Paralyzed dog.

Dr. Marie replied:

Oh no. This is such a difficult situation. I'll give you my thoughts, but I'm not sure if you will be any further ahead in your decision making.

First of all, when I see a dog with complete hind end paralysis following an accident, the prognosis is always very poor. But, you are right. The ability to wag her tail is an excellent sign. The problem is that no one knows whether the healing will continue or not. You may continue to see a gradual improvement, ending in complete healing. Or, you might see just a little bit more improvement but still no bladder or hind limb control.

I have seen cases like this go both ways. I've seen dogs remain completely paralyzed after a disc rupture. I can recall one case though of a very large Rottweiler that had complete hind limb paralysis. This case was very bad with no deep pain sensation at all. I recommended euthanasia but the owners did not want this. They carried this massive dog outside and supported him and did physiotherapy with him and after a few months he eventually did make a complete recovery.

What I can tell you is that this is not the norm though. The problem is that we don't know the extent of the damage in the spinal cord. If there is just swelling around the spinal cord then in another week or two you could see a dramatic improvement as the swelling goes down. But, if there is significant damage to the spinal cord, then the chances of it healing are small.

In cases like this, what I usually tell people is right off the bat, if there is complete paralysis with no deep pain, it is not wrong to euthanize because the odds say that there will not be a full recovery. If people want to try recovery, then I say to give it a few weeks. Write down every new thing that is happening so that you can get a sense of whether or not there is still healing. And then I recommend to set limits. What I mean by this is to have your family set some rules such as, "If in a week there is still no deep pain in the legs then we will go ahead with euthanasia." Or, "If in three weeks there is no leg movement then we will go ahead with euthanasia." It's never an easy decision though.

You may want to ask your vet if Sadie is a candidate for a doggie wheelchair. She would be a better candidate if she regains bladder control though.

I'm so sorry for this hard decision. I really do hope that she continues to improve.

Dr. Marie.


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Dr. Marie replied:

These are encouraging sounds! I would love for you to let me know how things work out. I'm praying for a complete recovery.