Our dog has lost the use of her legs!

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

This happened at lunchtime - she had been asleep on the couch, and when I told her to get down, her legs wouldn’t support her, even when I helped her off.

My wonderful vet came out to see us - dh was away for work, and there was no way I could get 37kg of immobile dog off the floor and into the car - and she reckoned that the cold had made her seize up, and now she was stiff and in pain, so she gave the dog a painkiller injection (methadone!), left some tablets, and told me to try to get her up and walking after she had had a sleep.

That was at 1.30pm, and she is still not able to stand at all. The vet has to,d me to give her the painkilling tablets she left, and some food, and try to get her up later, when dh is home, and if there is no improvement by tomorrow, to take her to the surgery.

I am really worried - even after really major painkillers, she can’t stand up, let alone walk, and althoughnshe did take the tablet in a bit of cheese, she has refused the scrambled egg I made her - she normally loves it, and I wanted to tempt her. She is half Labrador, so loss of appetite is really scary.

Has anyone else had this happen to a dog? It wasn’t cold in the house - I had put the heating back on as soon as the dogs had had their breakfast and been out, but it is -3 outside. Can a dog get so stiff from being a bit chilly that they can’t even stand?

I am just so worried that she won’t ever be able to stand again, and then there will be only one choice.

[DramaAlpaca]

I'm sorry this has happened to your lovely dog SDTG. Is she elderly, by any chance?

I'm sorry to tell you that the same thing happened to one of our elderly dogs, and also to my SIL's dog (same litter) and unfortunately it did lead to the inevitable.

I really, really hope your DDog improves & unMumsnetty

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

She is pretty elderly, yes - and she has been slowing down on her walks recently too.

Thank you for the hug!

Dh is home now, so we are going to see if we can get her moving, and if that helps.

[BiteyShark]

I don't have any advice but how worrying for you. Hope you can get her moving again

[Itstimeslikethese]

This happened to my nans dog , he lost the use of his back legs ,bless , & im sorry to say in the end had to be 'put down' I do hope this isn't the case with your dog xx

[Bellatrix14]

This happened to my German shepherd (she’s 6 or 7, so quite an old lady for that breed!), I noticed she was getting stiff all of the sudden one evening, then an hour later she couldn’t move her back legs at all and couldn’t put any weight on them. She had something called an FCE, which is basically a small blood clot on the spine (so she was actually temporarily paralysed as opposed to being in lots of pain), and 24 hours later she was basically back to normal.

I looked fairly idiotic as I rang my vet close to tears about 10:30pm on Thursday evening, then got towed in to the vets by the dog the next morning (she likes the vets!) looking like I’d been imagining things. The veterinary nurse looked at her, laughed and said “Is this the dog who couldn’t walk twelve hours ago?”

I’m not saying this is what’s happened to your girl at all, but it might be a possibility? I really just wanted to share a story with a happier outcome with you. It could also be the start of arthritis brought on my the cold? I hope she’s ok

[Crunched]

My, then 12 year old Springer, had this one freezing day last winter following eating his food outside. He came in, dragging his hind quarters along, it was so distressing to see although he didn’t seem in pain.
After a night in his crate he went back to normal and is leaping around my feet as I write.
I do hope your girl gets back on four legs soon.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

We are at the vet hospital now as she wasn’t any better - though on the way over, she started to use her front legs, and even tried to use the back ones so that is a hopeful sign.

[FVFrog]

Hope all is well and it gets sorted out for your girl. Keep us updated. Fingers crossed for you

[ilovekale]

No advice but sending hugs as I'm sure it's awfully distressing. Fingers crossed for her!

[Floralnomad]

Best wishes for your dog OP

[Wolfiefan]

Oh no. Sending healing vibes and a gentle cwtch. I would be suspecting something neuro or even spinal. (but then I have anxiety and watch FAR too much vet stuff on TV.) Mine can cramp and limp if she sleeps in the same position for too long.

[Blistory]

I hope it goes well. We've spent many anxious hours at the Glasgow vet hospital but it was worth it for the level of care and expertise.

[StrongTea]

One of our old dogs had similar was sort of like a trapped nerve, got painkillers, steroid injection, tooka couple of days till he was back on his feet. Hope your dog is okay.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Well - the news isn’t bad - they think she has an inner ear problem - like labyrinthitis so her world is spinning, poor thing.

She has had anti nausea drugs and they hope it will resolve over the next few days. If it doesn’t it could be something more serious but the vet’s best guess is that it is due to her age.

If it does clear up and doesn’t recur, we may never know why it happened.

Thank you so much - you and my FB friends have been my rock!

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

And we are in our way home.

[Wolfiefan]

Oh that’s a horrid feeling. I had a work colleague who had that and she felt awful. It was really incapacitating. Hope she feels better very soon.

[DramaAlpaca]

Oh, that sounds like reasonably good news. Hope she continues to improve.

[serialtester]

You sound like a lovely dog owner. Hope everything is ok in the morning.

[Blistory]

Aw, fingers crossed you and she have a peaceful night and wake up to a better day.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I have had a - thankfully short - episode of labyrinthitis, and it was horrible - I couldn’t get my balance, and had to hold onto furniture just to get to the bathroom - and when I was back in bed, I didn’t want to move my head at all.

And I knew what was going on - Mia must have been so scared - not knowing why her world wouldn’t stay still.

[Wolfiefan]

It must be an awful feeling. Hope all is better soon. (And glad my neuro worries were stupid and unnecessary. Bloody anxiety. )

[DustyMcDustbuster]

Give your girl a hug from me. My 10 yr pls staffy went a bit like that last year. It turned out she had a bulging disc in her spine. Was on crate rest & building up to lead walks on the flat - with anti inflammatory meds. She is good as new now. But I have to watch she doesn’t jump off things.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Well - we had a bit of a restless night with her - we left her in her bed in the front room, and she was OK whilst she was asleep, but each time she woke up, she was upset and whimpered or barked - I am guessing because she was confused by waking up in the wrong place, and feeling like her world was spinning around her.

She still can't stand up for more than a moment or two, and did have an accident in her bed overnight, but she has had some breakfast, and the eye twitching that the vet noticed, and said was a symptom of the vestibular disease, does seem to be improving.

If she isn't back on her feet by Sunday, we have got to take her back to the vet hospital, so they can investigate why she has the vestibular disease, and if there is anything they can do to treat the cause.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Quick update - she didn’t really improve much at all, between Thursday night and this morning, and dh and I have had to sleep downstairs with her - we took it in turns one night, and both slept down here with her, in the front room last night - me on the couch and dh on a mattress on the floor. He slept well like that so,is doing the same tonight, and I will go,up to bed.

Anyhow, this morning, she was able to walk through the house (with towels on the hard floors to stop her slipping) and out to the garden, where she did her business - including a poo, which was a relief, as she hadn’t done one since Thursday morning!

She can get up to standing, walk a little way on her own, though she is still wobbly and unsteady, and can get onto the couch, so she is curled up next to me, with her head on my knee.

Yesterday I was really worried, because I couldn’t see any real improvement, but now I am feeling much more optimistic.

Fingers crossed she will go on improving, because dh is heading off for work on Tuesday and won’t be back until Friday night, so I will be coping on my own.

[DramaAlpaca]

That all sounds very optimistic, which is great. She's such a lucky girl to have two people who clearly love her so much. Hope things continue to go in the right direction.