My dog twisted her back.

Dear Dr. Marie,

Hope you are well. I was contacting you in hopes that you could help me with the following scenario. Trigger and I were playing fetch and as she was going for the ball, she twisted her back in a manner that i could tell was painful and she sat down and didn't want to play anymore. She seemed to be in pain and i noticed that the next day she was unable to stand on her hind legs to jump into the car or on the couch, or to greet me as she usually does. She was walking but her back leg a bit shaky and not very stable.

Your thoughts.

Sincerely,
Bonnie

Thank you so much for your prompt response. What is the standard of care when presented with a back case such as this? I wanted to get a completely unbiased view on this matter and maybe you can help me.

Trigger is now fully paralyzed. Her vet did not tell me to restrict her movement after examining her (which i now know is the first thing to do with dogs and such an injury).. As a result, Trigger was paralyzed the day after the vet visit (so two days after the injury putting me at a disadvantage for a good prognosis because i did a lot of research and know that surgery is best when it's within 24 or is it 48 hours from initial injury, CORRECT??

I had no idea what signs to look for when i found her under my bed the next day with her lifeless legs. She had also urinated on herself. I still was not sure what was going on, i thought maybe it was a side effect of the steroid shots that the vet had given her. He never told me of any such possibilities such as IDD. Eventually i rushed her to the hospital and she underwent that expensive surgery that you were talking about. And let me tell you, that is not fun for a grad student with 100k in student loans. :)

Anyway, when researching IDD, i saw that the main symptoms to look for were lameness in legs, urination, etc. If i would have known to look for these Sx, i would have taken her in as soon as i saw any of them.

Could you please direct me to where i may find a similar case or any help regarding this matter. Being a parent to a disabled child (puppy) has changed my life fully. I love my puppy and decided to keep her, she is the happiest little thing and still always wants to play fetch. She is now in a wheelchair.

:)

Thank you so much. Where can i find info stating that -not being able to stand on hind legs or jump up on a couch AND leg shaking/lower end shaking is related to neurological damage and Sx's of IDD. Because Trigger had certain symptoms before becoming fully paralyzed and losing deep pain sensation. Her lower end and leg were shaking and she didn't want to jump up on her back legs at all.

ALSO - I am in California, how can i listen to the radio show??

Hi Dr. Marie,

Thank you for all your aid and advice. Trigger has been living with her wheelchair for a while now and she has adjusted beautifully. She is the happiest little thing and always wants to cuddle, play ball, or play tug of war with her rope. Adjusting to her paralysis was one of the hardest things i have dealt with but seeing her spirit made it all worth it. She does not have control of her bowels or urine and so i express her bladder daily and we have the bowel schedule down too. So there are no more messes like there were daily when this first happened. Clearly i didn't know how to care for her in the beginning and it was a learning process. I saw on your site that you are writing a book with stories of paralyzed dogs and why we should not put then down just bc they are paralyzed. I would love to tell my story. Do you have a paralyzed dog??

Also, I was hoping you could help me with something that actually happened a day or two ago. It's a much simpler case really. I am not exactly sure when this happened, and i will be taking her to the Dr. soon but i wanted your expertise since i am sure you have seen a case like this before and i have access to you at the moment.

Trigger's front paw definitely has some lameness to it and she puts very little weight on it. When she is laying down she keeps it curled mostly and i see it raising every so often. She definitely doesn't feel comfortable laying on the side that hurts. It looks like a sprain of sorts to me. She's young and so she still wants to fetch even though her paw hurts.

Your thoughts.

:)

If it was a sprain, how would that be treated? Would you keep her off of it as much as possible? Or is it ok for her to walk on it a little bit. I think what happened is she landed wrong when coming down from the couch.