It happens! Usually it is not predictable and frequently it is devastating. Your beloved dog has become paralyzed. What do you do now?
In our case, our dog was young, only five years old and she was so healthy and active and FAST! She is a Belgian sheepdog mix, she is a herding dog and she loved to run. There wasn't a squirrel or rabbit safe around her yard at all. In fact in short order we didn't have any intruding animals in her domain. But we think that day, she was chasing a squirrel up a tree, she jumped several feet into the air and then she landed... just a bit off balance. We didn't notice anything right away. But that evening after she took her normal walk with her Dad (My husband, James) she was limping and her back legs were not acting right.
Within a couple hours it was obvious she was in trouble. She whimpered and could not move her back legs and they were not looking right, pointing in the wrong way, like a neurological thing had happened to her. We called the emergency vet. You know, of course, it was midnight when this happened, and within hours she was having emergency surgery.
When she came through the surgery it was touch and go as to whether the damage had been stopped from traveling up her spine, which would have involved her heart and lungs. It was wait and see for awhile. But it did stop, she was going to live.
After three days we were allowed to bring her home. They gave us a quick lesson on how to sling walk her and how to express her bladder. She was completely incontinent and had no movement at all in her back legs. That's it! That's what we were told as to how to take care of our paralyzed dog. Maybe because we are nurses(both Jim and I are) they thought we'd just automatically know what to do...
Well, let me tell you, this was the most huge learning curve I have ever been on. And at the time there was no help out there. Nothing on the Internet, our vet had no experience with it. And come to find out, it was unusual for a family to bring home a paralyzed dog, usually they were euthanized.
We were in shock!...but we learned and that is what we hope this page will do for you. Lessen that learning curve and help you to be able to live and love and care for your paralyzed dog.
In our case, our dog was young, only five years old and she was so healthy and active and FAST! She is a Belgian sheepdog mix, she is a herding dog and she loved to run. There wasn't a squirrel or rabbit safe around her yard at all. In fact in short order we didn't have any intruding animals in her domain. But we think that day, she was chasing a squirrel up a tree, she jumped several feet into the air and then she landed... just a bit off balance. We didn't notice anything right away. But that evening after she took her normal walk with her Dad (My husband, James) she was limping and her back legs were not acting right.
Within a couple hours it was obvious she was in trouble. She whimpered and could not move her back legs and they were not looking right, pointing in the wrong way, like a neurological thing had happened to her. We called the emergency vet. You know, of course, it was midnight when this happened, and within hours she was having emergency surgery.
When she came through the surgery it was touch and go as to whether the damage had been stopped from traveling up her spine, which would have involved her heart and lungs. It was wait and see for awhile. But it did stop, she was going to live.
After three days we were allowed to bring her home. They gave us a quick lesson on how to sling walk her and how to express her bladder. She was completely incontinent and had no movement at all in her back legs. That's it! That's what we were told as to how to take care of our paralyzed dog. Maybe because we are nurses(both Jim and I are) they thought we'd just automatically know what to do...
Well, let me tell you, this was the most huge learning curve I have ever been on. And at the time there was no help out there. Nothing on the Internet, our vet had no experience with it. And come to find out, it was unusual for a family to bring home a paralyzed dog, usually they were euthanized.
We were in shock!...but we learned and that is what we hope this page will do for you. Lessen that learning curve and help you to be able to live and love and care for your paralyzed dog.
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