Jump to content

11 Year Old Dog Suddenly Lost Balance And Can No Longer Walk


Guest donatella
 Share

Recommended Posts

They're still unsure exactly what it is but the blood results are good and theyre now thinking a possible lesion on his spinal cord as he is responding to very high doses of cortisone. Yesterday he couldnt stand and today he was standing in the vets cage, still can't walk but standing is a progress. Hes a funny little guy and won't eat for other people but ate some ham and cheese (his fave foods from my brother) sp hoping that its a step forward in the right direction and no harsh decisions have to be made. Fingers crossed.

I've just remembered! One of the pet tibbies, only a young fellow, had an episode like this. Loss of ability to walk....taken into vet's clinic. Testing didn't find anything specific. Over a number of days, the ability gradually came back.

I've got a vague memory that the culprit was thought to be something transient occurring in his spinal cord (fluid?).

That was some time ago. He's fine. There's not been a repeat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest donatella

Thank you everyone for the advice and well wishes.

Nelson came home last night, he's walking, barking and today running around. He's still a bit unsteady to pee (trying to lift his leg and balance on 3 legs) and may have to learn to pee like a girl from now on but he's regained mobility and we have the old Nelly back. My mum is so happy considering 2 nights ago she was thinking she'd have to put him down, we still have a few more years left in this guy :)

I think the final diagnosis was a lesion on his spinal cord but it reacted to the high doses of cortisone injections so i'm guessing he's been discharged on tablets for a while.

Happy happy smiles at the family house today.

Edited by donatella
Link to comment
Share on other sites

DON'T GIVE UP! I have been going through this with my 8 year old boxer Bondi since november- she was screaming in pain, and then couldnt walk at all. Her back legs were completely paralysed. We took her to vets thinking the worst, to have her PTS- and vet suggested it could be a FCE (fibrocatilagenous embolism / spinal stroke) We were refered to a specialist neurologist,who suspected an herniated disc. bondi after afew weeks being on drugs (painkillers, valium, steroids and various other anti-inflamatories) started to get better. However, she would get better and then worse again. I had previously decided not to do the myelogram (inject dye into spine and do xray/scans) due to the risk associated and the cost and the fact that she was improving with drugs, but after nearly 2 months of ups and downs, she went down hill again and I decided to do it just before xmas. Vet suggested a CT myelogram- but it turned out that they only had to do a regular CT scan to see what was wrong ($1600). She had a massive infection in her spine and also multiple lesions compressing on her spinal cord. She is now on antibiotics for a minimum of 12 weeks to kill the infection, also on strict crate rest, painkillers and we have taken her off the steroids so she can fight infection (and also because she was loosing too much condition on steroids- she was 30kg, got down to 22kg). Since she has been off the steroids she was regained condition and now weighs 25.5kg. She is improving everyday, and can actually walk and get up on her own now, although she is still quite wobbly on her feet. It is going to be a long recovery process- parts of her spine have been eaten away, so we need to wait for the infection to clear up before the bone can start to become fiberous again and regrow. She has spondylosis in her spine aswell, so her spine might re-calcify quicker than dogs without spondylosis. Then hopefully and compression on the spine will be relieved and she will be able to gain more function back. The nerves are the slowest part in the body to heal though- so it will be a long road ahead- 6months + and she will probably never walk the same again, but we are confident she will be able to get around on her own again and enjoy a normal life again :) She is so happy again now, but there have been many days through this horrible time when she wasn't and I have considered PTS- I'm sooo glad I didnt now!

If vet suggests a myelogram, don't delay like I did.

Goodluck and keep us posted.

post-4216-0-73760300-1326527146_thumb.jpg

post-4216-0-30540000-1326527186_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nelson is a cutie, so happy he is feeling better.

We had a scare similar with our 10 year old kelpie who was very difficult to diagnose.

Turned out to be cyanide poisoning from eating plums that had fallen off our fruit trees, of all things.

Vet also though stroke, then possible tetanus before the final results came through and we put two and two together.

Thank goodness for fantastic vets :) they are worth their weight in gold!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...