Boston Terrier puppy with hemivertebrae

[Caritrueb]

Call me tomorrow. I've been through this and have so much information for you. But yes you should be cage resting him. And by cage rest I mean he is in the cage or resting on you unless he needs to pee. It's hard to do but if you do this the prednisone along with rest will reduce swelling and you may see a little improvement. There is no point in giving him prednisone without strict cage rest. in regards to the article, so as it mentioned hemivertebraes are extremely rare. When a case does arise, 9 out of 10 either euthanize or do nothing but provide a wheel chair. I bet your neurologist will see maybe 2-3 cases of this in his lifetime and probably has never performed a surgery on this. Or ever will. The university of Florida is a vetinary research university. Their facility looks like a human hospital and you would think you were in one if not for the dogs everywhere. Dr roger clemmons is retired but his team and people are still there and familiar with his surgical techniques. As far as finance, I have some ideas for you on how to get the funds. I was lucky in the sense that I had trupanion insurance on Lola. They paid over 20 thousand in bills and I paid about 3500 out of pocket but I spared no expense from 5 doctors, X-rays, two MRI s, surgery, three week hospital stay, physical therapy, acupuncture, laser, second opinions, water therapy, and finally her wheelchair when we exhausted all options. If I didn't have the insurance I was going to try to use crowd sourcing to raise the funds. It works as I have a friend with a sick French bulldog who raised 9k. I will tell you this, whether surgery is an option, or you treat noninvasively with meds, rest and a little therapy and maybe a set of wheels, Finn will be the most amazing lil pup you will ever have. These dogs have these little quirks and full of love and determination. Call me tomorrow.

[Feef]

Here are Finn's X-rays.

[CarolC]

Wow! Look at the similarity!

Tucker top Finn bottom

Tucker left Finn right

[Feef]

I know! I showed my husband. We couldn't believe how alike they look. It gave us a little more hope for Finn.

[Feef]

Also, a quick rant about Finn's primary care vet. When I asked her about Finn's crookedness, she said some Boston Terriers are just "like that." The only reason she suggested an X-ray was because she wanted to look at his liver (she's been obsessed with finding a liver shunt in him due to his small size). After taking the X-ray, she didn't call me for 2 days. The day after it was done, I called the office and she wasn't in so I kept calling until another one of the doctors called me back, who told me, yes, Finn is incredibly deformed.

This week, she called me Tuesday night to see how he was doing and how the ultrasound to look at his liver went. I said that he was ok and that we had taken him to a neurologist that day. Her exact words were, "Oh really? Why did you do that?"

I'm in the process of finding a new vet for him.

[Caritrueb]

I don't blame you. While it is possible that dogs born with hemivertebraes have other congenital deformities you would think the primary reason of concern would be the hemivertebrae and other issues will be addressed second. Why is his liver such a concern? Have they done labs of his liver enzymes? Like I mentioned before 99 percent of vets out there don't even know where to begin handling these cases. Most will tell you to put the dog down. Don't do that! 99 percent of neurologists will tell that nothing can be done and get the dog some wheels. The ones that are brave enough to attempt surgery will screw it up. Don't do that either. I think it is positive that Finns hemivertebrae started to show up at 6 months rather than earlier. With Lola I knew at 2 and half months during her first growth spurt. I had a team of five vets from different offices handling her care. They would conference call each other every week. Most of them told me we were in unchartered waters and they couldn't give me a definitive of what would happen. At one point 3 of them told me she was in pain. She wasn't. The only two vets that really helped me figure this out was my rehab vet who is used to working with disabled dogs and the neurologist at university of Florida who explained to me step by step what would happen to Lola over time. Everything he told me has come true. Whether Finn responds to treatment, or he lives with doggy wheels, or you try physical therapy, or surgery will help decompress his spine, Finn will be the best little doggy you will ever have. I'm sure of it. try to find a vet that works in rehabilitation for disabled dogs. Look for one that has an underwater treadmill for therapy and does electro accupunture. That therapy will help wake up any nerves that are not communicating with his back legs. If you find a vet that does these therapies it is a positive indicator that they will have more knowledge about hemivertebraes. Hope this helps.

[Feef]

She told me that he could have a liver shunt on his very first puppy visit at 8.5 weeks old because he was small. Of course, I became paranoid and I looked for symptoms every day. He puked? Liver shunt! He's not running around like crazy? Liver shunt! She didn't want to neuter him without doing a bile acid test which I agreed was the smart thing to do. After the test, she called me. His bile acids are high, she said. We need to do more tests. She scheduled an ammonia test, an x-ray, and had me schedule an ultrasound with an internist at another hospital. After the x-ray and blood work, I picked him up and asked for a copy of the results of the bile acid test (I know I should have asked sooner...) Anyway, they do the blood test twice. Once while fasting then again two hours after a meal. A normal fasting test result is between 0-7. His was 8.9 which was obviously a little high. A normal result for after a meal is between 0-15. His was 12. Then I found out that his liver enzymes were normal. His ammonia test was normal. Then the internist told me that, while there are exceptions, they don't normally start to suspect a liver shunt until the bile acid test results are in the 100s. Normally, with a result that low, they would just retest in a month or so. So I have no idea why his vet made him go through all the extra tests, unless she just wanted me to spend money.

There is actually a vet in my town that has an underwater treadmill. So I am going to call them and see if I can get Finn an appointment. Hopefully we'll like them and we can transfer his records.

[critters]

Nice job comparing the x-rays, Carol! I almost wondered if there were a duplication somehow!

As for size, in my experience every fur severely disabled from a young age, or who had a hard time somehow, is almost always little.

[CarolC]

Yes, and they are not even the same breed. It certainly shows why he might have some difficulty picking things up off the floor. The raised food dishes sound like a GREAT idea!

[Feef]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to give you an update on Finn. He's doing okay. He's taking prednisone once a day and gabapentin twice a day. His back leg function seems to be getting worse every day. We have switched him to a new vet who is doing acupuncture on him. He's only had one treatment so far, and to be honest, I'm a little skeptical that it is going to help him. And it's expensive ($75 per treatment and she wants him to come in every week) so I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep doing it. Has anyone had any experience/success with acupuncture on their dog? I'm still trying to set up physical therapy for him to try to keep the muscles in his legs strong.

Since we don't want him to outgrow it, Eddie's Carts recommended waiting until he's at least 9 months old before having him measured for a cart. So I'm hoping he'll be able to stay mobile until at least then. I did just order a sling for his back end so that I can hold him up when he wants to walk around.

I'm still pretty worried for him, especially because of the limited mobility in his neck. While he seems like a generally happy puppy who likes to play, he has a very difficult time picking things up off the floor and always seems like he has a hard time finding a comfortable position. I also worry about seizures. I know that they can be common with spinal cord issues. I work full time and I feel so bad leaving him at home already so I don't know what I'm going to do when he can't actually walk anymore or if he starts having seizures. I do go home and spend time with the dogs at lunch but there are occasions when something comes up and they are alone for 8 hours. I won't be able to do that to him if he is just stuck in one spot all day. So I'm stressed. My husband keeps telling me not to worry about things that haven't happened yet but I can't help it.

[CarolC]

The people who report seeing results usuallly seem to see them right away. Not sure I've seen anyone using it with hemivertebrae, mainly with disk problems. I do wonder a little bit if the vet can even figure out where to properly put the needles when the spine is curved differently. Maybe let the vet have another try and be sure he has the x-rays to help him estimate where to position the needles (I don't know, just trying to be practical), but if no luck the second time, I think I would quit and pursue other therapy. Just my .

I wonder if a muscle relaxer would help him be more comfortable in his neck.

[critters]

For the nothing it's worth, I've never seen new-onset seizures with spinal cord injury alone, only with brain damage, metabolic problems, or low oxygen levels. As for future problems, I think it's wise to be AWARE of what might happen but not necessarily worry.