Pressure sore gone bad

Neurological Disorders Resources. Treatment and care for pets having pain or trouble walking or standing due to spinal injuries or neurological disorders like IVDD, FCE and DM.
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Sadiesmama
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Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2018 9:17 am

Pressure sore gone bad

Post by Sadiesmama »

Hi there I’m new and was looking for some support from a community of other dog owners with a disabled pet. My girl became disabled from her hind quarters in June 2018. It’s been difficult, but I’ve managed to work things out to what I feel is the best care I can give Sadie. She recently got a pressure sore on her tail bone. She sits up and drags herself from bed to bed or room to room or to the water bowl and back to her bed. She hops on her tail bone when she’s excited too. The pressure sore was minor one day and the next day it was black and other areas around it were turning. She had a fever for two days and I took her to the vet. I feel like I waited too long but I was in contact with different vets and emergency hospitals asking for signs or things to look for to know it was an emergency. I took her to the vet and they uncovered a severe infection of her rear side area and it is so gruesome like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I feel guilty for waiting to take her in and know that it wouldn’t be this bad if I had taken her in one day sooner. So we are pushing through this full force I’m tending to her wound and she’s being a sweetie like always. My question is (finally :)) has anyone else experienced something similar? How long did it take to heal? And how did you keep going? A friend who thought she was giving me a dose of reality said “dogs aren’t meant to lay around all day on their sides or meant to have wheels just so they can walk around the block,” “I felt like I needed to say this to stop your suffering and Sadie’s.” Am I making my poor dog suffer by keeping her alive when she can’t walk and will be prone to battling more infections with UTI’s and pressure sores? She’s so happy and sweet and has a bunch of life still left in her it seems but this infection is so horrid and she is certainly in pain from it. Any thoughts or advice are welcome - even if it hurts. Thanks.
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CarolC
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Re: Pressure sore gone bad

Post by CarolC »

Sadiesmama wrote:Hi there I’m new and was looking for some support from a community of other dog owners with a disabled pet. My girl became disabled from her hind quarters in June 2018. It’s been difficult, but I’ve managed to work things out to what I feel is the best care I can give Sadie. She recently got a pressure sore on her tail bone. She sits up and drags herself from bed to bed or room to room or to the water bowl and back to her bed. She hops on her tail bone when she’s excited too. The pressure sore was minor one day and the next day it was black and other areas around it were turning. It sounds like it happened unusually fast. She had a fever for two days and I took her to the vet. I feel like I waited too long but I was in contact with different vets and emergency hospitals asking for signs or things to look for to know it was an emergency. I took her to the vet and they uncovered a severe infection of her rear side area and it is so gruesome like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I feel guilty for waiting to take her in and know that it wouldn’t be this bad if I had taken her in one day sooner. So we are pushing through this full force I’m tending to her wound and she’s being a sweetie like always. My question is (finally :)) has anyone else experienced something similar? How long did it take to heal? And how did you keep going? A friend who thought she was giving me a dose of reality said “dogs aren’t meant to lay around all day on their sides or meant to have wheels just so they can walk around the block,” “I felt like I needed to say this to stop your suffering and Sadie’s.” Am I making my poor dog suffer by keeping her alive when she can’t walk and will be prone to battling more infections with UTI’s and pressure sores? Well really...paralyzed dogs may be more prone to UTIs, but in my experience with 2 paralyzed dogs, one might get a UTI about once a year, and the other dog almost never. So I don't think that's as big of an issue as it sounds like. As for the sore, in my experience if you can keep the dog dry through diapering or expressing, that goes a long way toward preventing sores. A lot of so called pressure sores start with a urine burn. However, I had a paralyzed rabbit who got a "pressure sore" in a situation kind of like your dog. He got a rug burn from dragging on the point of his rear on the carpet, and it happened quickly and got infected. Bunnies have delicate skin and I did not realize how easily he could get a sore or I would have tried to prevent it. He needed antibiotics and we used some kind of antibiotic powder directly on it as well (but that was for a rabbit, not a dog). I ended up having to keep a disposable diaper on him to protect his bottom when dragging.

I have a partially paralyzed dog who scoots on her bottom, and she wears a diaper with a Poise pad in it anytime she is on the floor. The diaper is actually for her incontinence, but it also gives her a "bouncy bottom" and prevents friction burns on the floor. She wears out the seat of her pants (diaper) but it saves her skin. I guess you will have to see how your dog responds to the antibiotic. It may help to crate your dog on soft cotton bedding while it is healing. If she's like my dog, she will still bounce on her bottom in her bed, though, at least at mealtime. I'm not sure how to keep her off of her bottom completely.
She’s so happy and sweet and has a bunch of life still left in her it seems but this infection is so horrid and she is certainly in pain from it. Any thoughts or advice are welcome - even if it hurts. Thanks.

I don't know. I think you kind of had some bad luck with a situation most people do not encounter. From what I've seen here at least, the majority of dogs who become paralyzed will either drag on their hip or with both legs back (I call it froggy legs style). Dragging on the point of the rear is not as common. I already had experience with a paralyzed dog and yet I didn't think twice about it when my bunny began dragging like that in that position, he seemed fine, and then I found out.

I'm attaching a video of my one dog in her diaper so you can see if that is similar to your dog's way of moving. I don't know how big your dog is, but my dog is small and the pad in the diaper provides pretty good softness for her bottom.
:arrow: :arrow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ09GdVuuKE
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critters
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Re: Pressure sore gone bad

Post by critters »

:whale: Is using a wheelchair an option, even part of the time? Yes, I've seen it with humans that pressure sores can go bad really quickly.
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