OntarioSheltie
Forums Celebrity
So sorry to hear that you and your family are going through this with Charlie, especially at this time of year. Its such a scary, traumatic thing to happen without adding holiday stress to the situation.
My Sadie had a spinal stroke almost a year and a half ago, it was just before her 3rd birthday.
We chose not to undergo the expensive testing. We were told that the testing wouldn't prove that it was a spinal stroke, just that it would rule out other problems. We did allow our vet to perform an xray and I think she also did some blood work.
Since Sadie wasn't in any pain so we chose to take her home and treat her with prednisone and physical therapy. Luckily I was on vacation when this happened so I was able to focus my attention on her for a week.
Sadie made remarkable progress on the prednisone and we were also able to take her swimming daily, which also made a HUGE difference.
I can't remember who said it, but there is a sort of 3 day, 3 week, 3 month rule with regard to spinal strokes. You'll see the most significant progress after 3 days. You'll see progress, but less after 3 weeks, then you'll stop seeing progress after 3 months.
I looked at this as a 3 month window to get as much physical therapy done as possible. I went to a vet who specializes in pet therapy. She was able to give me a number of exercises to do with Sadie at home. The swimming made the biggest difference though, if you have access to a pool swimming therapy is the best for rehabilitation.
I was really lucky that Sadie made the progress that she did, she regained approx. 95% of the use of her back legs. That being said, the use of prednisone and physical therapy can usually help in a big way so don't lose hope that Charlie can improve a great deal too.
Check out the thread on Sadie that Danisgoat mentioned, there's a lot of information there and some videos of Sadie that might give you hope. I'll also send you a private message (PM) with my email address and phone number, if you'd like to talk.
Hang in there! Hugs to Charlie!
My Sadie had a spinal stroke almost a year and a half ago, it was just before her 3rd birthday.
We chose not to undergo the expensive testing. We were told that the testing wouldn't prove that it was a spinal stroke, just that it would rule out other problems. We did allow our vet to perform an xray and I think she also did some blood work.
Since Sadie wasn't in any pain so we chose to take her home and treat her with prednisone and physical therapy. Luckily I was on vacation when this happened so I was able to focus my attention on her for a week.
Sadie made remarkable progress on the prednisone and we were also able to take her swimming daily, which also made a HUGE difference.
I can't remember who said it, but there is a sort of 3 day, 3 week, 3 month rule with regard to spinal strokes. You'll see the most significant progress after 3 days. You'll see progress, but less after 3 weeks, then you'll stop seeing progress after 3 months.
I looked at this as a 3 month window to get as much physical therapy done as possible. I went to a vet who specializes in pet therapy. She was able to give me a number of exercises to do with Sadie at home. The swimming made the biggest difference though, if you have access to a pool swimming therapy is the best for rehabilitation.
I was really lucky that Sadie made the progress that she did, she regained approx. 95% of the use of her back legs. That being said, the use of prednisone and physical therapy can usually help in a big way so don't lose hope that Charlie can improve a great deal too.
Check out the thread on Sadie that Danisgoat mentioned, there's a lot of information there and some videos of Sadie that might give you hope. I'll also send you a private message (PM) with my email address and phone number, if you'd like to talk.
Hang in there! Hugs to Charlie!
. I didn't know this happened till he started limping I panicked and asked my DH John about it and he told me Toby fell and is probably having a delayed on set of limping. 