Poorly Dog, Advice please

[parkj83]

My Dennis is not a well doggie.

He's currently undergoing treatment for, well, we're not sure yet.

Basically, I got home from work yesterday, and he wasn't his usual bouncy self - in fact, he wouldn't get out of his bed to greet either myself or my husband. He was very slow in moving, and seemed to limping or something. We thought he might have taken a tumble down our stairs.

We took him to the vet last night, who thought he might have hurt his back. He gave Dennis some painkillers, and then asked to see him again this morning.

This morning, he wasn't even able to walk straight, and he wasn't placing his paws correctly - he was putting his front paws down, and his toes were curling under, and he wasn't correcting the problem himself - it was making him fall over. He was shaking like mad, and yelping every now and again if he jarred himself.

Anyway, the vet admitted him, did as full a neurological exam on him as he could, but wasn't able to find anything conclusive. He referred Dennis to a very good spinal injury specialist, who saw him straight away (this was about 1pm).

The specialist looked Dennis over, and eventually ruled out disc damage and vertebra damage. Thing is, he still wasn't sure exactly what the problem was.

He suggested it might be poisoning, or tetanus, or an inflammation/infection of Dennis's brain and/or spinal cord.

He has now also advised that Dennis might have to go to a neurological specialist in Newmarket. He has also said that if Dennis deteriorates any further in the night, that Dennis would definitely have to go there.

Problem is, I live in Swindon (which is where Dennis is at the moment too). Newmarket is 150 miles away, and my insurance company have now told me verbally that they won't help with any transfer costs. If I have to take Dennis, I haven't got enough money to feul such a trip, and I'd have to take a day off work too.

I've gone through my policy details and there's nothing in the policy to say that they won't help with this. They haven't written that they won't, and they haven't written that they will.

It does however say that I am covered for "vets fees (injury and illness): For injury and illness, including hospitalisation, referral and complimentary medicine up to £xxxx".

Would this recommendation that Dennis go there be classed as a referal?

Are there any charities, or organisations which could help me get him there?

Oh dear parkj83, I wish I could offer you some sound advice. I would have thought that it is classed as a referral. Hopefully you will be covered. How old is Dennis? Poor thing, I hope things work out for you both. Good luck.

Thanks penny. Any support is much appreciated. We think Dennis is between 6 and 8. We rescued him in January and he's always been so full of life. It sunk in with ds last night that Dennis wasn't around, and he was so upset. Took dh and me best part of an hour to calm him down

I think that the specialist in Newmarket would count as a referral , patricularly as your vet suggested it. To be on the safe side, check with the vet, I imagine they will do a referral letter or phonecall to the guy in question.
This is exactly the thing the insurance company should cover, so they shouldn't quibble over that, as it is treatment.
It is tricky though with regards the travel.I'm sorry I don't have any suggestions as to where you could get help with it.Perhaps ask your vet. Good luck
I hope Dennis is doing ok, and i hope your DS is coping as well. Fingers crossed

Well, update. Dennis deteriorated overnight, amd so we made the decision to take him to the neurology specialist. It turned out that the one in Newmarket was unable to see Dennis today. So instead, we managed to get an appointment at the rvc in London. We took Dennis there this afternoon, and we managed to get him in for a MRI scan. We have since had the result from the scan, and Dennis needs surgery to remove an extruded disc which has moved to damage his spinal cord. He's in surgery now and we're waiting for a call to tell us how it went

POor dennis(love the name btw)

Do you think he fell down the stairs?
Glad he's being sorted now.

Everything crossed for Dennis-please let us know how he gets on.

Ok, update again! The op was a relative success, and Dennis was waking up and more importantly breathing on his own. The area where the problem was is a tricky one, as it's very close to the nerves which control his diaphragm. So the fact that he can breathe on his own means they weren't affected during the op. That was the biggest risk. The college will let him rest as much as possible, but they will need to do some reflex tests. They'll phone me with those results tomorrow afternoon. Phew! Well, it's been a nerve wracking day so I'm going to hit the sack. Thanks everyone, and I'll fill you all in with a full report tomorrow...

so pleased for dennis.You must post a photo of him,am intrigued now.

glad the operation went well.hope he continues to recuperate well

Thanks again everyone

At the time of the call, Dennis was awake, and happy in himself. Admittedly, he's on pretty strong morphine, so I'd be worried if he wasn't happy!

The surgeon who carried out the op phoned us, and said they were more than happy with the way the op went, and his reflex tests on his legs went fine.

They've left him be for the rest of today, and they will do some more reflex tests, and possibly some kind of physio tomorrow.

Ggirl, I'd love to stick up a pic of my menace, however, I don't know how

Help? (again!)

Time for a big update

Dennis is coming home!! (Tomorrow)

My menace managed to shock the vet on duty on Sunday morning. She came in to check on all the animals, and Dennis was standing up, unaided, and pinching water from his neighbour's bowl. They'd never seen that before!

And by the end of yesterday, he was able to wee by himself (that was a big worry), and he was able to do some light walking, so the vet said that provided he could cope without the injectable painkillers today and tonight, he can come home tomorrow