Hi riley'smom,
That is totally a huge relief about the bladder. I am so glad it got a little easier. Woohoo!
I just had an unimaginably huge pet bill during the holidays, so I know what you mean, you have spent till it hurts and you're kind of in shock. You don't have to apologize if the thought of spending any more makes you hesitate, you've already gone above and beyond for your dog, but I think in the end you'll be glad you did. I was waiting to respond hoping that someone with an FCE dog would reply, and hopefully they still will. My understanding is, with an FCE all the damage that is
going to be done, is already
done during the first 24 or 48 hours, and there is no need to rest the dog beyond that. In fact, aggressive physical therapy is what they recommend for FCE. This is exactly the opposite of a disk injury, where they say to rest the dog. With FCE, I have always understood you should start doing PT with the dog after the first couple of days. So, physical therapy
can be professional, such as the underwater treadmill, but it can also be done at home, and if I just went through $3000 unexpectedly, I would hesitate to spend a whole bunch more on professional therapy. It's wonderful if you can afford it, but there is plenty you can do at home.
Please check with your vet before doing any of this.
Number one is, get a rear harness or something to support your dog in a standing position (some kind of harness or sling you like and that does not annoy you or seem hard to use--this part is important, because this is about you, too) and let him practice standing. It does
not matter if you have to support all his weight, what you are doing is getting him in a standing position with his legs down, some circulation, and this should fire the impulse to use the hind legs even if he isn't bearing weight and even if the signals don't seem to go all the way through. If he is bearing even a teeny tiny bit of weight, that is fantastic, and it will only get better with practice. Place his paws in the correct pads-down position. Let him feel, or try to feel his paws on the floor. You can even have one person support him, and the other person scuff or rub his paw pads on the floor for stimulus. You're thinking, that doesn't sound like much therapy, but as simple as it is, that is therapy. This may take 2 of you, one to support him and one to fix his feet, but help him take a few steps, correcting his feet for him. If he just drags his toes, it's OK, you expect that, fix them for him. One leg is likely to do better than the other. Here's the thing, as it was explained to me. He needs to "remap" the neurological pathway from his brain to his toes. Exercise is going to fire the signals from the brain, and stimulating his feet is going to help target those signals. Moving his legs in a walking position (one person supporting him and the other helping him take steps) will use the muscles involved, and fire more signals. It's all good. Two of our moderators here are animal physical therapists, maybe someone will explain it better.
So...you've got a big dog and there's a limit to how much you can move him around. I would get him up 3 times a day and walk him a few feet
if you can, or more if you are able. Everything you do is going to help. Now, there is also exercise you can do without having to lift him a bit, and this can be done as often during the day as you are able. With him lying on his side, you can bicycle his legs through the full range of motion. Set yourself a number of reps you want to do, and do that many. Figure out how many times a day you want to bicycle his legs, and do your sets of reps that many times a day. Other exercises you can do, with him lying down include massaging his legs and stimulating his feet. Rub his feet, squeeze his paws, dig your fingers between his toes. I did "This little piggy" with my dog and she thought it was funny. Again, you are stimulating the feet, giving the brain some feedback to work with, and the more the better. If you can walk him a few steps 3 times a day, and do the massage and tickle several times a day, that will be good therapy and won't cost anything (except the price of a decent harness that you can work with).
You can also walk your dog by grasping the base of the tail to help support the hind end. To me this seemed kind of hard on the tail, we are always told not to pull an animal's tail when we are kids growing up, but it is commonly done in physical therapy and as far as I can tell with my dog, it produces slightly better walking compared to using a sling. It would be easier on the tail and your back if your dog is to the place where he can partly bear weight.
Another exercise my dog's therapist suggested was something called "Scratch all over". Exactly what it sounds like, you scratch your dog in all his favorite itchy places really good, and he may try to kick his hind foot in response. Even if he doesn't, he will enjoy this exercise.
Yup, that's physical therapy, scratching him all over.
Another really good exercise that can be done lying down is resistance. Put the palm of your hand on the bottom of his foot and press a little, see if he'll push back. I would do this every day. This is
great exercise for him and will not hurt your back.
Going back to standing exercises, one family here was told to support their dog with a harness and bounce their dog on a mini trampoline. My dog's physical therapist told me to do an exercise pressing down on the hips. I could not figure out how it would work at first...what was the point of pressing down on the hips with my dog in a standing position if my dog can't stand, but I did it anyway and eventually sort of understood. I had to hold her up under the belly in order to keep her standing so I could press down on her hips, press, press, press, lightly.
Another exercise you can do at home is with a big ball. Do you have a medicine ball or yoga ball the right size? If you do, you can drape your dog's belly over the ball with his front feet off the ground and his hind feet on the ground. Now steady him so he doesn't slide off, and roll the ball forward just enough to bring his hind feet off the ground. This is supposed to stimulate the impulse to stretch the toes to try to get the hind feet back on the ground.
Of course later, when the weather is warm enough, you might consider getting one of those backyard pools, it turns out they are not that expensive. Personally I would have a hard time getting a big dog into one, so this is just an idea, if it sounds hard I would skip it. But for now I would just do the exercises you can. All of the lying down exercises every day. As many standing exercises (stand, place feet, take steps, bounce) as you can. It will all help. Also, if you are
able to sling walk him out to the yard without killing yourself, they suggest taking the dog to his favorite marking spot where he likes to sniff and lift his leg, as this, too, can cause familiar nerves to fire or try to fire.
Some other ideas are contained in this article.
https://www.handicappedpets.com/mediawiki/?title=Physical_therapy_for_paralysis
You probably already know this, but just to be sure, I can tell you it's better not to expect him to just kind of "snap out of it" suddenly, as recovery from paralysis is by baby steps, but all those steps add up and pretty soon you have a much improved dog.
My motto is, "a slow recovery is still a recovery!" You see him move his foot the tiniest bit, you feel him try to bear a tiny bit of weight, and little by little it gets better and better. Two weeks is such a small time, and 4 weeks is short, also. Nerves heal, but they do it slowly. His nerves are healing a tiny bit more every day, even though he looks much the same. If you have a chance, I hope you will read some of the other stories of FCE on this board, there are thousands of posts on the subject.
Which bladder med/s are you giving him? Personally, I'd consider hydrotherapy (swimming). There are loads of hints around this board about how to save money with stuff, including making your own. Swimming can be done in a pool, natural body of water, etc, but I'd always use a life jacket, just in case.
and reminds me a little of the Sir Lyon Puff sling!