Paralyzed dog is walking by himself!!!

[rooster0209]

I know a lady who took a doxie (about to be euthanized because of a rupt disk the owners couldnt pay for surgery) to her chiropractor. He didnt know much about working on dogs but gave it a try.

The dog walks now and periodically sees the dr again for adjustments. Pretty cool!

 

[corancher]

I also had a dachshund that ruptured a disc when he was five years old. Vet said surgery was the only answer to allow him to walk again. I did not have the money they wanted to do the surgery so I asked how I should care for him. It took several months of care but the little guy did heal and was able to walk and then run again. He lived to be 18 years old and never had any more problems with his back.

Sounds like the prognosis is good for your friend's dog.

 

[BeardedChick]

Update: Zippy has been home for almost a week. Progress is very slow, but steady. He is barely able to hold his own weight if someone picks him up, but his strength increases a little bit each day. He cannot move or control his back legs yet, but they think that will come. He will twitch them if you tickle his toes.

In the last few days his bladder control is returning - we took him outside to wee yesterday for the first time.

He is having daily therapy, and late this week should be able to start hydrotherapy.

It's slow progress - worse than watching bread rise - but he is not in any pain. He is fully off of painkillers, and is eating, and wanting to kill his favorite stuffed animal again (playing with it and shaking it). He likes to go for rides in the car and look around.

 

[Solsken Farm]

Quote:
I have not read any of the posts here other than yours, but this happened to one of our cockers several years ago. We stabilized her and through a miracle, she began walking after about a week. It was totally traumatizing.

We had to use a sling to take her out to potty and she did not move for days. She made a full recovery within a few weeks. We did not medicate her, as she could have done further injury without the pain.

I will check back to see how this pup is doing. I wish your friend and her doggie the best.

Edited to add: the vet gave her a 50/50 chance of living, and worse odds for regaining full use. Keep up the work. He may come around! Do you have a sling?

 

[BeardedChick]

Thanks Jennifer. My friend got a proper walking sling in the mail yesterday and before that we were using a nice sheepskin horse girth as a sling.

I hope my friend orders a two wheeled cart for Zippy. It would be helpful, and the vet is recommending it as well. My friend was hoping recovery would be much faster, but it may well be months rather than weeks.

 

[Solsken Farm]

Quote:
The cart sounds great, and I cannot remember how long it took, but it wasn't super speedy. When I say she walked after a week, my thinking its it was possibly more than a month before she was really walking well.

zippy looks precious and it is just so horrible when somehting unexpected like that happens out of the blue. In our case, Lily and our other dog got into a fight over some snip of food, and the next thing we know she was completely paralyzed. When the vet said she may not recover that night in the ER, we were devastated. Lily clearly had a strong will.

I pray little Zippy has the same will. I bet he does, he is adorable.

 

[verity]

Last November I volunteered to do the 're-hab' for a 10 year old Japanese Chin who had neck surgery and was completely paralyzed.
'Suki' belongs to an 80 year old woman who was unable to do the therapy so the vet specialists called me (I have done a bit of Japanese Chin rescue in the past and my name is still 'out there')

I kept Suki on a foam pad on the floor -- turned him and did a set of 'range of motion' exercises every few hours. He was able to express his bladder and bowels so it was mainly 'clean-up' for that and I didn't have to 'express' for him -- I kept the large pads for patients who are bed-ridden under him so that he'd stay clean.

It took nearly three weeks before I saw any progress and was so very discouraged but kept thinking of the lady who loved him so much,. (Suki had begun to 'hate' me because of the exercises!)

Finally he could lift his head and had some feeling in his front legs -- I carried him outside often and held him so that all four feet touched the ground -- then we moved to a sling --

Bit by bit, he improved and after 9 weeks he was back to normal -- which was pretty amazing as he was not a young dog -- it was a very happy day when we drove him to be reunited with his owner.

It was one of the most rewarding things I've done in a long time!

Animals are truly amazing and often have more of a 'will to recover'' than human patients do --

I hope the little dog will soon be up and about -- and that his people don't get too discouraged.

 

[Iceblink]

If your friend can find a good one in your area, I HIGHLY recommend working with a Certified Small Animal Massage Practitioner.

Massage does not heal the body, but helps the body heal itself. Here are a few of the ways massage could help your friends dog:

The lymphatic system is responsible for re-integrating the 10% or so of fluid that normally leaks through the veins and reducing the fluid from swelling at an inflammation site. The lymphatic system is similar to the cardiovascular system in that it depends on lymphatic fluid (like blood) and lymph nodes (a little like veins) . However, the cardiovascular system has the heart pumping to provide circulation, where the lymphatic system depends on the movement of skeletal muscles (limbs) to provide circulation.

When a dog is unable to move, the lymph system can't do it's job of reducing swelling and eliminating toxins.

1) What a massage practitioner will do is Manual Lymphatic Drainage, which is manually moving the lymph fluid through the body through massage. Not only will the swelling decrease, it will give his immune system a boost, and release endorphins.

Also, when a dog isn't moving their muscles or has gotten used to moving in an unusual way, the fascia (the connective tissue that covers and connects all the muscles and attaches them to the skin and bones) can dehydrate and form new connections, making it difficult for the dog to regain a fully effecient gait.

2) Massage will reallign the tissues and break up the fascial adhesions, removing trigger and stress points and allowing the dog improved range of motion and eliminating referrred pain patterns.

3) Massage will also help deal with any pain using the 'gate theory.'
In a nutshell the 'gate theory' is that pain is one of the slower sensations to reach the brain. Heat, cold, pressure and proprioception (body awareness) are all faster sensations. That is why when we get a paper cut we put pressure on it. We aren't going to bleed to death from a paper cut, but putting pressure on it blocks the pain. Or why when you wave an injured finger around it hurts less because the brain is constantly re-adjusting it's perception of where your finger is, and since the other senses are already in the brain, the 'gate' is 'shut' to the pain sensation.

Massage will also have numerious other benefits, but those are the first ones I could think of w/o knowing the whole situation.

Good luck and good thoughts to Zippy, he looks like a real cutie.

 

[BeardedChick]

First update: On Saturday, I went to my friend's house to watch a movie... After I walked in, Zippy got really excited and stood up by himself. Our jaws hit the floor.

He can't balance, but can use his HQ enough to lift himself. Someone just has to catch him so he doesn't fall.

Second update: My friend called today - he had Zippy outside & Zippy took off walking! Still no balance or coordination, but he was moving his legs by himself. He has walked about 350' twice today. He has strength to hold himself up, but his legs cross and he would fall if someone wasn't there to hold him up.

Anyway, it's very, very good news!

They are scheduled to go to ABQ for all of next week for PT.

GO ZIPPY!

 

[verity]

Hooray for Zippy!
SueR