paralyzed shih tzu

[carmenlovesbabee]

Thank you for the compliment but trust me I'm only a model student because of my wonderful and patient teacher....that would be you Diane. I was just curious as to ways you can tell your puppy is regaining some bladder control? Are there things I can do to help her along w/that. I do realize that may never happen and I am okay w/that too. But just in case she would, what would I look for and how can I help that?

[Dianne]

You'll need to await someone elses reply about regaining bladder control. Schnitzel has not regained bladder control.

[CarolC]

My dog never regained full control either, but she got to where she could help me when I express her. Sometimes when I am expressing, I know from experience I am not squeezing her in exactly the right place, yet she is continuing to urinate, so I know she is doing it.

[carmenlovesbabee]

Dear Carole,
I wanted to ask you a few questions. Babee seems to be having a down day today. She had one of these days 2 Monday's ago and I was scared and rushed her to the vets. She seemed down and was breathing and panting harder than normal. They checked her vitals and thats when they gave me pain pills for her. They also said the steroids can cause the panting. Is this normal? And my final question, Yesterday I expressed her as usual, And I think I'm getting alot better because there are fewer wet diapers when I check her. Two mornings in a row they have been dry prior to expressing. But yesterday afternoon I expressed her as usual and at the end a slimey dishcharge came out. I paniced, called the vet and he assured me it was normal from time to time that the bladder has a mucous membrane and this happens sometimes when expressing. Has this ever happened to you. It happened again today. I notice it more when I give her the chicken broth. Any knowledge on this. Babee has been so great this last week. So Bright and cheerful. Today just has me nervous. I read steroids can bring upon depression. I just don't want to do anything wrong. I was reading about steroids and her first vet had her on prednisone and then when we visited the 2nd vet he gave her Dexa something, which I read most vets are not perscribing anymore because of the possible dangerous side effects. Her third vet just switched her back to prednisone. Her fist pill was yesterday. Could this be the change in behavior, switching meds ? Yesterday she was more spunky than ever. I thank you for listening and helping....
Sincerely,

Carmencarmenlovesbabee

Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:06 am
Location: harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Private message

[CarolC]

yesterday afternoon I expressed her as usual and at the end a slimey dishcharge came out. I paniced, called the vet and he assured me it was normal from time to time that the bladder has a mucous membrane and this happens sometimes when expressing. Has this ever happened to you.

Hi Carmen,

It is fascinating that you asked that question, I don't think it has ever come up on the message board that I remember. Yes, I have had that happen. I was expressing Katie and a thin clear string of mucus came out, and a couple of other times it was like a little clear bloop came out. It really alarmed me the first time, I was sure it was some kind of infection and I took her to the vet. I have noticed it twice with Dolly, too. However, in each case, after seeing the clear mucus, the dog went back to normal expressing. It is really interesting to read your vet's explanation, I was not ever really given an explanation. In the case of Dolly, I noticed each time it happened after she had Spot's Stew chicken flavor. I didn't really think it was the chicken, I thought it was one of the other ingredients such as the pasta or sauce or something, I didn't know. I also wondered it it was a female issue, since female dogs have the urethra and vagina in such close quarters. Both of my dogs are fixed, but I wondered if the mucus came from the vagina. Diet can affect female discharge in humans. Whatever it was, in each case it went away and the dog was fine. If I kept seeing it I would take her to the vet. Thanks for explaining what your vet said!

I have heard dexamethasone is very strong. That is why when you posted it earlier I suggested the stomach protectant such as Pepcid a/c, though I would use Pepcid with prednisone, too. Glad she is switched back to prednisone now.

[jazzybaby]

Hi Carmen

I read your post and wanted to tell you had the samething happen with my cocker spaniel that we have to express. Just as you were worried we called our vet and she told me it is normal to have some discharge and has long as it was little in color not to worry. That dogs that can go to the bathroom on their own have this happen sometimes, it is just we don't see it seen they go outside.

Hope this helps
stacy

[carmenlovesbabee]

Hi Stacey,
Thanks for that advice. I too spoke w/the vet and she said the same thing. She said only to call if it would change color or start to have an odor. I hope someone else can see this if it happens to them before they freak out like I did... How is your cocker spaniel?...carm

[jazzybaby]

Dear Carmen

Thank you for asking, Jasmine is doing good, each day we see little things improve. She went and saw her vet on Saturday and she was very happy with how far she has come. She has been in laser therapy for 3 weeks now and just since that started we have seen major improvements and she starts water therapy next weekend which i have heard and read is one of the best things for them so we will have to wait and see. i will keep your baby in my prayers. keep us posted.

Stacy

[carmenlovesbabee]

I've not done any homework or research on Laser Therapy. What is it and what does it do for our lil' ones? As of Wednesday of this week it will be 3 wks. for baby and her injury. Her spirit strengthens each and every day. I have noticed that since I took the Chicken broth away I am not seeing the dishcarge. Not that it was the only factor but we will see. I am getting the expressing down better w/each day. Is Physical Therapy very expensive? I know there's not much we can do now til' the 8 wks are up but I am practicing the passisve therapy Dian has shown me. Thanks for all of your input, it is so appreciated.

[jazzybaby]

From what I have read and was told by my vet, the laser therapy alleviates and pain and siffness which helps them move better. It runs around $40 a session with our vet. Jasmine had to do it for three weeks straight, it was 3 times the first week and 2 times the next week and then once the last week. Now she wants her to do it every other week. We started seeing improvement in her after the 2nd session, she is much more active and will now pull herself around on the floor. Her tail wagged for the first time after the first week of laser therapy. And now we are seeing her trying to lift herself up with her back legs. She saw her vet over the weekend and she was very happy with her improvement. As far as the other therapy she will be doing underwater treadmill and working with a peanut ball which i am not sure what that is yet. These session run me anywhere from $35 to $80 a session. But it was very hard to find someone in my area that does the underwater treadmill i found pools but her vet throught the treadmill was her best chance. The closes place i found is in Reading PA. So since it is such a hike for me and i do work full-time she is going to work with and show me things i can do in my bathtub. We were able to start her with the passive therapy at home almost right away becuase she had the surgery we did not have to wait the 6 to 8 weeks for the cage rest to be over we only had to wait 2 weeks. And her neurologist wanted to give up on her only after 3 weeks and said that she still had no deep pain response and we should put her in a cart and let it be, however we had seen movement in her back legs like kicking and stiffening which he blow off as reflex. So we did not want to give up on her, after joining this site i read that it can take months for them to stand and walk again. So that was when we contacted her regular vet again and started treatment there. And she has done so well she now has a really good kick down, last night we noticed she licked her back leg and kick really hard kind of like she felt it. As far as the expressing goes we had a hard time learning too, we had to take her back to our pet ER twice because we could not get her to go. But now my husband is really good at it however i do still have some problems sometimes with it. Everything takes time and each dog is different. Hope this helps

Stacy

[CarolC]

Cost of PT is likely to vary by location. I have 2 dogs in PT. One is $30 a session for a small dog on the underwater treadmill. It would be extra for other exercises but sometimes the therapist puts her on the theraball or does other work with her and does not charge. I think they are giving me a break, the rates went up since we started going but they very kindly let my dog's rates stay the same. The other dog costs more. She is also small but they are doing the treadmill plus a lot of PT out of the water. She is paralyzed and had hip surgery, it is worth it, last night I could feel muscle in her leg. She gets 6 sessions for $275, it is cheaper when you get a package like that but a person could go broke with 2 dogs in PT. I didn't feel it so much when it was just one. I like the idea above of having the therapist show you exercises to do at home. That is great if you are too far from the PT place and work or can't afford the extra expense. If we all had unlimited time and money it would be different.

If your dog's legs are short enough, you can do PT in the tub. You would have to try it, fill the tub as full as you can (the overflow hole means you can only fill it to a certain height) and put your dog in and see if there is enough water to help her balance. At my old house the tub could not be filled high enough for my small dog to stand, she is a chihuahua but she's got long legs. We bought a child's swimming pool and set it up in the back yard but there was a bee problem where we were living and they were attracted to the pool so we had to give it up. I have seen plastic suction things you are supposed to be able to put over your overflow drain to fill a tub higher, I don't know if they work.

http://www.dodgerslist.com/literature/watertherapy.htm

http://www.abledogs.net/poppy.html

[carmenlovesbabee]

Thank you Ladies. Its so nice to hear words of encouragement. My vet wants me to wait until crate rest is over for water therapy, but I'm not sure where in the harrisburg area you can find this. I found one place in Colonial Park, but in order to use them for therapy, your pet must be a patient. I'll have to talk w/my vet for other options, because we just love them. They were the first one's out of three different vets to offer us hope and want to work to save my Babee. When its appropriate I guess we can be shown what to do and try in our tub as Carole has said. My girl has short legs and I think we will be able to try that. Thanks again ladies for everything.

[jazzybaby]

Dear Carmen

I also contact Colonial Park and I they told me the samething that your pet has to use them as a vet in order to do therapy with them and we just love our vet I drive a little over an hour into Maryland to take Jasmine to her vet and we did not want to change either. Plus I kind of thought they were rude when i callled, they really seems as if i was bothering them. I looked them up online too and did not like the reviews i read on the doctors at the hospital. I am not sure how far Reading is from Harrisburg but we live in York and it is about and hour and half ride, they maybe worht looking into. I just thought i would pass it along.

stacy

[carmenlovesbabee]

Thanks again Stacey, when her 8 wks are up I will look into it. Carmen

[carmenlovesbabee]

Good morning all,

Just returned from the vet.s office. This visit we had the wife (its a husband and wife team) see Babee and she was unsure of Babee's deep pain sensation. Babee did whimper but we could not tell if it was from the test on her feet or from just being handled periode from the vet? Last visit the husband tested Babee and felt she had deep pain sensation. Prior to the vet coming in Babee was ready to be expressed. We waited purposely so the vet could double check our technique and make sure we were emptying completely. But before the vet could get in her tail was going up and she started to have a bowel movement. I assisted babee and than cleaned her and put her in a seated position. Her tail started to move side to side. I was excited. So when the vet came in she checked her for pain and was not completely convinced. Then she said, "wait did you see that? I just saw her tail go. There, it did it again, did you see?" So we put her in standing position and it was as if she was trying to stand, very stiffly, but she tried. The vet squeezed her hind end and was very happy because she said she seems to be regaining some tone in her rear. Her tail was going and her anus was contracting. The vet, as well as myself, were excited. She said she seems to making small improvements but to keep up what we are doing. We are going to start to ween her from the steroids, so that in 3 wks she will be finished. The Uti is gone!! yeah!! , so she will take her last antibiotic tomorrow in the a.m. She wants me to start to bicycle her legs. I wanted to know what you guys think, since it has only been 3 wks since the initial injury. I thought it was a strict 8 wks of crate rest and then the more aggressive therapy. I do respect my vet and her views but from all that I read, they are not neurologists. Plus all of you are truley speaking from experience. So please any advice is appreciated. Thank you so much!