Post herniated disc surgery advice?

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.
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critters
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Re: Post herniated disc surgery advice?

Post by critters »

That all sounds pretty good! UTIs happen sometimes, and maybe he won't get another now that y'all have found a way to express that's agreeable to all.
Ingrid
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Re: Post herniated disc surgery advice?

Post by Ingrid »

Hi there. Not sure if it will work as well for a cat however with my paralysed daschund I tickle and apply pressure around her ectum and below her rectum with a cold wet peice of toilet paper. This triggers her to feel where to push if she's ready to have a BM. I can always tell if she's ready to poop while doing this as her taiil will flicker and she'll start pushing on her own. May be try this while holding you cat in positionover the litterbox?
I know that this technique has worked well for two other paralysed daxis as well...
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CarolC
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Re: Post herniated disc surgery advice?

Post by CarolC »

My mind has gone back to this a number of times, wondering how he's doing. I hope you guys are OK.
:angel:
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Re: Post herniated disc surgery advice?

Post by BBs mom »

Hello all!

Wow i first want to apologize for my lack of updates. I have been working two jobs and doing an internship so I've been barely on my email/ the net or had a life for... Ages I think. I thank everyone again for all the help, advice, and tips when we went through this whole thing with BB. I'm happy to update he's been doing very well and made (what I think) is good progress! He still stands plantigrade position for the most part, but he's slowly putting weight on his pads when he moves.

He can jump up on chairs and our low bed with ease, and more recently, his tail has been showing some real progress. It started at the tip, which gained some high touch response in about a month,the tip and mid tail are now highly responsive to light touch and often moves a lot on its own. Recently, his tail base has been lifting when he has a bowel movement or we express him, like it does when they go in the litter box. Yes, he is still being expressed and doesn't go on his own yet, though he seems to sense when he is urinating and will squat and assist us while we express. He's also gained normal constriction of his inner sphincter, enough that he no longer leaks, but we can still express him easily enough (though the poops still fall out here and there, we say he's like a rabbit lol) and it's nice to finally have him share our bed again 😊. He's still doing his therapy and I think they want to try him on hydro therapy soon to build up more muscle.

He has a second follow up with the neurologist in March and I'm kind of excited for them to see his progress! He's a travelling cat now, I got him a cat back pack, because he has to join me often at work so I can keep him regularly managed. He loves it though, made so many friends, and people have even bought him little sweaters and stuff (he likes wearing light shirts... because he gets attention😆) and we take him on small day trips with us if we are able.

He's doing very well I think, he's quite happy, and honestly more playful than I've ever seen him be, he has definitely not let any of this get the best of him, and I think we are very lucky and grateful he's doing as well as he is. I don't mind if we have to manage his bowels for life, or if he always walks funny, he's my fur baby and worth it all. We know he could continue to get better and we hope he does, but we love him all the same.

I'm really touched you were thinking on him @CarolC and I apologize I did not post updates. I hope this was a good update :)
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CarolC
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Re: Post herniated disc surgery advice?

Post by CarolC »

Well he is a cat who's loved to pieces. :wub: And he knows it. :D It is so nice of you to take him to work so you can express him. I'm glad you're able to do it.

Thank you so much for the update, it sounds so good. I've been wondering and hoping. That is a lot of progress in 2 months, jumping on the chair, climbing on the bed, his tail, and yes he probably is helping when you express. :trophy:
CarolC in http://handicappedpet.net/helppets/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=5053&p=27354&#p27354 wrote: My dog was totally paralyzed for several months following her accident, but eventually she became able to help me when we expressed. It really does help to tell her when I am ready to do the squeezing. I don't know if she can feel me locating the bladder and positioning my hand or not, but she does help with the urinating once I say "Ready, Freddy?" and start squeezing.
It is wonderful that he is happy. Somehow that always makes me almost think they know everything's going to be OK. Don't know why, just do! :lol:

I guess you're about 3 months post-injury now. That is a lot of good improvement. You know, some cats don't mind swimming, I guess you'll have to see. He sounds pretty mellow. But dogs also have to get used to it, too, they don't all take to it right away, don't know if it's an individual thing or a breed thing or the circumstances, maybe all three.
CarolC in http://handicappedpet.net/helppets/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9973&p=50228&#p50228 wrote: My dog has been helped greatly by hydrotherapy on an underwater treadmill. They got her used to it by putting her in for 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes, building up to 30 minutes. She was so scared one time she started hyperventilating and we had to take her out and get her calmed down. Now she loves it so much she squeals when we are still on the highway getting close to the rehab place.
There have been a number of videos posted of cats in hydrotherapy. Here are some links, but there are probably many more on youtube. The last one is a treadmill. I saw one video where they were just putting the cat into a tank alone and the cat was very scared. I like the ones where someone is in with the cat. If the videos don't play for you, let me know.






I am attaching a picture of Fripple, who walked down on his hocks, and he wore a shoe to protect a spot on his one foot. Here is the post by Fripple's mom describing it.

:arrow: :arrow: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2293&p=9768&#p9768

Fripple3.png
Fripple4.png
Thank you so much for updating about BB. I'm glad to hear it's such a good report!
:angel:

P.S. You may want to express him after hydrotherapy...
CarolC in http://handicappedpet.net/helppets/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13491&p=70590&#p70590 wrote: My dog drinks a lot when she has hydrotherapy. When it is time to express her bladder it is big and I usually say, "Oh, did you drink the pool again today?" :)
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critters
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Re: Post herniated disc surgery advice?

Post by critters »

Jumping is particularly amazing; I always saw that that came back slowly, limitedly, or sometimes not at all. It sounds like y'all have such fun!! My Baby, who was severely brain damaged, like to go places, too. It was like she had a triple dose of cerebral palsy.
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CarolC
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Re: Post herniated disc surgery advice?

Post by CarolC »

@CarolC
That shoe is a good idea! wow I never would've thought of that either! Is that just a toddlers shoe? His hocks look good so far, no hair loss or pressure spots but we are always monitoring. Fripple's face kind of looks like BB's hehe, love the orange babies <3
Here was what Susan said about the shoe in her description. She did the shoe in 2003 or 2004 so I don't know how much shoes have changed since then.
Susan in http://handicappedpet.net/helppets/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2293&p=9768&#p9768 wrote: He beat his foot up terribly running around so after much trial and error I found the solution. I took a baby sneaker and cut out the tongue and the toe and put a gel insert in it and bandaged his little heel and contrary to what the vet said his foot is healed. He will always have to wear his shoe but he looks darn cute in it anyway and he doesn't mind the diaper or the shoe at all.
If you've already bathed BB, that sounds promising.
on a side note, I keep trying to get a video of the top down expression we are doing with BB like you had suggested before, but I've not had much luck for helpful angles lol. It's the only way he'll tolerate it now to, probably because it allows him to squat. My spouse did the underneath method after awhile and BB just fought him the whole time, so he's learned my way because I have an easy time with no grumpiness. I'll have to keep attempting in case it could be helpful to someone else.
Ohhh, it's so nice of you to even try! :thankyou:
Even if you can't get it at a great angle, it still may help someone who doesn't realize it can be done that way. I ended up doing our expressing video in the kitchen because there was no room in the bathroom to get a camera angle. We did it on the kitchen counter and the person with the camera stood on the other side of the pass through window (in the family room) and had a clear view.
I was wondering if you guys have any posts about your babies or their stories? If you do, would you mind linking them? I'd love to read about them, you clearly are drawn to the ones really in need and I respect that so much.
And I was wondering how BB got his name. :) Katie has her own website, www.fourfurfeet.com. Dolly has her own or topic: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13200. I love cats and have cats, but none of my kitties have been paralyzed. Critters or Bendy Mom or some others know a lot about paralysis and incontinence in cats. :)
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critters
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Re: Post herniated disc surgery advice?

Post by critters »

Yes, CH. I usually call it CP when I don't know a person's background because more people know of/about CP than CH.
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