paralyzed while expressing anal glands

Neurological Disorders Resources. Treatment and care for pets having pain or trouble walking or standing due to spinal injuries or neurological disorders like IVDD, FCE and DM.
Tacomom
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paralyzed while expressing anal glands

Post by Tacomom »

I took my 16 yr old chihuahua to have his toenails clipped and anal glands done Friday. Routine right? He walked in fine. They had him in the back a long time. When they brought him out she asked about his leg. He has a bad knee that I control with periodic rimadyl. They carried him out to me and while I was waiting for my other dog and I was holding him he was very agitated and restless. I noticed his back legs were weak. .Went to pay bill and his legs back legs went out on him. She took him to the back again and came out a few minutes later and asked if they could xray him. They called me into room with vet and she told me he was paralyzed! I was so upset I didn't even realize until later that she never even showed me the xrays or even ask me to pay for them! She told me to take him home crate him and give him rimadyl and bring him back Monday, His paralysis has come and gone for two days. I take him out to pee and poo and then crate again. I know when he is paralyzed again because he starts to pant, gets agitated, restless and starts to whine and howl.

Please Help! I think the vet tech paralyzed my dog.

When he is panting and yelping is he in pain?!
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CarolC
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Re: paralyzed while expressing anal glands

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Tacomom wrote: I know when he is paralyzed again because he starts to pant, gets agitated, restless and starts to whine and howl. * * * When he is panting and yelping is he in pain?!
I don't necessarily think the crying means he's paralyzed. If there is anything good about paralysis, it is the fact that it doesn't hurt. If the dog loses feeling, there is no pain. If he is crying, it may be due to some pain from whatever occurred during the grooming, but that means he is feeling it.

It could be he needs to potty. It could be he is high strung and doesn't like being crated (but I would absolutely keep him strictly crated, it will help keep whatever is wrong from getting worse). If he is in pain, a good vet exam should find the location and cause of it.

Also, if he is able to pee and poo, that is another reason to believe he is not paralyzed. Dogs who are paralyzed become incontinent. Does he seem to be eliminating like he usually does?

If it was my dog, I think I would take him to another vet. The vet where this happened doesn't seem to be giving you much information on what exactly happened to him.

If you go to another vet, be sure they know he is on Rimadyl. Many times the vet will prescribe prednisone, and it is not safe to give a dog prednisone that has been taking Rimadyl. You need to wait 5-7 days for the Rimadyl to be out of his system before he can start prednisone.

I agree on the crating. It is the best thing you can do until you can get him properly examined and better answers than they gave you at the first vet. It is possible very strict crating for several weeks (as many as 8 weeks) plus medication will take care of him. You will know better when you have him checked better.

In a case like this, if there is a specialist in your area, it might be better to get a referral to the specialist. They will have better equipment and you will save time getting the right diagnosis and will be able to start him on the best treatment faster.
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FYI
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Re: paralyzed while expressing anal glands

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Tacomom
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Re: paralyzed while expressing anal glands

Post by Tacomom »

Thanks for your response. I guess what I'm saying is when he has feeling, or can stand in his crate, he's quiet. When he starts yelping and howling and panting, he is actually paralyzed. He can't walk or stand. I think he yelps and howls because he can't stand and he keeps scooting around in his crate or he wants out. I'm just not sure. I'm totally guessing here.

He has not had an accident in his crate yet. When I take him out to pee and poo he, most of the time, actually goes.

After I confront the vet tomorrow I will definitely take him to another vet.

This is so disheartening. I just got my 16 yr old dachshund through some neck trauma with meds and laser therapy.

So glad I found this site.
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CarolC
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Re: paralyzed while expressing anal glands

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OK, I see what you mean about him maybe being a little panicky about sitting and not being able to get up. That makes sense. I'm glad you have some experience with dogs and spinal problems (not glad your doxie had a problem, just glad you already have some background). If you look at this link, you will see an x-ray of my dog, who suffered a spinal fracture. I never knew what caused the injury. It was a very severe injury, but she learned to walk again.

http://www.fourfurfeet.com/2003.html

I think the best thing might be to insist on a referral to a specialist, if you can afford it and there is one in the area. Even if you have to drive an hour or something, it might be worth it. I don't know about where you live (if you are in the US) but I think most states have a state veterinary board where you can file a complaint, if you think that is needed. But getting him squared away is a more immediate concern. I hope you will post what you find out.

I had a situation with a different dog (golden retriever) where he was older and got fatigued standing too long on the grooming table. He then fell trying to jump in the car to go home and injured himself, and later he fell trying to jump in the La-Z-Boy, and was in a lot of pain and had trouble walking. We were able to treat it with a number of weeks of crate rest plus steroids. I'm hoping that will be the case with your dog, but you won't know until a proper exam. Disheartening is an understatement.
Tacomom
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Re: paralyzed while expressing anal glands

Post by Tacomom »

Thanks for the encouragement Carol.

I live in Oklahoma about 1 1/2 hours from OSU vet school but there is a specialist in OKC that I found on the dodgerdog website. I will probably try to start with him if I can't get a referral tomorrow.

I'll post an update when I find out what is going on.

Again, thank you so much!
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CarolC
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Re: paralyzed while expressing anal glands

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That sounds really good. Will be holding a good thought for you and waiting to hear.

:angel:
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CarolC
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Re: paralyzed while expressing anal glands

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Thinking about you guys (you and Taco).

:grouph:
Tacomom
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Re: paralyzed while expressing anal glands

Post by Tacomom »

So took Taco to a specialist today. On the way he started freaking out, bit me twice (stupid me didn't put him in crate) He was in worse pain than I've seen. They determined he threw a clot. Didn't see it on ultrasound. He is now on a fentanyl patch, plavix and Lyrica. I pray he is better with the pain in the next day or so or I fear we will have to put him down.

Anyone experience a pet with a blood clot?

Please pray for my baby boy.
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CarolC
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Re: paralyzed while expressing anal glands

Post by CarolC »

Did they call it a saddle thrombus? There have been a couple of cats here with saddle thrombus, but I'm not sure you can compare dogs and cats with this condition.

The only thing I can say of much help is, fentanyl works well for pain (in my experience with a post-surgical cat) and if you are not sure it is working well enough, try smoothing down the patch really well to be sure it is adhering and contacting the skin completely. The patch should work for a number of days.

I had a pet (cat again) who survived cardiomyopathy for 4 years (enlarged heart where clots are more likely to form) on benazapril and plavix to prevent him throwing a clot and he did really well.

https://www.embracepetinsurance.com/wat ... lood-clots

:angel:
Tacomom
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Re: paralyzed while expressing anal glands

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She didn't call it that exactly but she said it happens more to cats. He's been sleeping since about 3:00. I'm so scared he's going to wake up on pain before his next gabapentin dose.

Thank you so much Carol. You really help relieve some of my anxiety.
Tacomom
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Re: paralyzed while expressing anal glands

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Update on Taco. Fentanyl Patch and gabapentin seem to be working well. He is calm, we both slept all night. He ate, peed and stood on his back legs this morning. He tried to walk away and we have to keep grabbing him fast. He hasn't pooed yet but I'm confident it's going to happen.

Vet called me this morning to check on him. :) After a couple of days she is suggesting an echo of his heart. They told me yesterday that he had a heart murmur and I have never been told that before. Any idea of the price of an echo?

Thank you!
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CarolC
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Re: paralyzed while expressing anal glands

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Hi. My dog had one at the specialty hospital in 2012. It was $240. However, it did not diagnose the heart condition because usually with valve disease, one side of the heart will be enlarged due to backflow through a leaky valve, but the heart was enlarged on both sides because of leakage through more than one valve. They did not see one side larger, and had no baseline echo to compare the overall size of the heart, so they missed it. Heart disease can be "silent". For what it's worth, I had not noticed any coughing or exercise intolerance even though the valve disease was advanced.

My paperwork does not say whether it was a doppler echo. I think the doppler echo will show the flow through the valves better.

When I was reading various websites about clots in dogs yesterday, they made it sound like clots in cats are usually due to cardiomyopathy, but in dogs they are often due to several other causes. That being said, since he is a chihuahua and valve disease is one of the conditions chihuahuas are susceptible to, it might be a good idea if you can afford it. They will know if they need to look for other causes.

I do not know how long you have to keep him quiet while this current condition is being treated. A vet visit could possibly get his heart rate up and I don't know if he could potentially throw another clot, so it might be a judgment call. Personally if it was my dog, I might delay a little on the echo until I am sure he is out of the woods, but I am not a vet and the specialist should know how soon it could be done. Since the specialist was nice enough to call and check on him, perhaps you could discuss the risk-benefit of the echo, and whether waiting a little would be OK, or does she really need the information right now. Just my :2cents:
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Re: paralyzed while expressing anal glands

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My Polly was throwing clots at the end, which was a first for us. She was a cat.
Tacomom
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Re: paralyzed while expressing anal glands

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Carol, everything I researched about blood clots mentioned that is pretty uncommon in dogs too. I just thought it interesting that in sixteen years not one vet has told me about a heart murmur and then, when he is in the most pain I have ever seen, they say he has one. Also, his pulse was averaging 230 according to the doppler. Average is 80-90. They also couldn't hear a femoral pulse in his back legs with the doppler and his back legs started getting cold. But when I bought him home and he calmed down, his legs warmed up and Tuesday night and all day yesterday he stood to pee and kept trying to run off. I think I will go to another vet and have them listen to his heart and see if they hear a murmur. His x-rays did not show an enlarged abnormal heart but it did show a slightly enlarged kidney which the first vet said was not really that uncommon due to Taco being 16 1/2 year old. He had a blood panel in March before dental work and everything was normal.

I waited too long yesterday to give him his second dose of gabapentin because he was doing so well and about 9:30 last night, right after he peed and tried to run off, he had a pain attack and pooed in the crate. We gave him his dose and he calmed down quickly. I won't do that again until all his gabapentin is gone. He did well again this morning. Stood, tried to walk, peed, pooed, ate showing no pain. The specialist didn't tell me how long he needed to be crated so I will need to call and ask. The Plavex is supposed to help too but I don't know how quickly.

He has not shown any signs of heart problems or change in his behavior prior to this incident in the vets office last Friday. I mean, he did sleep a lot but so does my 16 yr old dachshund. They're old.

This is such a mystery. :?
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