Please HELP - Advice will be needed...

[tcdugan]

My beloved black and white chi chi pulled out of his collar this evening during our walk and was hit by a car twice. What I know now is that EZ has a fractured pelvis, nerve damage to anal area, possible nerve damage to bladder, little or no feeling in tail, and some degloving on hind legs, hips and belly.
He is at a 24 hour vet right now with last report that he was resting quietly - some pain meds are being given in low doses.
Ez is about 8.5 pounds and almost 5 years old.
We are to hear tomorrow if the ortho will recommend pelvic surgery.
My heart is breaking and continues to break each time I "see" the car run him over in my mind.
I want to do what is right for him. I want him to have quality in his life. I am a single mom with a fulltime job and a sweet 13 year old son - who has not yet been told of today's event.
This is a new area for me and would appreciate any advice and support you could give!
Thank you,
Teri

[critters]

You're in the right place for the bladder/bowel neuro problems!! At 13, your son is old enough to be a BIG help with this, and I'd sit down with him and the computer and go over all the expressing and poop-on-demand info until you both feel like you have an idea of what to do. If you have another critter at home that will let you paw over his or her belly, feeling for the "water balloon," that's even better! He or she probably wouldn't appreciate actually being expressed, but it's more the practice of getting used to what you're feeling inside that's the hard part, not actually squeezing the bladder.

Expect him to come home with antibiotics and steroids, probably prednisone, for the spinal damage. Antibiotics will also cover the degloving, which seems to me to be the most severe IMMEDIATE threat, not that I've seen him, of course. I've had critters crushed 7 ways from Sunday who've never had pelvis repair, as long as there was room for their colons to fit through the pelvic ring without being squashed; Beauty was the most crushed, and she was fine with that, although lopsided and crooked all the rest of her days.

[CarolC]

Hi Teri,

I am single and I have 2 paralyzed incontinent chihuahuas and I work full time. One dog dribbles and she wears a diaper during the day and sleeps in a playpen without a diaper at night. The other dog has a tight urinary sphincter and I express her bladder 4 times a day, when we get up, at lunchtime, after work, and at bedtime. She also has her own playpen to sleep in, but she never dribbles. It is not hard to care for a little dog. If your dog needs a diaper, you can get him a male doggie diaper (male wrap). It is a belt that goes around the waist (with velcro) and it holds a pad over the male area to collect urine.

It is too soon to see how well your little friend will be able to walk. If needed, you can buy or make a little wheelchair, we have links for that. I let my dogs scoot/bounce around on the carpet or out in the grass without a wheelchair during playtime, I just watch to be sure they don't get any scrapes.

I'm sorry for the accident that happened. I assume one of mine was hit by a car, too. But she is still her same precious self. If I were you, I'd think about getting a playpen ($40 at Target or less at Goodwill) and some malewraps, and give him time to see how he recovers. Even without walking, he'll still be happy. Both of my dogs are happy. Heck, the one who's been paralyzed since 2003 still wants to take down german shepherds!

Here is a link for wraps from the Tiny Dog Store.

http://www.indogneeto.com/index2.asp?id=3&cid=68

[tcdugan]

EZ'z temp went from 95 to 98 yesterday so the ortho did the pelvic surgery today - he had several fractures but one major one that needed a clip/plate to give any chance of recovery. His beautiful black tail with the white paint brush tip had to be amputated as the tail had been completely ripped from spine in the accident. Bowel/bladder damage still undetermined - tremendous bruising/swelling as that is where the brunt of the impact took place. SO, he is being monitored/given pain meds through the nite, and tomorrow two more hyperbaric chamber treatments to promote tissue/nerve healing.
I am most grateful for all of the support and prayers we have gotten from friends and strangers. It sounds petty of me, but the loss of his tail hit me hard today - had to take anxiety meds and pull away from world into sleep for a while. SO much of his visual personality was in his tail that his nickname was Mr. Wag a tail. He would get so excited when we would come home that his whole back end would curve sideways because he was wagging his tail so hard to one side.
I know in my head that he is still the same personality without the tail - it just hurts my heart so! I am also wrestling with possible ptsd - as I keep seeing the accident replay - yes I am calling my "head" dr. to make an appt. but just wanted to know if anyone else out there had advice to lessen the intensity/hurt/guilt associated with this event I cannot get out of my head?
Thank u
T

[tcdugan]

EZ'z temp went from 95 to 98 yesterday so the ortho did the pelvic surgery today - he had several fractures but one major one that needed a clip/plate to give any chance of recovery. His beautiful black tail with the white paint brush tip had to be amputated as the tail had been completely ripped from spine in the accident. Bowel/bladder damage still undetermined - tremendous bruising/swelling as that is where the brunt of the impact took place. SO, he is being monitored/given pain meds through the nite, and tomorrow two more hyperbaric chamber treatments to promote tissue/nerve healing.
I am most grateful for all of the support and prayers we have gotten from friends and strangers. It sounds petty of me, but the loss of his tail hit me hard today - had to take anxiety meds and pull away from world into sleep for a while. SO much of his visual personality was in his tail that his nickname was Mr. Wag a tail. He would get so excited when we would come home that his whole back end would curve sideways because he was wagging his tail so hard to one side.
I know in my head that he is still the same personality without the tail - it just hurts my heart so! I am also wrestling with possible ptsd - as I keep seeing the accident replay - yes I am calling my "head" dr. to make an appt. but just wanted to know if anyone else out there had advice to lessen the intensity/hurt/guilt associated with this event I cannot get out of my head?
Thank u
T

[CarolC]

Hi Teri,

I am sorry, I wrote you a reply hours ago but by the time I hit the SUBMIT button the connection had disconnected and my post was lost. I have a combination of Windows 7, Norton Antivirus, and Earthlink dial-up that pretty much guarantees you can't ever get anything done. I am back on my 6 year old XP computer doing a 6-hour download of updates but at least it WORKS.

You did not do anything wrong. You had him on a leash like you should. You were taking him for a walk like a caring person would do for their dog. A million people do the same thing in cities around the world every day and it usually goes fine. You could not predict what he was going to do. Teri, I've had a dog slip his collar in the middle of a crosswalk with a car coming, we were just lucky the driver slowed down. And I am always careful how I fasten a collar, and I always check it after taking a dog to the groomer, etc. If you ask any dog owner, I'll bet most of them have had a dog slip a collar at one time or another. It just happens. And if you're thinking you wish he'd been wearing a harness, some dogs can slip a harness, too.

I agree it is sad about his tail. I'm sure I would feel the same way. I had a senior long-haired orange kitty and one day while I was at work the cats were apparently playing and knocked over a big potted plant that was on a plant stand. When I came home, the plant was on the floor and my kitty's tail was hanging down like a horse's tail. After a few days it got enough better that he could raise it about 3/4's of the way but never completely up over his back. He had always been very expressive with his big fluffy tail, holding it all the way up with the tip bent over in a casual way, and I really missed that expressiveness once it was lost. Your little friend will still do plenty of other expressive things with body language, like prancing his front feet and perking his ears and so on , that will still be "him". You may find out he wags his whole rear even without the tail, you'll have to wait and see. I've seen dogs like boxers or cockers that have the tail docked, and the really enthusiasic ones will do that. Once you get used to it, the biggest problem will probably be having people ask you if he's a Jack Russell instead of a chihuahua, and having to explain.

Have you been able to visit him today, or get an update? I am so impressed that you are someplace where they do hyperbaric oxygen therapy, that is really first rate. It sounds like he is getting the best of care. I am sorry it took me so long to reply, frustrating computer day. If you have an update from today, I would love to know how he's doing. Hang in there. About the only thing I know to do for the kind of stress you feel remembering the accident is to go out and try to walk it off. Or something physical, cleaning, gardening, hitting a tennis ball against the practice wall at the park. It's going to take time to deal with such a shock, seeing it happen, picking him up, rushing him to the vet, and now worrying about him till he comes home. I am just glad he was saved!

[theservs]

T,
My heart goes out to you and I want to tell you that this board will help you tremendously! I'll share my thoughts and story and if you feel I can help, please don't hesitat to ask!
My 4 lb maltese, Dolcezza Mia was struck by a falling tree at age 18 months. She was literally driven into the ground causing her tail to be broken away from her back. She also sustained a ruptured bladder. They took her to surgery and was not able to repair the bladder. She subsequently had to have a uretherostomy tube. She was in critical care for 19 days. We were told that she would be incontinent of both urine and feces for the rest of her life.
First, I totally know how you feel about "replaying" the event over and over in my head and I too sought professional help. I thought I would never get that image out of my head. So, my advice is to seek help, but understand that time does help. While Dolcezza's tail did not have to be amputated, for a very long time it just hung down with no wag at all. I grieved that for a long time.
Secondly, my advce is to take it one day at a time. We collectively decided that if, during her hospitalization, she stopped improving or gave any other sign that she was losing the fight, we would let her go. We also said that if she made it through we would and could handle anything.
Having said that, when we brought her home she was on crate rest for 8 weeks and believe me when I say crate rest. We followed that advice of Carol on this site and didn't waver on the strict crate rest. We firmly believe that following that advice made a world of difference!
There were days, T, that she was incontinent almost constantly. I would cry and cry over my plight, her plight and wondered how much I could take. She was not herself for months and sometimes I swear she looked at me like "please stop this!" But she just kept getting better and not worse so we marched on.
Another important thing that I did was design a panty that had a "poop pouch" at the back but conformed to her body. I "craig listed" a plea for anyone that sewed to help me and I found a guardian angel that lived near me. She sewed my idea of the panty and after tweaking it several times, we got it. That was the best day of my life! She didn't like them at first, but soon got used to them. They allowed her to "be a dog" and to walk freely without me worrying about poop falling out on my floor or cleaning up urine. I devised a cleaning routine that I stick to every day, even now.
Today, almost 2 years after the accident, Dolcezza Mia is thriving! No infections, no urine scald, no antibiotics. She is now nearly bowel trained and her panties do not have the poop pouch on the back anymore. She runs, plays and is a normal, happy girl. She requires panty changes every 3 hours and very close monitoring to keep her clean, but we love her more than ever. She does not wag her tail, but we can tell when she's happy because she does what EZ does, shakes her back end..it's so cute!

T, take it one day at a time, use this board to get advice and let EZ tell you what the course will be. There is unfortunately no guaranteed predictions and our furr children are so resiliant, so strong. The vet's predictions are are based on experience but again, they are predictions only. EZ will run the show, he will tell us all what is best! Don't worry about what you'll do when he comes home, just let us know when he does and what your challenges are and someone will have an answer for you!

Take care of yourself, be patient and trusting and know you have friends here.

I've enclosed a few pics of Dolcezza to show you that miracles do happen.

[CarolC]

Teri...how is he? Hang in there...am really waiting to hear from you...

[tcdugan]

EZ REPORT - Tough first day at home - emotionally that is. Picking him up to care for him sometimes causes him to cry/yelp in pain and bare his teeth...the same thing he did right after the accident in the middle of the street - brings back that memory and hurts my heart that I might be causing him more pain. Took 6 hrs. to get down 3 tiny pills, wash and spray his wounds. Thankfully, in between there was large expanses of time that he was very quiet and still just laying on my floor bed mattrus (sp?) which was easier to care for him than leaning over the playpen.
Just tried to pick him up to move him back to the playpen for the night and I got another dose of that loud/high pitched/cry/yelp -came back a few mins. later, gave him the dissolved pain pill via/syringe and am now waiting for him to relax enough to try transfer number two. Please pray for him and me for that matter as my emotions are tattered and in need of healing as well.
Thank you to all who care,

T

[CarolC]

Teri, it sounds like he needs a pain patch. One patch works for several days. It will avoid the need to keep giving him more medication by mouth and it will avoid the problem of the pain control wearing off at the end of the dosing period. Another option is a narcotic pain reliever that can be rubbed on the ear flap and soaks into the skin (buprenex gel). What they gave you is not the easiest way to go. I would encourage you to call the vet, tell them he is having breakthrough pain, and ask for something better.

When Katie (white and fawn chihuahua) came home from the hospital after spinal surgery for a broken back, she was basically loopy on pain meds for several weeks. She would sit in her crate looking off into space with a happy look on her face. I could really tell the last 45 minutes when it was wearing off, she started to get uncomfortable. I had to be able to handle her and express her bladder and she wasn't my dog (she was found where I work) so we had to have adequate pain control. If not, it would have been hard on both of us. It sounds like your dog does not have adequate pain control and there is no need for that, there are some really wonderful pain medications for dogs that will really do the job. The vet is more or less depending on you to report whether the pain medication is adequate, if you don't say anything they will assume it is fine. I'd say go ahead and call them, they will understand. So glad to hear from you. Hang in there!

P.S. I did not realize it at first but my dog was cold when she came back from the hospital. You might want a little blanket it you think he's cold.

[bordercollieman]

The best of luck to you and I really feel your pain. You are in the right place, as this forum has literally saved my sanity and made for a much better life for my male border collie, Buddy2. He just suffered total hind end paralysis and incontinence from an em bolus thrown into his spine. Learn everything you can about expressing his bladder and making him poop on demand and then see if the mobility comes back. If it does, well, then, that is awesome and we all need to thank our lucky stars. But if it doesn not, there are all sorts of mobility products that can help. I too work full time as a physician and now can bring my boy into the office with me since I have learned how to make him poop on demand. So, anything and everything is possible. These guys are tremendously adaptable and if the dogs seems happy, then he most assuredly is and deserves every chance that you are willing and able to give him. Again, hang in there and the best of luck to you.


Cheers,


Travis & Buddy2 (border collie)

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

Let me tell you about a little pup I found in my yard January 12, 2002, 4 days after two deputes were gunned down in my neighborhood (http://www.odmp.org/officer/15902-lance ... -lyle-tate) this little guy had been shot two months after he had been crushed by a car. I fully believe he was in the wrong place at th wrong time (I believe the shooter shot him as well as our deputies). Anyway, his hips were crushed, nerves and organs tied in knots months before he was shot. His hips were a messy tangle of nerves, scar tissue, and broken bones. His front leg was the thing that was shot, so he was down to one leg. A sloppy surgery ensued (he was a charity case and not expected to survive not only his injuries, but the ensuing starvation) and doc said he would not only not walkbut not evacuate nor any of the other things pets need to survive. Doc didn't knowkSt.Jude (Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes) nor did he know me. We fought long and hard for his survival, and it was day-to-day.

Doc said he would never evacuate, nver walk, never co-exist with other dogs (he was completely a wild child) and St. Jude was schedled to be put to sleep the follwoing Thursday. It didn't happen, another miracle happened instead. St.Jude had seven WONDERFUL years and I have never fought so hard for a dog in my life. Even Possum wouldn't match what I did for St.Jude. He gave me 7 years of silliness, delight, overcoming ALL odds, and yes, he did eventually evacuate. AS you know humans and pets cannot leave hospital until this is determined. (been there, done that).

Your baby has a lifetime ahead and I am soooo happy you found this board! This life is all that matters, and we have your back. WELCOME!

[tcdugan]

Day 2 went - yesterday went much better than day one - got meds down/disolved in water for the pills, was able to assist him when wanting to change positions and do the sink rinse thing without a fight. Day 3 - today - 6am needed to change his bedding...obvious reasons and he was snippy with me...we decided to give pain med and wait...tried again to move him to a clean pad after warm water spritz to clean him down there right in the playpen as we were going to put the sink rinse on hold-rinse went fine attempting to pick him up =went total kujo - called vet said give another dose of pain meds to see if this helps - 10 am - we are waiting to see if this will allow us to move him - so we can just get through the day...have dr appt tomorrow...if not we will have to get him there today???
Thought we were taking baby steps toward recovery, but him not even allowing me to get near him scares and hurts me. I do have a roommate that he is allowing her to handfeed him so there is support here.
T

[CarolC]

I'm sure he doesn't want to snap but he can't help it. It hurts or he's afraid it's going to hurt and his instinct just tells him to snap. I still just feel sure he does not have adequate pain control. Everything you are describing points to that. Whatever they gave you is not doing the job, and it's totally unnecessary. They can give you something stronger for his needs right now, and he can take whatever you've been giving him later when he doesn't need something strong (so just put it back in the medicine cabinet and save it for then). Really, I would seriously ask about a patch or something stronger than what they gave you. My little dog was on a morphine derivative the first couple of weeks, and something else that was also strong for a while after that. I'm glad you have someone there to help.

[tcdugan]

So...after second dose of pain meds were given an hour to kick in yesterday he was just as much a kujo as before...we took him to vet again. They said that back leg site of degloving was not healing as they thought it would. When he came home last Thurs. it was thought that he would begin to scab over that area and new skin would begin to layer underneath. He was on two different antibiotics and it turns out that one was not effective at all. The vet said that that would had "declared" what direction it was going. So, he was somewhat anemic on top of this at the initial exam on Sun.
They kept him overnight for more testing and for the Head vet to see him today. She said that he needs to stay down there 5-7 more days. They will do IV fluids, antibiotics, hydrotherapy and 2 hyperbaric treatments a day trying to get that injured leg on its way to a better healing. The hyperb treatments will also help the nerve damage in the anal/bowel area.
Jeeeeeezzzzzzz. We just want him to be out of pain. I want to hold him and snuggle with him again and it seems so far away. Holding good thoughts.
T