Sudden IVDD 3.5 yr old Malitpoo
Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 1:22 pm
Hello Everyone!
First of all, apologies in advance for the long post.
My wife and I have a 3.5 year old Maltipoo named Rosko. He is our first dog and one of the best dogs I've ever had! We took a family vacation the last week of July this year and had someone house sit to watch both him and the house. We got back back home on Sat July 28th and he was perfectly fine, running around super happy to see us. The following day(Sunday) sometime during the day, I noticed he seemed like he was having some balance issues, but did not seem to be in pain or anything. He has REALLY bad allergies and is prone to ear infections, so that was my initial thought. I called the vet to let them know about the symptoms and they said to go ahead and bring in in first thing Monday morning and they would sedate him to clean out his ear etc...which they did.
I expressed my concern about possible injury to his back so they went ahead and did X-Rays as well. They did not see anything on the X-Rays and treated the ear as well as if he had possibly pulled a muscle in his back. He was there the entire day and I picked him up around 5 in the afternoon. He was still mobile that night, but still very much off balance. I then took him out for his end of the night bathroom break at 10p.m., set him on the ground and when he went to walk forward, he was just dragging his legs behind him!
Needless to say, I panicked because I immediately knew the injury was far worse that what we thought and that I had let my dog become paralyzed! I immediately called the vet, who told me that it sounds like he will need surgery and to keep him comfortable for the night. She would contact the best vet surgeon in the area they use and get us into see him first thing in the morning.
We arrived as they were opening the doors that morning and they immediately brought him in to examine him. The surgeon came and and told us it was one of the worst cases they had seen in a while with zero deep pain and would require immediate surgery if we were wanting to do so. However, since it was so bad, he only gave us a 50% chance of recovery. We told him we didn't care what it costs, we would do whatever it takes to give him a chance. He cleared his schedule right then and they were doing the surgery before we even left the exam room! He said that it could take up to 6months to recover and that they don't give up until 6months later on getting any kind of recovery back.
We spent the next 2 weeks working with him 24/7 up to and including boarding him at the vet during they day so they could do his physical therapy while we were at work. At the end of the first two weeks was his follow up with the surgeon. We brought him in and they took him to the back to examine him. When he came in he told us he had not seen a dog have such a turnaround in a short amount of time. That he actually yelp/whined once when he pinched his toes and that he was upping him to 90% chance to recover. He even said he wouldn't be surprised if he was walking within a month.
So....we are now 1 month after the first follow up and he really hasn't made much progress. We still board him at the vet every day...which is getting expensive($64/day), we still work with him exercising his legs and trying to get him to walk.
I can't even begin to count the number of times I've been peed on lol! But that's ok, because we love him and will do whatever it takes! He doesn't really have many accidents in the house or in his crate, like he holds his bladder/bowels throughout the night and even during the day. He will whine when he needs to go out, it's just when the fresh air hits his face, it's like a trigger to relax his bladder lol!
He can stand(assisted), meaning he can hold his weight up with his hind legs; however, if I don't put a finger up for him to lean on(either side), he will sort of flop over after losing his balance. I've also noticed that now when he's sleeping, he is starting to kick his hind legs...almost like he's running/walking in his sleep, as well as, he has started licking/chewing his back paws, which I'm hoping is an indication that he is starting to get some sort of sensation back there, as he did that alot before the paralysis due to allergies.
Lastly, it's hard to tell if he's trying to take steps as when he is eating, he will sometimes left his left leg up and bring it forward, but it typically ends up cross body or just picked up sort of hanging there because he never puts it back down.
I guess I posted all of this to say....Is this normal? I obviously have had no experience with this in the past, so I'm trying to manage my expectations. We don't care if it takes 1 month, 6 months or a year; however, I don't know what signs to look for to show positive or negative improvements.
Thanks for listening!
Nathan
First of all, apologies in advance for the long post.
My wife and I have a 3.5 year old Maltipoo named Rosko. He is our first dog and one of the best dogs I've ever had! We took a family vacation the last week of July this year and had someone house sit to watch both him and the house. We got back back home on Sat July 28th and he was perfectly fine, running around super happy to see us. The following day(Sunday) sometime during the day, I noticed he seemed like he was having some balance issues, but did not seem to be in pain or anything. He has REALLY bad allergies and is prone to ear infections, so that was my initial thought. I called the vet to let them know about the symptoms and they said to go ahead and bring in in first thing Monday morning and they would sedate him to clean out his ear etc...which they did.
I expressed my concern about possible injury to his back so they went ahead and did X-Rays as well. They did not see anything on the X-Rays and treated the ear as well as if he had possibly pulled a muscle in his back. He was there the entire day and I picked him up around 5 in the afternoon. He was still mobile that night, but still very much off balance. I then took him out for his end of the night bathroom break at 10p.m., set him on the ground and when he went to walk forward, he was just dragging his legs behind him!
Needless to say, I panicked because I immediately knew the injury was far worse that what we thought and that I had let my dog become paralyzed! I immediately called the vet, who told me that it sounds like he will need surgery and to keep him comfortable for the night. She would contact the best vet surgeon in the area they use and get us into see him first thing in the morning.
We arrived as they were opening the doors that morning and they immediately brought him in to examine him. The surgeon came and and told us it was one of the worst cases they had seen in a while with zero deep pain and would require immediate surgery if we were wanting to do so. However, since it was so bad, he only gave us a 50% chance of recovery. We told him we didn't care what it costs, we would do whatever it takes to give him a chance. He cleared his schedule right then and they were doing the surgery before we even left the exam room! He said that it could take up to 6months to recover and that they don't give up until 6months later on getting any kind of recovery back.
We spent the next 2 weeks working with him 24/7 up to and including boarding him at the vet during they day so they could do his physical therapy while we were at work. At the end of the first two weeks was his follow up with the surgeon. We brought him in and they took him to the back to examine him. When he came in he told us he had not seen a dog have such a turnaround in a short amount of time. That he actually yelp/whined once when he pinched his toes and that he was upping him to 90% chance to recover. He even said he wouldn't be surprised if he was walking within a month.
So....we are now 1 month after the first follow up and he really hasn't made much progress. We still board him at the vet every day...which is getting expensive($64/day), we still work with him exercising his legs and trying to get him to walk.
I can't even begin to count the number of times I've been peed on lol! But that's ok, because we love him and will do whatever it takes! He doesn't really have many accidents in the house or in his crate, like he holds his bladder/bowels throughout the night and even during the day. He will whine when he needs to go out, it's just when the fresh air hits his face, it's like a trigger to relax his bladder lol!
He can stand(assisted), meaning he can hold his weight up with his hind legs; however, if I don't put a finger up for him to lean on(either side), he will sort of flop over after losing his balance. I've also noticed that now when he's sleeping, he is starting to kick his hind legs...almost like he's running/walking in his sleep, as well as, he has started licking/chewing his back paws, which I'm hoping is an indication that he is starting to get some sort of sensation back there, as he did that alot before the paralysis due to allergies.
Lastly, it's hard to tell if he's trying to take steps as when he is eating, he will sometimes left his left leg up and bring it forward, but it typically ends up cross body or just picked up sort of hanging there because he never puts it back down.
I guess I posted all of this to say....Is this normal? I obviously have had no experience with this in the past, so I'm trying to manage my expectations. We don't care if it takes 1 month, 6 months or a year; however, I don't know what signs to look for to show positive or negative improvements.
Thanks for listening!
Nathan
