Walking to paralyzed in 24 hours. Advice please.

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CarolC
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Re: Walking to paralyzed in 24 hours. Advice please.

Post by CarolC »

When you called the ER, did you talk to someone at the desk or an actual vet? I wonder if you could call them back and ask to speak to an actual vet, or to have the vet call you. I do know from experience that it takes only a very small amount of blood to make the urine look much worse than it is, but I don't think I'd want to wait a day and a half to get him treatment unless I heard an actual vet say it.
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CarolC
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Re: Walking to paralyzed in 24 hours. Advice please.

Post by CarolC »

Double posting, sorry. If you do decide to wait till Monday, you might consider whether a cranberry supplement would help temporarily. You do not know if it is a UTI, but if it is, sometimes adjusting the pH of the urine can help. I hesitate to use supplements too much because you can cause stones/crystals if the pH is too acid OR alkaline. I am not a vet, so please research is as best you can, and if you do talk to a vet, maybe ask whether they think it might help.

SolidGoldBerryBalance.PNG
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostor ... s-for-dogs

Be careful NOT to use a human product that contains Xylitol, as it is not safe for dogs.
my2whitedogs
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Re: Walking to paralyzed in 24 hours. Advice please.

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The ER here is also the rehab center Bacio is going to do his therapy at, so he has been there a couple times now. I spoke with with vet tech that handled him during his therapy consult (the guy who was holding him while Bacio pooped in his arms). I reiterated that I was concerned because the vet wouldnt open until Monday. He said as long as he is eating, drinking, and acting normal he would be fine until Monday. His urine was checked last Friday when we went to meet the new vet, and it was very concentrated but he said there was no infection. So if it is a UTI is got this bad this fast? If it looks bad when we go out again tonight I may just take him in tonight or tomorrow to be safe. I hate this worry.
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CarolC
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Re: Walking to paralyzed in 24 hours. Advice please.

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One question would be, will there be any trouble getting him seen on Monday? The vet I like to go to has been crazy busy the past couple of months, and I've had to do a "drop-off" to get a pet seen a couple of times when it couldn't wait and they were full. I've been very surprised when they'd say they couldn't get us in for days. I heard that vets are busier now because with so many people having to stay home for so long, they are noticing issues with their pets that they never noticed when they were busy working. If you feel confident that the vet will see him if you call Monday morning at 7, then maybe you could go with what the vet tech says. The backup plan is, if he starts to feel uncomfortable or seem unwell before then, then you can still go to the ER.

There have been other cases here where a pet is showing symptoms of UTI, yet nothing showed on the urinalysis. I don't know why, but it happens. Sometimes the vet will go ahead and prescribe antibiotics based on the symptoms in spite of the negative test.
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CarolC
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Re: Walking to paralyzed in 24 hours. Advice please.

Post by CarolC »

One more thing I thought of. I remember reading that you should continue to express the dog for 30 days after bladder function returns. That is because they are learning to urinate again but for a while they may not completely empty the bladder. Either they may not know they didn't empty completely, or they may not have the control yet to empty completely. So if your dog is initiating urination 3x a day in the cart, it is still possible he is not getting himself completely empty. One option is that when he goes in the cart, you stand over him and squeeze his abdomen and try to help him empty more completely.

EDIT TO ADD: Here is a video from Scout's House, a rehab facility. They demonstrate expressing 4 different dogs. The third dog (just past the halfway mark) begins to urinate, then the tech helps him by squeezing his abdomen.

https://s995.photobucket.com/user/scout ... ort=4&o=13
my2whitedogs
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Re: Walking to paralyzed in 24 hours. Advice please.

Post by my2whitedogs »

The vet tech said something similar, that he probably isn't emptying all the way. We have been taking him out 3x a day, but are thinking about trying more often? He really hates when we try to express him (but hasnt had an issue with the vets doing it :| )

I am going to try and stay calm through the night and make a decision about the ER tomorrow. We will see. He is very relaxed, alert, doesnt seem to be in pain. He has been eating and drinking. All good signs, but still so worried.
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CarolC
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Re: Walking to paralyzed in 24 hours. Advice please.

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He's definitely got his own opinions, which he is entitled to, but it isn't making things any easier. Possibly he won't object as much if you place your hands on him and squeeze after he is already in the process of going. You aren't making him start. You aren't making him go in a spot he did not choose. I don't know...

If you can get that video link to work, they show how they do it with an older male dog. If you read between the lines when you listen to the way they describe him, he may be opinionated, too. :wink:

Four times a day would be nice, but it is that much more work for you, and he's a big dog. If you could squeeze him empty enough and just make 3 trips, that would be less carrying him up and down 2 flights of stairs and putting him in and out of the cart.

A compromise might be 3 trips outside per day, and only do the additional squeezing on the first trip of the day and the trip at bedtime, and let him do it all by himself at lunchtime.
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critters
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Re: Walking to paralyzed in 24 hours. Advice please.

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It happens a lot, I'm afraid. Like you, I'd be reluctant to wait 2 days, but emergency vets can be SO expensive, especially for something smaller, like a UTI.
my2whitedogs
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Re: Walking to paralyzed in 24 hours. Advice please.

Post by my2whitedogs »

He does indeed have a UTI, we are on antibiotics for 7 days and then a urine recheck. If there is still bacteria we will ultrasound for stones. He has been on the antibiotic since Monday night, and today he finally ate a whole bowl of food (half kibble half chicken and rice). He is reluctant to drink so I water his food down and I soak Stella and Chewy freeze dried raw bites in a bowl of water so he has to drink some water to get those out. I've also started taking him out more often, I think I'm getting stronger because its getting a lot easier. He was 59.5 lbs at the vet, which is up 7 lbs from when this first started and only a few lbs off his healthy weight. He is also getting much less aggressive when I lift him, I don't even muzzle him anymore. He lets out a soft growl when I get my arms under him, but he doesn't thrash or anything like that. His back legs have definitely atrophied, they look like sticks. Therapy today. Breathe in, breathe out. It's going to be a long road, but my boy's definitely got a lot of life left in him.
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Re: Walking to paralyzed in 24 hours. Advice please.

Post by CarolC »

I'm glad you got your appointment on Monday. Glad he is eating better now. The medication usually does not take long to make them feel better. Glad they will be rechecking him, some dogs need more than 7 days on their antibiotic.

I am really glad he is not thrashing when you carry him down the stairs now. What a relief that must be. I was worried about you guys carrying a 60-lb dog down the stairs 3 or more times a day and you can't really see your feet and then he wasn't holding still. Maybe he is getting past whatever discomfort he had. What do you reply when he growls as you pick him up? Sounds like he's saying, "Be careful there," and I'd be tempted to say, "I am, I am." :D

The good news is, don't worry too much about atrophy in the hind legs. It is muscle. And it COMES BACK! :wink: :wink:
https://handicappedpet.net/helppets/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4346&p=22532&hilit=musclebound#p22532 wrote:Most people get worried about loss of muscle in the back legs. That seems logical but it turns out that isn't such a problem either, it comes back. I can tell you from experience, my dog was very badly injured. She had a spinal fracture in which the two parts of the spine separated and one part tried to leapfrog over the other, pinching the spinal cord in between. She had surgery to put the spine back together and she couldn't stand up for 9 months. You can imagine how skinny her back legs got. But she is musclebound now, I can tell you.
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