She laid down and went back to sleep, in the morning both her right legs had lost all function. I immediately took to the vet and she said it looks very neurological because it is one side and because she is knuckling her front paw. She has not feeling on her legs. She doesn't seem to be in any pain. Also her neck seems fine as far as we can see, she moves her head with no problem at all. The vet recommended a round of steroids ( 6 days) to see if it helps her regain some mobility before we jump into MRI. (MRI is $6,000 and according to vet, it may not be absolutely necessary if medication work).The very first day, she couldn't even change position on the bed. Yesterday she was bale to move a bit more but I think is mostly because she is learning how to drag herself around with the good legs. Today legs still don't work but If I stand her up, she can stay up for about 10-15 secs and then falls. I am not letting her move much, I only know this because when I take her out to pee, I carry her out, help her stand up and I give her a little support so she doesn't fall. The last 2 days she has been peeing outside but it's really hard to get her to pee. When she is well she pees like 5-6 times a day. Lately she goes only once in the am and once at night, even though I take her out like 8 times. I'm always worried that she may want to go. When she goes over 9 hrs without peeing I try to express her bladder. (I have watched many videos online) but it doesn't work. I have never been able to get urine out while trying to express her bladder.
Does this sound to you like a condition that can improve with medication and rest? All the info I find online talks about dogs getting their hind legs paralyzed but I can't find any info about dogs loosing the use of both legs in the same side.
Paralyzed on both right legs. (Only one side)
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alhy1414@gmail.com
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Re: Paralyzed on both right legs. (Only one side)
Hi alhy1414@gmail.com,
That is really good news that her neck moves freely and she is not in pain. Yes, it is definitely possible for a dog to be paralyzed in 2 legs on the same side. It's called hemiplegia. There have been other dogs like that here. It isn't as common as being rear paralyzed, bu you are not alone.
It could happen with a disk problem in the neck where the disk is injured on one side. Normally I would expect that to be painful. If there is a bulging or injured disk the MRI should show it. It could also happen with an FCE (fibrocartilaginous embolism), which is also called a spinal stroke. An FCE is usually not painful after the first day or two. Here is a little info on FCE, but I don't know if that is what your dog has.
https://sevneurology.com/conditions-we- ... s-embolism
It's a judgment call whether you want to do the MRI. It's always good to have more information. At the same time it's a lot of money for most people, and it would require anaesthesia on an older dog. And she's not in pain and is possibly showing signs of recovery. If your vet is not in a hurry to recommend an MRI, that seems reasonable. However, I would not give up on her if she's not back to normal at the end of a short course of steroids. Recovery from spinal injury can take more than a few days, and improvement can continue much longer than most of us would imagine. If she gets worse or you start to notice pain, then it might become really important to do imaging.
I will say, my quadriplegic dog is a different (and unusual) case, but after I adopted him I took him to a board certified veterinary neurologist, who diagnosed him without doing imaging, and she got it completely wrong (even though she was board certified). He turned out to have atlantoaxial instability, which is something Yorkies also get, and it can result in hemiplegia. My dog was paralyzed but not in pain for a long time, until it got worse. My dog's atlantoaxial instability was finally diagnosed correctly from a couple of common x-rays that were read by our family vet, who knew what to look for. It didn't require an MRI.
There are doubtless other conditions that can cause the symptoms you are seeing in your dog, so you have to decide the best you can. In the meantime I think I'd try to play it safe and handle her like eggs just in case there is something going on that could potentially get worse. Hopefully there's not, but in my dog's case there was.
From your description, it sounds like maybe she is gradually getting her ability back. Function tends to return little by little. If she can stand for 10-15 seconds that's very encouraging.
The great majority of dogs with FCE recover with time and PT (no surgery, and no meds beyond the first few days). Dogs with a disk problem sometimes recover with rest and medication, and in other cases they need surgery...but I'd still expect her to be painful if this was a disk injury in her neck.
Her toileting problem may (?) be because she is not able to stand in her normal position right now without assistance, so she can't relax. If you are supporting her, it might feel unfamliar to her. If you are able to lay her in the grass and pick her back up afterward without bothering her neck, that might be worth a try. I have a quadriplegic dog and he pees lying on his side when I take him out to the grass.
Your dog may have enough function that she does not need to be expressed. The easiest way to know is to let her urinate, and then have someone who is good at expressing try to express her and see if they get any more out. There are dogs who have partial bladder control, where they can initiate urination but they may not empty their bladder completely, either because they can't feel that they aren't empty (because the nerves are still recovering) or because they don't have complete muscle control back yet. Some dogs will have partial control during some stage of recovery. You can try waiting for her to initiate urination, and when she does, squeeze her abdomen as you were doing when trying to express, and it may help her empty more completely. There is an example of doing this in this video. The video demonstrates 4 dogs, and one is an aging dog with partial control and you'll see the owner steps in and helps squeeze once the dog begins to urinate.
https://web.archive.org/web/20180527175 ... eydb-1.mp4
That is really good news that her neck moves freely and she is not in pain. Yes, it is definitely possible for a dog to be paralyzed in 2 legs on the same side. It's called hemiplegia. There have been other dogs like that here. It isn't as common as being rear paralyzed, bu you are not alone.
It could happen with a disk problem in the neck where the disk is injured on one side. Normally I would expect that to be painful. If there is a bulging or injured disk the MRI should show it. It could also happen with an FCE (fibrocartilaginous embolism), which is also called a spinal stroke. An FCE is usually not painful after the first day or two. Here is a little info on FCE, but I don't know if that is what your dog has.https://sevneurology.com/conditions-we- ... s-embolism
It's a judgment call whether you want to do the MRI. It's always good to have more information. At the same time it's a lot of money for most people, and it would require anaesthesia on an older dog. And she's not in pain and is possibly showing signs of recovery. If your vet is not in a hurry to recommend an MRI, that seems reasonable. However, I would not give up on her if she's not back to normal at the end of a short course of steroids. Recovery from spinal injury can take more than a few days, and improvement can continue much longer than most of us would imagine.
If she gets worse or you start to notice pain, then it might become really important to do imaging. I will say, my quadriplegic dog is a different (and unusual) case, but after I adopted him I took him to a board certified veterinary neurologist, who diagnosed him without doing imaging, and she got it completely wrong (even though she was board certified). He turned out to have atlantoaxial instability, which is something Yorkies also get, and it can result in hemiplegia. My dog was paralyzed but not in pain for a long time, until it got worse. My dog's atlantoaxial instability was finally diagnosed correctly from a couple of common x-rays that were read by our family vet, who knew what to look for. It didn't require an MRI.
There are doubtless other conditions that can cause the symptoms you are seeing in your dog, so you have to decide the best you can. In the meantime I think I'd try to play it safe and handle her like eggs just in case there is something going on that could potentially get worse. Hopefully there's not, but in my dog's case there was.
From your description, it sounds like maybe she is gradually getting her ability back. Function tends to return little by little. If she can stand for 10-15 seconds that's very encouraging.
The great majority of dogs with FCE recover with time and PT (no surgery, and no meds beyond the first few days). Dogs with a disk problem sometimes recover with rest and medication, and in other cases they need surgery...but I'd still expect her to be painful if this was a disk injury in her neck. Her toileting problem may (?) be because she is not able to stand in her normal position right now without assistance, so she can't relax. If you are supporting her, it might feel unfamliar to her. If you are able to lay her in the grass and pick her back up afterward without bothering her neck, that might be worth a try. I have a quadriplegic dog and he pees lying on his side when I take him out to the grass.
Your dog may have enough function that she does not need to be expressed. The easiest way to know is to let her urinate, and then have someone who is good at expressing try to express her and see if they get any more out. There are dogs who have partial bladder control, where they can initiate urination but they may not empty their bladder completely, either because they can't feel that they aren't empty (because the nerves are still recovering) or because they don't have complete muscle control back yet. Some dogs will have partial control during some stage of recovery. You can try waiting for her to initiate urination, and when she does, squeeze her abdomen as you were doing when trying to express, and it may help her empty more completely. There is an example of doing this in this video. The video demonstrates 4 dogs, and one is an aging dog with partial control and you'll see the owner steps in and helps squeeze once the dog begins to urinate.
https://web.archive.org/web/20180527175 ... eydb-1.mp4
Re: Paralyzed on both right legs. (Only one side)
I’d be concerned about the drastic drop in pee (5-6x to 2x/day), especially with the use of steroids. When I was learning I searched up animal anatomical diagrams and the like to learn where the water balloon of his bladder should have been.