Nike
In July 2020, my six-year-old fur baby was playing with her tennis ball when she dropped it at my feet. I casually lobbed it up for her to catch. She slightly reared up to catch it and then made the most awful scream I have ever heard. In the blink of an eye she was dragging both of her hind legs from one side of the room to the other trying to find comfort.
I got her calm and tried getting her to stand but one of her legs was completely limp while the other was wobbly. I immediately rushed her to the Emergency Vet that had a 5 hour wait. I refused to accept this and kept calling other vets stressing that something was very wrong, and she needed help right away. Eventually I found a vet that would see her after a few phone calls.
The most interesting thing about all of this, was how calm Nike was… after the initial shock and scream, she was relatively calm, and you would not have thought anything was wrong except her legs weren’t working.
At this point, probably an hour after the injury… the vet came in and looked at her and said “Oh yeah we have a broken knee… I can tell by the way she is holding it, its just hanging”, as I explained the weird scream and dragging of both legs and the vet quickly changed her tone and said “No, this isn’t a broken leg… this is a back injury and she’s suffering from paralysis”. The vet tried getting her to walk and my poor baby was falling all over the place.
The vet was extremely confident that this was what had happened and said that timing is everything in these situations, but that we needed to get her X-Rays to confirm.
The vet brought back with her the surgeon to explain what had happened and where to go. The surgeon stated that 2 of her discs in her spine had compressed and what was happening was neurological paralysis which is why her legs were not working. He said that the faster they can treat these cases, the better the results. He believed that she was a case that would not need surgery but needed to be hit hard with anti-inflammatory, steroids, and antibiotics to get the swelling off the spinal cord along with immobilization. They both felt confident that this was the proper course of action.
(Let me interject that this dog is my best friend, I love her to death and have had her since she was 8 weeks old… hearing the diagnosis, knowing the severity of the situation and not being guaranteed a fully recovery was a hard pill to swallow). Reading further about IVDD, my heart sank, and I felt like our lives were about to be dramatically altered.
Two days and thousands of dollars later… I was able to pick my baby up, and to my surprise, she was walking, weakly, but walking! I was so proud of her for being such a trooper!
Once we got home, we had to make some lifestyle changes. Sleeping on the floor, no playtime, only rest, carrying up and down stairs and a heavy dose of medicines (steroids, anti-inflammatory and antibiotics). I bought her little socks with grips on the bottom of them, I found this helpful for hardwood floors! Also, her first night or two she had issues with holding her bowels. The vet said this was due to stress and trauma that it would clear up, and it did.
Slowly but surely, day by day, my baby kept improving and I am SO grateful to say that we are now 2 months down the road and this is all just a bad dream as she is 99% back to the dog she was before the accident! We play, go for walks, venture to the dog park, is able to jump on the furniture/in my car and is back to her silly self!
Nike’s story has a happy ending, but I believe this is only because we got her to a vet that was able to quickly and properly diagnosis as well as treat her effectively! If we had waited even a few more hours, I do not know if we would have been so fortunate.
Key takeaways:
I hope that Nike’s story can help someone else! This is a serious injury and can happen as innocently as tossing your dog their beloved ball. Also, hopefully this gives hope to other owners who are going through this, that there is light at the end of the tunnel! Hang in there! You and your fur baby have got this!
Cat Bennett
I got her calm and tried getting her to stand but one of her legs was completely limp while the other was wobbly. I immediately rushed her to the Emergency Vet that had a 5 hour wait. I refused to accept this and kept calling other vets stressing that something was very wrong, and she needed help right away. Eventually I found a vet that would see her after a few phone calls.
The most interesting thing about all of this, was how calm Nike was… after the initial shock and scream, she was relatively calm, and you would not have thought anything was wrong except her legs weren’t working.
At this point, probably an hour after the injury… the vet came in and looked at her and said “Oh yeah we have a broken knee… I can tell by the way she is holding it, its just hanging”, as I explained the weird scream and dragging of both legs and the vet quickly changed her tone and said “No, this isn’t a broken leg… this is a back injury and she’s suffering from paralysis”. The vet tried getting her to walk and my poor baby was falling all over the place.
The vet was extremely confident that this was what had happened and said that timing is everything in these situations, but that we needed to get her X-Rays to confirm.
The vet brought back with her the surgeon to explain what had happened and where to go. The surgeon stated that 2 of her discs in her spine had compressed and what was happening was neurological paralysis which is why her legs were not working. He said that the faster they can treat these cases, the better the results. He believed that she was a case that would not need surgery but needed to be hit hard with anti-inflammatory, steroids, and antibiotics to get the swelling off the spinal cord along with immobilization. They both felt confident that this was the proper course of action.
(Let me interject that this dog is my best friend, I love her to death and have had her since she was 8 weeks old… hearing the diagnosis, knowing the severity of the situation and not being guaranteed a fully recovery was a hard pill to swallow). Reading further about IVDD, my heart sank, and I felt like our lives were about to be dramatically altered.
Two days and thousands of dollars later… I was able to pick my baby up, and to my surprise, she was walking, weakly, but walking! I was so proud of her for being such a trooper!
Once we got home, we had to make some lifestyle changes. Sleeping on the floor, no playtime, only rest, carrying up and down stairs and a heavy dose of medicines (steroids, anti-inflammatory and antibiotics). I bought her little socks with grips on the bottom of them, I found this helpful for hardwood floors! Also, her first night or two she had issues with holding her bowels. The vet said this was due to stress and trauma that it would clear up, and it did.
Slowly but surely, day by day, my baby kept improving and I am SO grateful to say that we are now 2 months down the road and this is all just a bad dream as she is 99% back to the dog she was before the accident! We play, go for walks, venture to the dog park, is able to jump on the furniture/in my car and is back to her silly self!
Nike’s story has a happy ending, but I believe this is only because we got her to a vet that was able to quickly and properly diagnosis as well as treat her effectively! If we had waited even a few more hours, I do not know if we would have been so fortunate.
Key takeaways:
- If you suspect something is wrong with your dog, DON’T DELAY. Animals are great at hiding pain, so be observant to anything unusual such as lethargy.
- IVDD symptoms are not always as instantaneous to show as Nike’s case… it can be a delayed reaction, so watch for any deterioration of neurological functions such as delayed or uncoordinated movements. If they are having trouble walking… take them to the vet ASAP.
- If you have a vet that can’t see you quickly, do not hold off… Insist this is an emergency, timing is everything in these cases… the longer you wait the harder the recovery.
- Surgery is not always necessary… every case is different and that is for your vet to determine but do know that there are different approaches depending on the severity.
- Pet Insurance – GET IT. Nike has had pet insurance since she was 2 years old and I have saved thousands of dollars with it… It also takes the pressure off me, so I don’t need to make a tough decision between my baby’s well-being or my finances… I automatically know I am covered with insurance to some extent so I cannot stress this enough! While they did not pay for the full bill, they paid for a hefty chunk of it. I use Nationwide and have had zero issues with them.
- Timing is so important in these situations, so do NOT hold off…. You aren’t being rash; you are being responsible!
I hope that Nike’s story can help someone else! This is a serious injury and can happen as innocently as tossing your dog their beloved ball. Also, hopefully this gives hope to other owners who are going through this, that there is light at the end of the tunnel! Hang in there! You and your fur baby have got this!
Cat Bennett