Pip diagnosis - Central cord syndrome

[CarolC]

Hopefully some. I looked up how long it takes bones to fuse for a dog and it said 3 to 4 months, so I hope it's still continuing. We are not doing a lot of PT. I do carry exercises on his front legs every time we go outside. I let him sit up as long as he likes (positioned between my knees) and he does well. She said to do range of motion on his front legs but he's using his range of motion himself. He spends about 80% of his time on his right side (by choice), 10% on his left, and 10% sternal. He has not been hooking himself (where he would catch a toe of one foot on the leg of the other). I don't know if he is less spastic or if that is an effect of the gabapentin. His comfort level seems OK. I'm still hand feeding his breakfast. I guess October would be the 4-month point.

[CarolC]

Yesterday I was carrying him outside. I thought I was carrying him the usual way. He had his head bent down as we went, but he often does that when he really needs to go. (If he is looking earnestly down at the grass, it means he needs to be set down right away so he can go right now.) But yesterday as we got out there and I thought he was in a hurry and I began to set him down, he started crying in pain. I quickly laid him down on his right side, hoping he would know how to make himself comfortable, since holding him was making him uncomfortable. He cried a few more seconds and kind of flailed a little, then apparent unkinked whatever was kinked and urinated (yes, he really was in a hurry). I was scared to pick him back up, but he was fine, and his neck was not pulsing. Not sure what was going on, or what caused it.

This morning I laid him on his potty towel while I got breakfast. I kept checking him and he was sternal and not pottying. Then I checked him and lo and behold he was halfway to the kitchen, on the carpet in a very good sternal. I don't think he scooted or fell and righted himself, because I would have heard the commotion. He must have walked a couple of steps.

[critters]

They find a way!!

[CarolC]

Pip is back on gabapentin today. He was off of it for a couple of weeks (I'm not sure how long) and then today he started trying to kick the back of his neck again. The only difference is I had been pottying him standing up every time for months, and 3 times this week I did it with him lying in the grass because I can't get him to go when I take him out and hold him standing. I set him down on his hind feet, and he doesn't sniff, so we go to another spot in the yard, and nothing, and we'll try 4 or 5 spots and often he doesn't sniff and doesn't go. But if I lie him down, he will. So it wasn't that he didn't need to. But pottying lying down is what bothers his neck. So I guess we are back to doing it standing. It's 104F / 40C out there.

[CarolC]

He's been doing pretty well, but then tonight he urped and choked a little. I hope he didn't inhale. He had his Knox blocks an hour earlier and was lying curled up on his left side. He can curl up that way, but he cannot eat that way (swallowing problem) and apparently can't belch that way either. I had fed him on his right but then turned him on his left. Maybe I shouldn't do that. I don't know if this is part of the old swallowing problem or due to the large amount of bone cement interfering with his throat in that position. I quickly got him in a better position and let him cough as well as he could (not a strong cough) and after a few minutes carried him around a bit to be sure he was over it, and laid him down on his right side where I don't think this would have happened. Bummer. I hope he doesn't get pneumonia.

[critters]

He’s had a time of it, for sure.

[CarolC]

He's been doing pretty well, other than being bored. Monday and today he was kicking at the back of his neck again. I gave him gabapentin both times. I don't know if he did something to it while springing against the side of the playpen to get into his preferred position. I'd guess that's what it is. It's the actual back of his neck he kicks at, not up where his surgery was. Whether it's because he feels it in that spot, or he can't reach higher, I don't know.

[NatureTechie]

Good to hear he's doing well.

[CarolC]

[CarolC]

Pip's 4.5 months post-surgery. He still has about the same limitations in his ability to hold his head and use his front legs. He can fully clean his bowl now, reaching all corners.

There are 2 improvements. He doesn't seem to be flipping himself out of his bed unexpectedly now. And he is not hooking his nail of one hind foot on his other leg (very painful) nearly as much. He did it once this week and I realized it's the first time in a long time. He's due for a nail trim but the groomer had a family emergency.

He shakes his head sometimes. I can't tell if it's his neck, or maybe his ears. I tried rubbing his ears to see if he responded like they were itchy, but he didn't really.

He has better use of his hind legs doing his sternal. They are wider apart, more stable. A couple of days ago he turned himself from lying on his right to lying on his left. I don't know if it was on purpose, or if he just got sternal and tipped over. He's still his same self, and his favorite thing is meals and barking at cats or any noise outside the window.

[critters]

He better not bark at Paddy!

[CarolC]

I think he's a little intimidated by Paddy. Paddy raised a paw at him a couple of times in early days, like a cat that is about to bat a toy. Now Pip keeps an eye on him every time he walks by.

Pip was Best Dogger this morning. I threw my back out yesterday about 5:30. I got up this morning and looked out the back door and knew if I took him out and managed to squat down and put him in the grass, I wouldn't be able to get back up with him, even holding onto something. So I put a potty pad on the living room floor next to a crate and stuffed a washcloth around his business. It took a couple of minutes but with encouragement he did his First Potty indoors. I stood up using the crate and got him back into his playpen. I should be able to take him out later once I get moving better, but I didn't want to get stuck in the yard with my dog in the grass at "oh dark hundred" and I couldn't pick him up. It was cold out there! I knew this day would come eventually. It's been in the back of my mind. I'm glad to know we can handle it!

[critters]

Sorry about your back, but at least y'all have a plan.

[CarolC]

[CarolC]

Ever since the surgery, there have been occasions where Pip is restless, so I go over to his bed and lift him to turn him so he can rest on his other side. And in the process of that, he burps. In fact, that was why he was restless, he needed to burp and couldn't. I don't have a copy of the x-ray, but the surgeon put a surprisingly large blob of cement in to stabilize his head. It's the reason he can no longer look downward as before. I wonder if it is intefering with his ability to burp sometimes.