A dog with CDRM at my clinic.
I have had a web site related veterinary matters for some fifteen years now and in that time I have had my share of E-mail from my readers, many asking for veterinary advice, here is a typical one, I have of course omitted any personal details.
” I have a 16 year old altatian dog and he is suffering from paralysis. The dog is having problem getting up and its been 2 days it hasnt been able to walk. I would be obliged if you could give me some remedies regarding this and help my dog recover from paralysis. ”
One of my staff gave our standard reply which is along the lines of …. Unfortunately it is not possible to give an accurate diagnosis unless we can see the animal first hand, and therefore we are unable to prescribe any form of treatment. Please call us on 01245 32xxxx to arrange an appointment with one of our vets. but the reply came back …
” Sir, Thank you for your response.I stay in Nepal, Kathmandu so there are no good vets here so I thought of taking suggestions from a professional vet. Since its difficult for you to reach us here. Is there anything I could do now to help my Dog recover from paralysis.”
Most vets would normally shy clear of offering advice on the phone to clients in the local area, it is far better to see people at the clinic and be certain of the diagnosis. The chap from Kathmandu I felt was different, in that case I was pleased to offer him general advice and suggested a few drugs he could pick up from a local pharmacy in Nepal which might help, I am waiting now for his e-mail to tell me how it is all going. Having said that an Alsatian dog of sixteen years of age with paralysis is most likely a hopeless case. I guess it could be hip dysplasia, CDRM which is a disease which causes a slow paralysis of the hind legs of Alsatians, or even good old fashioned old age.
The above photo is of an alsatian dog with chronic degenerative, radiculomelopathy [ CDRM ] I recently had in my clinic, see how it has lost the function of its back legs. I will write about CDRM at some future point. This disease is also called degenerative myelopathy and it may be regarded as an Alsatian disease.
The dog from Kathmandu is just one example, another I remember was from a gentleman in Alabama, USA, who told me that his dog was suffering from red mange which I take to be demodectic mange but he could not afford to take it to his local vet. I wrote back and suggested a few things he could do, he then replied that if I did not post the appropriate drugs to him at once he would take his dog out into the countryside and shoot it. Well obviously the fees for whatever charm school his parents sent him to when he was a boy was money well spent!!! Needless to say I did not send any drugs but talk about moral blackmail!
Another case was of an aid worker in Sudan who phoned me via a satellite phone to ask how he could carry out euthanasia on his dog which had been struck by a car and was injured beyond repair and suffering, a very distraught call for both myself and the aid worker.
Ah well! I wonder what will be in my in-box tomorrow ?
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My friends dog recently went to the vet to get spayed and came back paralyed on the back end she can still move her front legs but not her back ones the vet says they dont know what happened do you think she will ever regain any feeling in her back end?
Hello Sarah,
I am really sorry to hear about this dog.
I have spayed a great many dogs in my time and this has never happened to me. There would be some general possibilities as to why this may have happened.
1. A blood clot which has lodged in the spine somewhere or some other pathology related to circulating blood clots perhaps. What I am saying here is that it could be some rare unavoidable reason related to surgery which was properly carried out.
2. It could have been some trauma to the spine which took place while the dog was at the vets, perhaps it fell from the operating table or was fractious and had to be restrained. Now of course I am only thinking aloud here, we would have no way of knowing what went on unless you were actually there. Understand trauma is the main reason for hind end paralysis in the dog.
3. Some pre-existing disease could have been present prior to surgery and stress etc. set it off.Some slipped disk type conditions could be in this category.
One thing I do know though the buck stops on the desk of the vet who carried this operation out. It is down to him or her to get X-rays and/or scans carried out, some positive diagnosis made if possible and appropriate treatment started.
Sorry there is no way of knowing if any feeling will return without knowing more about the case ..
Regards,
Scott