Hi everyone. I hope there might be someone(s) out there who have had this experience, and can share with me for better or worse the possible outcomes.

One of our dogs ran headlong into a tree on Friday night. This left her mostly paralyzed in her back legs. Of course we saw the vet Friday night on an emergency basis, then again on Saturday morning for X-Rays. He gave her two steroid shots Friday night (one immediate acting, one slower acting) to try to stop any internal swelling that might be contributing to the problem.

The X-rays on Saturday showed no breaks or misalignments in the vertebrae, which we think is good news. The vet put her on oral steroids - starting with a heavy dose 2X daily, then backing down a bit every 2 days.

On Friday night and Saturday morning, the vet used a tool that looks like a flat pair of pliars to pinch her skin in several places on her back legs to guage her feeling of it. He got a little reaction on one side, and about zero reaction on the other.

Starting late Saturday afternoon she was able to briefly hold her own back end up with one of the rear legs. Last night and this morning she was able to sort of gimp along for a short distance on her own - the second back leg however seems useless at this stage.

This afternoon her ability to hold herself up on the "better" of the two legs seems to be diminishing. Of course she is on crate rest, and we only let her out to pee (and she has also pooped which I take as good news too - those things functioning). The steroids make her thirsty so she is drinking more and peeing more than usual.

Of course we carry her and hold her up as needed for these functions.

Has anyone experienced this type of paralysis as a result of head injury? If so, did the injury resolve and if so (or not) how did things progress?

I realize each situation can be different. I've not experienced this before and am trying to gain more insight into what we might expect, etc.

This is scary. Thanks in advance for any information - for better or worse - anyone is able to provide.

Beth

Hi Beth. I don't have any advice for you, but I wanted to express my sympathies for your girl. I wish you all the best and her a speedy recovery.

Thank you Mike. Assuming the partial paralysis is due to nerve damage, I guess the big question is whether or not, and if so how much, healing can/will happen. I was actually hopeful seeing her this morning hobbling a bit on one back leg. If one leg will work, she can survive this. But seeing that leg so much weaker this afternoon has me so scared. She is such a trooper too. No whining or "hang doggin' it" from her.

Your message means a lot to me.

Beth

Did they X-ray the entire spine? If it's only affecting the rear legs and it is spine damage, the damage will most likely be farther down the back, as the nerves that exit the spine to the rear legs exit the spinal cord down there.

Any swelling in that area due to cracked vertebrae would cause the issue, so would ruptured or badly bulging discs.

Hi John. Thank you for responding. The vet took 2 X-rays in order to get film of the entire spine. The vertebrae all looked fine.

Having gone through a disc problem myself, I don't think those are visible (at least not in detail) on the X-rays, right? I saw the X-rays myself, but of course would not have known what to look for as far as disc problems. The vet mentioned that if this doesn't resolve, that the next step would be to see a neurologist. I'm assuming that an MRI would reveal a disc problem? The only thing I have to base that "guess" on is that it took an MRI to see my own disc problem.

Obviously something is interfering with the nerves, and the vet was very concerned to control swelling. I assume that could mean somewhere in the head close to the actual injury, or somewhere else along the nerve pathways....could be anywhere?

Sorry...I'm rambling now....

Beth

I am so sorry to hear about your girl and wish her the best of luck. I am not up on canine spinal anatomy but I do know that in people, the ennervation of say the legs is farther up the spine than one would expect, starts between T12 & L1. Was her entire spine x-rayed? Also how quiet have you been able to keep her for healing? I hope this is something that heals completely with time.

Beth, I'm so sorry you all are going through this. This is very scary stuff and I hope she's completely better soon.

The only suggestion I would make is to see a neurologist as soon as possible....tomorrow, if you can get in. Not trying to take anything away from your regular vet, but this kind of injury really needs a specialist's expertise and experience, IMHO.

I've got my fingers crossed for her.

I was out training, but logged on fast to say what Sarah beat me to.

Time is of the essence, from everything I have ever read.

Beth,

How horrible. My thoughts are with you. I know some people (no dogs) who are living with brain injuries that made some decent (not full) recoveries but emergency surgeries to reduce swelling and drug induced comas were involved.

Thanks to all who continue to give feedback. This confirms our plan to talk to the vet first thing tomorrow, for an update, and if he thinks we need to head to the neurologist we will do it with urgency. (he has someone he highly recommends if we need to go that route, which it sounds like we probably will)

WHY does this type of stuff always seem to happen on the weekends? We are lucky our vet met us at his office at 10:30 or 11 on Friday night, and again fit us in at 7:30 on Saturday morning....

I hope there is hope.

Beth