Spinal injury after dog attack

[lbanimals]

Molly is a 7 year old 70lb chow mix who was attacked by a great pyrenees on Wednesday. She fought back and they were separated within maybe 10 seconds....She was down and unable to get back up. Taken immediately to the vet where they did xrays....didn't see any obvious breaks but a possible disc rupture due to spacing of vertebrae. Has cranial nerve damage (head is crooked, pupils are different, one eye is wonky like she had a stroke) and apparent cervical spine injury. She is unable to stand on any legs.....knuckling of all 4 with one side being much worse. Has deep pain in all 4 legs, can wag tail a bit. First vet put her on NSAIDs (Carprofen) instead of steroids (along with Gabapentin, Methocarbamol, Tramadol, Valium).....took to my regular vet the following day who switched from Carprofen to Prednisone as of yesterday morning (along with Pepcid). She has bladder and bowel control (she holds it forever until she can't anymore and is on potty pads). I am flipping her regularly, she is eating well and drinking a bit. Both vets said we should see improvement within a couple days if there is going to be any....multiple friends who have dogs who have had back injuries said they didn't see improvement until at least a week after starting steroids. She has a large swollen area on one side of her shoulder/back area (which was there from the first day).

The great pyrenees is my dog as well and was taken that same day to a boarding kennel (where he will stay until he finds a new home). This is not their first conflict so obviously not something that is going to work going forward (they have lived together over 2 years, but not peacefully).

Is there anything I am missing or should be doing? At time of injury she did not act in pain...no crying or whimpering, just fighting and then down for the count and unable to get back up.

[CarolC]

When I dealt with a dog with a head injury (who was actually blind from it) the vet used mannitol. It wasn't given till the second day (the dog was taken to another vet first) but it worked. The dog did regain his sight.

I would be optimistic if she has deep pain in all her legs and can wag her tail. There was a lemon beagle here who was 21 years old and had somewhat of a similar injury, and she did recover, but like you say it took some time.

Do you think the lump in the shoulder is a hematoma or any idea what it is? I'm just wondering if it might be a bite and she might need antibiotics?

It is great to turn a down dog, but if she seems to really object to being turned, I wouldn't force it if they think she may have a neck issue.

The biggest thing right now while waiting is probably just keeping her dry. Potty pads are usually not up to the task, just not absorbent enough. They are good for protecting bedding, but they do not work very well to keep the dog dry. When a down dog wets a potty pad, you usually have a wet dog. You might want to think about laying a full absorbency diaper (or three) under her hindquarters if she doesn't shift around. Otherwise if she urinates she is likely to soak herself, the liquid usually gravitates to the lowest point which is usually under the hip. That is how a urine burn can start, and if it is on the hip the skin will turn into a pressure sore without much more encouragement. She can lie down for weeks and not get sores if she is kept dry, but if she gets wet, it's a different matter. Pressure sores (started by urine burns) are much easier to prevent than cure. You may also want to get out the hair clippers and give her a hygiene trim around the rear, under the tail, and anyplace else you notice her getting wet. Just an idea.

I'm sorry you're dealing with this. I don't blame you for rehoming the Pyr. I hope you'll post on her progress. The look on her face seems reassuring somehow.

[lbanimals]

Thank you for the reply! She does shift around quite a bit....she can go from flat on her side like the previous picture to up on her belly like the picture below...mostly on her own....sometimes she struggles a bit or fails, but sometimes she does fine. She is fine with being moved around. Her face/eye seem to be a bit improved (but not back to 100% normal) from day 1. She has a great appetite, but I am giving her canned food and chicken/cheese/etc only, no dry food. She is not a big drinker, even with the steroids. she didn't drink anything the first 24 hours after the incident.....she is kind of quirky and apparently won't drink from a dish we are holding for her, so it took a day to figure out we had to set the bowl down in front of her and then turn away and pretend not to look LOL. Apparently she is a shy drinker.

The potty pads have definitely not been up to the challenge so far....what a mess. She is a big dog so there is a lot of pee, especially when she holds it as long as possible. you cannot convince her to go before she wants (believe me, 2 vets tried when we weren't sure if she was able to go on her own). I will try the diapers, I didnt even think of that. I need to shave her rear end, she is extremely hairy....

The lump on the shoulder is not a hematoma.....seems to be swelling from injury. She didn't end up with any puncture wounds...partly because she is pretty hairy and partly because it was a quick fight that probably wouldn't have been a big deal normally. I think he just hit her in the absolute worst spot. She was just trying to squeeze past him, in a crowded space, and he laid into her. When we took her to the first vet right away, she was in shock.

Last night she got a squeaky toy and absolutely went to town on it (unless it rolled away and then I had to go hand it back) even holding it down with one foot while she chewed it. She is the definition of a "tough old broad".

[CarolC]

That is so neat about the squeaky toy, and encouraging that she is able to sit up somewhat. The expression on her face looks so sweet in the second picture, too. I went back to see how long it took Winni the Lemon Beagle to recover. Of course no two cases would be the same but I was thinking it took a while like your friends were saying. The first post was on Feb 17 and the day she got up was Mar 14, so that was quite a bit longer than the couple of days your vet mentioned. Her main treatment was TLC. There is a lot to be said for toughness and TLC. I hope you will keep posting how Molly is doing.


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[critters]

Molly is a 7 year old 70lb chow mix who was attacked by a great pyrenees on Wednesday. She fought back and they were separated within maybe 10 seconds....She was down and unable to get back up. Taken immediately to the vet where they did xrays....didn't see any obvious breaks but a possible disc rupture due to spacing of vertebrae. Has cranial nerve damage (head is crooked, pupils are different, one eye is wonky like she had a stroke) and apparent cervical spine injury. She is unable to stand on any legs.....knuckling of all 4 with one side being much worse. Has deep pain in all 4 legs, can wag tail a bit. First vet put her on NSAIDs (Carprofen) instead of steroids (along with Gabapentin, Methocarbamol, Tramadol, Valium).....took to my regular vet the following day who switched from Carprofen to Prednisone as of yesterday morning (along with Pepcid). She has bladder and bowel control (she holds it forever until she can't anymore and is on potty pads). I am flipping her regularly, she is eating well and drinking a bit. Both vets said we should see improvement within a couple days if there is going to be any....Not true in my experience;
improvement can occur for months, but it does tend to slow down eventually. It's also my experience that vets can have a really hard time distinguishing spinal cord injury and brain damage when there's multiple trauma. I have a boy who was declared to be cervical spinal cord injured with a brachial (arm) nerve injury by 3 different vets,
but he's actually brain damaged and is a tripod due to a shoulder fracture.multiple friends who have dogs who have had back injuries said they didn't see improvement until at least a week after starting steroids. She has a large swollen area on one side of her shoulder/back area (which was there from the first day).

The great pyrenees is my dog as well and was taken that same day to a boarding kennel (where he will stay until he finds a new home). This is not their first conflict so obviously not something that is going to work going forward (they have lived together over 2 years, but not peacefully).

Is there anything I am missing or should be doing? At time of injury she did not act in pain...no crying or whimpering, just fighting and then down for the count and unable to get back up.

17834962_10209236538455968_4065815414156277059_o.jpg

Personally, I like pred for my monsters when it comes to brains or spinal cords. I sympathize with the situation of owning both combatants, having been there, and it's absolutely no fun.

[critters]

Thank you for the reply! She does shift around quite a bit....she can go from flat on her side like the previous picture to up on her belly like the picture below...mostly on her own....sometimes she struggles a bit or fails, but sometimes she does fine. She is fine with being moved around. Her face/eye seem to be a bit improved (but not back to 100% normal) from day 1. She has a great appetite, but I am giving her canned food and chicken/cheese/etc only, no dry food. She is not a big drinker, even with the steroids. she didn't drink anything the first 24 hours after the incident.....she is kind of quirky and apparently won't drink from a dish we are holding for her, so it took a day to figure out we had to set the bowl down in front of her and then turn away and pretend not to look LOL. Apparently she is a shy drinker. Who'd have thought? I guess it takes all kinds! LOL

The potty pads have definitely not been up to the challenge so far....what a mess. Have you tried heavy duty pee pads? They're expensive, but they're TERRIFIC.https://www.amazon.com/Depend-Protector ... epend+pads are the ones, but I did NOT search for the cheapest price. Another possibility is the washable kinds of pee pads, but, still, pee will pool some. She is a big dog so there is a lot of pee, especially when she holds it as long as possible. you cannot convince her to go before she wants (believe me, 2 vets tried when we weren't sure if she was able to go on her own). I will try the diapers, I didnt even think of that. I need to shave her rear end, she is extremely hairy....Shaving and diapers are both well worth a try, and diapers will help a lot if you can find the right size and type combination.

The lump on the shoulder is not a hematoma.....seems to be swelling from injury. She didn't end up with any puncture wounds...partly because she is pretty hairy and partly because it was a quick fight that probably wouldn't have been a big deal normally. I think he just hit her in the absolute worst spot. She was just trying to squeeze past him, in a crowded space, and he laid into her. When we took her to the first vet right away, she was in shock.

Last night she got a squeaky toy and absolutely went to town on it (unless it rolled away and then I had to go hand it back) even holding it down with one foot while she chewed it. She is the definition of a "tough old broad". Aww. It's good to see them having fun, especially after such a hard time!!

18056141_10209246648828721_2845283644263699647_o.jpg

[lbanimals]

Just checking in after a few days. Molly is still mostly the same....can move all 4 legs and tail but cant stand or walk. Great appetite, drinking well, pees and poops on her own (after holding it for an eternity).

Looking into trying acupuncture and/or cold laser therapy with a vet who does home visits. It's going to cost a fortune, but maybe it will help?

I haven't looked around on this site at all....I have been at my limit between work, taking care of her and trying to find a place for my Great Pyr (the one who attacked her).....so how do you combat BOREDOM and frustration? She has been eating her bed...scooting herself off the potty pads and chewing them up, and then peeing all over the floor (grrrrr).

I got her a kong and some beef trachea (ew) to chew which she enjoys....but she is seriously bored. She was a very active dog prior to this.

[CarolC]

Silly girl. I guess it's a good sign that her neck must not be bothering her too much if she can tear up those pads when she's supposed to be resting. Interesting.

Do you by chance have a sliding patio door? Maybe if you could position her bed someplace where she can see outside, it would give her some distraction? She's right, crate rest is boring. You are lucky if she's not whining... I know this reply is not much help. When my golden retriever had to do crate rest, he whined so much I thought I was going to go nuts, but he did quiet down after about a week. I guess he kind of got used to the new normal.

If she is pulling herself off the pads and lying on the floor and then peeing, that's a bit of an issue. But you have her contained in a small area and you can't watch her every second. I can't think what else you could do as far as crating and bedding, it's a good arrangement already. I wonder if you might need to put a diaper right on her as a temporary measure (instead of under her)? If you do, just be sure there is an adequate tail hole so stools do not stay inside the diaper, you want them to drop out. It's pretty important to keep her dry, and she doesn't realize that. At the same time you've got enough on your hands without having to bathe and clean up, if you can avoid it.

I'm not sure what you have for the bottom layer of her bedding, but hopefully it is something that is easy to wipe clean. If not, you might try either a yoga mat or one of those thin roll-up foam things you put under a sleeping bag when camping. It isn't memory foam, it's kind of plastic-y, but it works great and you can spray it clean and then wipe it dry with paper towels. The camping foam mats used to be pretty cheap, maybe $12, don't know what they are now.

All I can say is, this is all going to be worth it if she can get back to her old self, and I'm just really hopeful for her from all you say.

[lbanimals]

Apparently the beef thing disagreed with her as she had had terrible diarrhea all day. Omg I thought this was terrible before.... Oh no. I have had to clean her up 3 or 4 times now. Poor thing. And poor me. Because the only thing worse than a dog who can't get up is a dog who can't get up covered in diarrhea.

There is a tarp on the bottom, covered by a layer of potty pads... covered by 3 towels, covered by another layer of potty pads. When all goes well i just have to change out the top layer of potty pads.

I have had a couple people over this week and she acted like she wanted to eat them alive, so she seems to be feeling normal lol. I laugh because seriously what is she going to do, hope they fall into her pen so she can eat them? It's not like she can chase them down currently. She cracks me up.

She does whine but only when she needs to go potty. The rest of the time she just sleeps mostly. She is 7 years old, so at least it's not like keeping a puppy locked up.

Working on scheduling the acupuncture appointment still. Hopefully this week.

[critters]

Oh yeah--NOTHING worse than a severe handicapper with diarrhea!!

"seriously what is she going to do, hope they fall into her pen so she can eat them?"

Knowing that she needs to pee is good!!

[lbanimals]

Had our first acupuncture appointment on Tuesday of last week....they did acupuncture with e-stim. Recommended a few supplements which should arrive tomorrow. Gave me some exercises I can do on her bad leg to help it. She wanted me to continue not doing much with her movement wise for another week. We have another appointment Monday morning. Molly's good side seems to be doing well and her bad side is still bad. She did scoot herself up to an almost sitting position the other day in desperation when she had diarrhea and wanted to go outside. she ended up tipping over and going back down once her weight moved to her bad side, but it was a good effort.

I drove the great pyr who had attacked her to a rescue in Nashville today, so that part of the story is done. We are still just in a wait and see with her....hopeful she will make a good recovery, but no huge changes so far.

I had missed part of a previous comment asking if I had a sliding door, where I could at least move her for a better view. I don't....she is on the floor in the living room, so doesn't get to see anything exciting. But I did put her out on the covered/gated front porch the other day while I mowed the lawn, to get her some fresh air and something new to look at. She also got a partial bath out there, as I can just use buckets of water to rinse and let it go through the deck boards to the dirt.

She isn't the most friendly dog in the world with strangers, but did really well with the vet who did the acupuncture treatment. she was muzzled for safety during the treatment anyways, but prior to that reacted pretty well to her. She is a feisty thing. A few friends who know her well (and are scared of her) have said she is too mean to give up....which is the truth. She is way too bull-headed to let this get her down....she has strangers to eat in the future!

[CarolC]

I used to have a chow-golden mix, her tail was like a waterfall. She was a good dog, but she was really, really territorial. I never had to worry about anyone coming in the back yard when she was there. If I ever wanted to get a guard dog, I would get a chow, it was just in her nature.

Congratulations on getting your other dog into rescue. Someone will be glad to have him, and they'll adopt him knowing his limits, so it should all work out. And they'll probably really screen homes and charge an adoption fee so he won't go to just anybody. Maybe you could even ask the rescue to give you updates on him through fb or something if the adopter is willing.

I hope the diarrhea has cleared up. It's possible her tummy is a little more sensitive than usual being on prednisone right now. I know you were giving her pepcid, which should help, but possibly she just did not tolerate the chew as well as she normally would. I'm sure she enjoyed it though. If you ask her, it might have been worth the trouble. There is a reason there are so many cleaning smilies on this board.

[lbanimals]

Thanks for the reply!

Phew! I am exhausted. today was "one of those days". I finally had to move her into a kiddie pool as she refuses to stay put and keeps scooting far enough to pee all over the floor instead of her pads.

Is there a way to post a video on here? I have a couple videos of her sitting up (sort of)...here is one. Her one front leg works really well, the other 3 not so much. If you click on my name on that video, there are 2 more videos on that channel.

https://youtu.be/Ag5maD1LTY0

Tomorrow morning is her next acupuncture treatment. She has started on a few supplements, vitamin B, omega 3's and some other joint thing...She is eating well and the diarrhea is mostly gone. I'm exhausted!!!!

[CarolC]

Those videos are really helpful. She looks like she has use of her right front leg at the shoulder but is still knuckling her paw under at this stage. If you can afford it, you might see how she does with a splint for the right front leg. It would hold her foot in a position of function. It might also give her a new chew toy, you never know. If that's the case, then you may want to just use it when you can monitor her, or when you are going to get her up. Here is an example of a splint. However if you think she has no control over her elbow then you'd want it to come up higher.

http://www.handicappedpets.com/walkin-front-splint
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3390&p=16065#p16065

There are also more expensive custom splints, even articulated splints.

http://www.animalorthocare.com/products/elbow-braces/

I think some very gentle controlled "walking" would probably be good for her overall, but I wish you could get a professional opinion on that, and check with the vet first. She seems to be tolerating a good bit of motion when she tries to stand up and loses her balance, so it seems like she could tolerate controlled assisted walking if you have either a double harness (front and rear) or a quad cart. A double harness can be as cheap or expensive as you like. You can put a plain nylon chest harness on her for something to grab on the front, and loop a length of cloth under her to support her under the abdomen (old bath towel or toddler sheet for example) and get her up on all 4 and moving a little bit. Or you can get a proper harness such as the Helpemup that gives complete support. I know harnesses can be expensive but my feeling is to get the most functional one you can because whatever you can do to make your own body mechanics as easy as possible when supporting the dog, especially a dog this size, will be money well spent in the end. You don't want to end up at the chiropractor.

http://www.handicappedpets.com/how-to-c ... lings#both
http://helpemup.com/

Another option that would be great if you could do it is hydrotherapy, either swimming or an underwater treadmill. That would let her exercise without any need to balance, and it will not matter as much that her paw folds under when she is swimming. I totally appreciate the effort of getting a dog this size into the car to go swimming, and probably having to blow dry afterward. This is something that would be best done by a canine physical therapy place rather than just you alone I would think. If you have such a place available and can afford it, I'd recommend giving it a try. As Rajah's Mom said, "PT is king!"

[CarolC]

P.S. Sorry for the double post but is the lump on the right shoulder?