Paralyzed dog with FCE
Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2019 7:54 pm
Hi there. Apologies for the long novel however want to give the whole story so far. On February 7th my dog started walking oddly as if on her toes around 430 pm. I called the vet to get an anti inflammatory before they closed as they didn’t have any appointments by Friday the 8th she was having a horrible time walking so we raced her to the vet who said she probably had an issue in her neck like IVDD and gave us pain meds but did not suggest X-rays. By midnight I woke suddenly to find my dog in the middle of the room paralyzed from her rib cage down and she had gone to the bathroom. We looked up a specialist neuro vet and took her there first thing Saturday morning. They then suggested a $12000 surgery that may give her a 5% chance of walking but suggested we euthanize her right there and she has no deep pain sensation.This was absolutely devastating and its hard to explain the emotions and pain we went through but I was not satisfied with that option and we took her home and decided to seek alternate treatment as she is our child and the light of our lives. We rescued her 7.5 years ago and she is a 25 lb mix approx 10 years in age now. The next day Sunday we went back to the vet and asked about alt treatments they have a class 4 laser there and I was also going to seek acupuncture for her. She had laser that day and acupuncture at another vet on Monday and laser agin Tuesday and we went to our amazing acupuncture vet and I told her that when I touched Stella’s back it was weeping. She said they were probably burning her with the laser and since she couldn’t feel didn’t make a noise. I raced back to the vet they shaved her low back and sure enough her skin had been burned off. It was horrifying and heartbreaking to see as this was such a traumatic week. On top of which I had to learn to express her bladder which I found challenging. That is when the original vet did X-rays and said she had FCE not ivdd and her spine looked fine. It has been countless sleepless nights since then and we have pursued acupuncture several times a week as well as two physical therapy appointments. She still does not have deep pain and is starting to move around better using her front legs only. I feel like I have a routine down now after taking a lot of time off of work and getting a babysitter etc she did end up getting a bladder infection and was prescribed 3 weeks or clavamox she still has 7 days left. We are getting her wheels and I support her hind end and take her on mini walks because she loves walks and we used to go several miles a day. Everyone except our acupuncture vet thinks she will not recover. I am trying to stay positive and believe she will. She has lost a lot of muscle and is so thin where paralyzed from muscle atrophy. I have a tens unit which I have been using and doing all excercises plus chinese herbs, nueroplex, cbd. When I touch and push on her feet she does not push back and I get so sad. She is over 5 weeks now and now her legs shake a bit when manually extended or when I hold her legs straight in a standing position. they do not move otherwise and she still does not have bladder control. I am looking for hope that she will walk again one day or at least regain bladder control. I am committed to her whatever her progress is but praying she can walk again. I have scoured the blog and other dogs with fce seem to have progressed so far already and we have not which is discouraging. Any help hope or advice is appreciated!