discouraged by the vet

[jazzybaby]

Hi, I am looking for any info or help, my 4 year old cocker spaniel is at home recovering from IVDD surgery. It started on April 17 she seemed to be having problems walking when i got home from work so we took you to our local pet ER at that time she still had deep pain response and was able to express herself so they told us to take her home let her rest and they gave us meds to go home. They said if she was not any better in the morning to take her to her regular vet but the time we got up she was shaking and would walk at all now so we went right away to the vets and they sent us to a neurologist an hour and half away. When we left her vets office she still had some deep pain response by the time we got to the neurologist he said she had no deep pain response and we would need to do surgery right away to give her any chance to walk again. At that time he said she had about a 50% of walking on her own, but she would always have to becareful and she might move a little slower. So went ahead with the surgery and she came home to us 3 days later still unable to walk or express herself. The doctor was still saying a 50% chance. The doctor told us to start moving her legs the next day but to keep still and make sure she was resting. With in the first few days she was able to sit herself up and lay back down and turn herself from side to side without any help. We started noticing a flexing in her back legs and she went back to the neurologist two weeks later to have her 22 stables removed and he said she looked really good she was back to her happy self however he said she still had no deep pain response which he said she should have back by than but he said it maybe to early and to keep working with her. So that has been what we have been doing we do her therapy a few times a day with her and everytime we express her bladder we stand her up which she is now able to do without her legs giving way as long as we hold her up under her tummy. She has started lick her back paws and even stiffening them on her own and while we do her therapy she stiffen them and even will kick. When we tickle her toes and pads she kicks us away which i think is more than a reflex but the neurologist says otherwise. She has started chewing on her toys and eating like she use to. Her regular vet tells us not to give up there is stil a chance she will walk again just keep working with her. We are going to be starting laser therapy with her regular vet because the neurologist said we should not do any therapy other than at home till she can at least stand but i don't want to wait because even though he has not said it out loud i don't think he thinks she has much of a chance of walking again. And we just are not going to give up that easy. She has always had a very high tolerance for pain and will let you do anything to her with out groweling or biting. He seems to be so held up on this 2 to 4 week time frame and i feel it could take longer and we want to give her every chance and we don't want to hold up her healing by waiting for him. Sorry to keep going on and on but i wanted to know if anyone else has had this happen to them and what have they done? and if anyone knows anything about laser therapy and if they had it work for their dogs and if there are any side effects we should know about. I also wanted to know if others thought her stiffening and kicking was just a reflex or more. We have been doing a lot of reading about IVDD and the recovery time online and how read anything a month to 18 months. So any info or help would be great.

[Bobbie]

The stiffening and kicking is likely a reflex but you never know.

I think after four weeks with no deep pain I'd go ahead with other therapy- but I think your neurologist is right to warn you against trying other things too soon as the spinal cord swelling needs time to go down. If no improvement is seen then there was spinal cord damage; this doesn't mean your dog won't walk again (a fair number learn to do spinal walking even with no spinal cord improvement) but it does mean healing will be very slow if at all.

I can't comment on the laser therapy as I know nothing about it.

[CarolC]

It is excellent that your dog can stand. How many of us would have been thrilled to have a dog able to stand with assistance at 4 weeks?! Hydrotherapy is a really really good form of exercise for conditioning and helping them learn to walk again. You might ask the surgeon if s/he knows of anyplace offering canine physical therapy, swimming, or an underwater treadmill. If not, when the weather gets warmer you might set up a kid's swimming pool in the back yard. A hot tub also works if you keep it cool enough. When your surgeon says it is OK, I would help her practice the standing, which is a weight bearing exercise.

The timeframe you quoted is pretty accurate, there is a wide range. I am glad you did not read one of those articles that says "If your dog is not walking within x-number of weeks she never will" because each case is different. My dog took 9 months to begin to walk, and she does a combination of spinal walking (reflex) and real walking. We did a lot of physical therapy to get there. I think one of the most important things is to keep doing PT even if your dog seems much the same. Every day your dog's nerves are healing a tiny bit more even if you cannot see any obvious difference. As time goes on you begin to notice tiny improvements, and eventually all those improvements add up. I am optimistic for your dog if she can hold a stand already, for any time at all. It is still very early.