Beth,

Last November one of my dogs experienced complete paralysis on his right side. It began in his right rear leg and quickly progressed to his right front leg until he was unable to get up on his own. Thread is here.

Currently, he has recovered about 60-70% of the use of his right side and has adjusted well.

Just wanted to share this with you -- there is hope.

Beth,

My thoughts and prayers are also with you as you go thru this difficult time with your girl. Hope for the best!

Beth
If I were in your situation I would do TTouch (Linda Tellington Jones) on the dog several times a day, starting on her head and working all the way to the tip of her tail. At the very least it will help relax and soothe her which will speed healing.
I would also get her to a good Chiropractor.

Hello everyone. Thank you all so much for the good wishes and advice. It's so hard to know what to do, especially when balancing the realities of budget, which unfortunately come into play sometimes.

For now we are still staying the course with the vet recommendation - continuing the steroids per the doseage instructions and keeping her on crate rest. Her better hind leg is stronger today, and the weaker leg is still showing toe curl, but she is able to lift it up a bit from the top, so it seems that she is getting some recovery in that leg too. The change is small, but after a couple of days not getting worse, but not really seeing improvement we are encouraged.

Just wanted to provide an update.

Beth

Keep in mind too, that she may be stiff and sore right now, so that will hinder a lot of movement and progress- which isn't a bad thing. Sore, stiff muscles are your body's way of keeping you from pushing it too much, too soon.

My husband had multiple brain surgeries, and was in rehabilitation for over a year (6 mos inpatient, 6 mos outpatient). He had to learn to walk all over again.

But he did it.

We're all rooting for you and your girl.

Alyssa, your husband's surgery and recovery process must have been terrifying. I'm glad to hear that he recovered no matter how long it took.

We are so relieved - Kimba is showing a little bit of improvement again today. We had a follow up call with the vet last night and we are all encouraged by the progress. It will take some time, but we have strong hope now that she can recover and lead a normal dog life. She may not achieve the mobility she used to have, but that's A-OK.

Whew.

Beth

Beth,

So happy that Kimba is improving! It is a slow road but every little improvement is encouraging. My dog's recovery is almost complete but it took a long time. Later down the road (when she's ready for it), you might consider physical therapy for her. After so much crate time, there is muscle atrophy (at least for my dog). It was very helpful for us. And, a friend (whose dog had 2 spinal surgeries) said that an underwater treadmill was the best thing for her dog. The water helps take the weight off the legs and allows the dog to exercise the muscles. Just a thought, that you might want to consider in the future. Once again, great news.

Beth, How scary!
I can't speak from dog experience, but I work on a neuro/trauma hospital floor, and the best things right now are the anti-inflammatories and rest. Often when the brain and nervous system are involved, time will tell how complete recovery will be. If there is no overt injury, it's very difficult to predict the outcome. The hardest part is that with a dog they can't tell you what they're feeling or if they hurt.
You're in my thoughts! Keep us posted! Yay for the progress you've made already!!!

Mary, I've been thinking about that - how weak her muscles will be after so much crate time. Thanks for the suggestion of under water treadmill - I don't know who around here might have one but I'll sure look into it. I was just thinking this morning (after seeing Kimba go out for potty and show more improvement!) that I need to talk to the vet again so we have a good plan for whatever and whenever exercise should be introduced.

Stephanie thank you for sharing your experience with head injuries. That's exactly the "mode" we are in - just seeing what her body will do - not much else we can do at this point to "help" it. (she will be totally off the Prednisone in another 4 or 5 days - the dose started high and 2X daily, then tapered down some every other day - now we're a small dose once a day, about to go to a small dose every other day...)

She is getting tired of this crate rest business. She actually tried to RUN when she got outside today. Her balance isn't good enough for that yet, but she rarely lands on the curled toes instead of the pad - and that's on the worse leg. It's been a few days since she's been 100% on the pad of the better rear leg.

What a relief.

The vet sure knew the all on this one. I'm so glad he was available to meet us at the office that fateful night. No telling where this would have gone at the emergency place with a stranger.......

Thanks everyone for your continued feedback and support. It means a lot to Gary and I.

Beth