6 week old puppy has stopped walking

[baxtersnan]

Hi, we have a very healthy, bouncing litter of labrador puppies apart from one. He became ill at about 4 weeks, violently shaking his head and vomiting, up until then he was thriving. The vet didn't seem to know what was wrong, kept him in overnight on two occasions then sent home to recover, saying he seemed to be better. He did not recover he has become much worse, he is on antibiotics and over the last four days he is now totally disabled, we first noticed his back legs seemed stiff and he was holding them forward and now he is unable to stand or get up on his own and falls over if I try and get him on his feet. He is eating well, although he will only eat chicken, he will not drink water but will have a little formula milk. His waterworks appear normal but the fact he cannot stand we now also have a problem with him doing a poop. I am very worried about this little puppy and fear the vet will suggest euthanasia! Does anyone recognise these symptoms and can anyone advise as to whether he is ever likely to walk again? He was due to go to his new forever home in two weeks but that can't happen now as he is too ill.
I have scoured the internet and so has my husband in the hope of finding out what this could be and if there is any hope at all for the poor little fella and found nothing so any help or advice would be appreciated, we are at a loss!

[CarolC]

I wish I could shed some light on this, but it doesn't sound familiar. I would take him to another vet for a second opinion as soon as possible. Did they do any blood tests to check his level of nutrients or possible poisoning? A brief search of the Internet mentions problems in some puppies with lack of nutrients. There have been so many reports of paralysis here, either by accident or genetic condition or disease, but this does not really sound like any of them. I wish I could be of more help.

[baxtersnan]

We are currently seeing our 'second opinion' vet. The pup has had an xray and nothing untoward showing up there, he is now having anti inflamitory injections and pain killers so will see if that works.

[critters]

The shaking makes me wonder if he had a seizure? Nothing is screaming at me saying "spinal cord injury," so I wonder about something with his brain--seizures, infection, etc. To be honest, even vets don't seem to be able to tell the difference between brain damage and spinal cord injury, especially in young ones; my Baby Boy was misdiagnosed by 3 different vets (all said spinal cord injury, but he's not. He's brain damaged).

[baxtersnan]

Do you think he is ever likely to recover or do you think it would be kinder to have him pts?

[critters]

Personally, I'd wait and see what happens. I wouldn't PTS at this point. Decades ago my parents had a cat who had some kind of encephalitis, and he went from doing what they described as the Funky Chicken to a complete recovery. He then lived to be almost 20. I'd watch the baby carefully and deal with stuff as it comes up.

[critters]

If, say, the seizures become constant, that's different. Something like that...