Homemade support sling for quadriplegic puppy

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pony
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:33 pm

Ibbie my pup please help idea's or advise ty

Post by pony »

Ibbies one of my pups is paralyzed or was paralyzed, it happened about 5 weeks ago and its been a hellish road since,we believe her injury is a result from playing fighting with her litter mates but cant be for sure or maybe from when she was dropped at two weeks old by a friends child .she was 6 weeks old when paralysis set in.
I went away for few hours and came back home and fed the pups and noticed Ibbie didnt want to eat and was restless and was whimpering a lot,so i brought her inside and tried her with some egg and milk she drunk a bit then throw up i noticed there was a bit of leave and straw and my first thought was she had eating some stuff not good her and had a bit of tummy ache,so i put her in whelping box she was restless and would yelp in pain sometimes
i rang vets at 11pm they didnt seem to concerned like i was as at this stage she had got worse and i was frightend she might of had a blockage,during the night she was the same restless and whimpering and by 7 ish in the morning she would scream out in pain and i noticed she was dragging her back end and rung the vet ,the vet told me to bring her in at 10 am that morning and i thought bugger that i wasnt letting her suffer for another 2 1/2 hours , so rang another vet in another town and was there within half an hour
the vet was so negitive saying to me that i may have to put her down,i lost the polt with him and told him to shut up and give her some pain killers as she was in so much pain and told him to keep his negitive remarks to himself,they took xrays and couldnt find no fractures or impairment to the spine ,they stuck needles in her legs and she had no feeling behind ,she was put on iv drip and heaps of other meds,the next morning she was paralized in the front end as well and they felt she has meningitis and rang me as thought she wouldnt make it through the day and they started treating her for meningitis ,i asked them to do a spinal tap which they refused ,on monday i took her mum in to see her to give her hope and did that each day while she was at the vets

A couple of days later at the vets she started drinking and eating by thursday i had her back home i had discharged her as was not happy with there treament .
she has improved and time again, since being home,she can sit up unaided and when i got her home from vets all she could do is lay on her side stiff like a board,i noticed the steriods they gave her was making her worse sweat pants ect so i stopped all meds over a couple of days as felt they was wrong with her having meningitis and i have her on anica plus instead now ,since then she has gained feeling in all legs and can crawl around the floor sit up un aided and can now stand unaided for a short time,she trys walking her hind legs thou still very weak,she is numb from the shoulder down to her tail but this week i have noticed she has regained feeling around from the base of her tail to her hip area ,she is gaining more and more movement each day ,it took me weeks to find a dog chiropractor in the south island of New Zealand and it seems to be helping ,at the moment she is looking at me barking say come and play and her tail is wagging ,when i put her in her in her bouncey sling i made which hangs from my ceiling on a spring,she bounces around and has a good go at chasing the cats when they walk past.
it is hard seeing Ibbie like this,one minute running around like an idiot and next paralized
Last saurday just after midnight one month after Ibbie took ill, i was on the computer and Ibbie stood up and walked two steps before losing balance and falling over ,this week she hasnt stopped trying,she can now stand unaided for over a minute but only if i stand her legs right for her and she attemps to walk but can only manage a few steps at a time as her left hind legs buckles underneath her even if strapped up,i dont walk her in a sling nomore instead i will hold her back legs walking them for her ,i also made her some wheels and she can run with the bigger dogs in the paddock , her left hind leg is very limited she has little strength it in and it has a mind of its own .


if anyone can help with ideas to help me with Ibbies recovery i would be greatfull or even what might be the problem,she does swimming and heaps of excerises to help in her aid,the vets who treated Ibbie gave me no help not even with after care there only answer was put her to sleep ,they gave me no answers just a big huge vet bill of 2,000 nz dollars ,i dont know if she walk again properly ,if i had an xtra 500 i would get a cat scan but cant afford it with the huge vet bill i already have, i know a lot of people here dogs have been through the same ,please any ideas i am willing to listern learn ect ect

Ibbie days before she got ill
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the first day back home from being at the vet for nearly a week,she had lost one third of her body weight,a very sickly pup but still had that twinkle in her eye
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still bloated looking from being on steriods and iv drip day three after being discharged from the vets
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six days after being discharged from the vets enjoying a bone in her home made support sling

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9 days after vet discharge sitting up enjoying the sun and eyeing up the cat in the foreground

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day 11 after vet discharge,how could someone say put Ibbie to sleep not when the twinkle in that eye never stopped shinning

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25 days after vet discharge sitting more upright

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32 days after vet discharge standing for short periods unaided

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and enjoying her new wheels
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