Acute spinal injury-ANNPE

[Angrymum22]

My beautiful Labrador suffered an acute spinal injury on Friday. She was chasing a ball, we think she landed funnily and caused damage to one of her discs. Immediately she screamed and thrashed around, it quickly became apparent she couldn’t use her back legs.

We live a couple of minutes from our vets so bundled her into the car and she was seen straight away. It was about 4.30pm and vet managed to refer her to a specialist vet hospital and the neurologist waited for us to turn up so she can assess her.
She has made good progress as an inpatient over the weekend and hopefully I will bring her home later on today.
She has feeling back but is still knuckling in her left. She needs a sling to help her walk. Fortunately her bladder and bowel are working normally.

I have never come across this condition, I know that dogs who have short legs and long bodies can have back problems. But after a little googling ANNPE appears to be fairly common and labradors being the big, bouncy lunatics they are, are one breed that are seen more often after it occurs.

Does anyone have any experience of ANNPE, particularly in a Labrador? And how long did the recovery take?

I may not be back on till later since I have to go and fetch her along with a few other jobs but would love to hear from anyone with experience of this condition.

Sorry this has happened to your dog. Ball chasing is a really common way to cause this kind of injury.

Going forward there is no reason why she can't make a good recovery but I would encourage you to speak to your vet about a referral to a rehab vet to work with physio and other experts on her recovery. It makes such a difference and should be covered on insurance.

Lots of rest, it's really important. You need all the swelling around the spine to have a chance to go down. Lots of dogs do recover. Unfortunately mine was one of the ones that didn't 😢 he was a Lab x.

Thank you.
I was able to pick her up today. On Friday she had no use of her back legs and barely reacted to pain stimulus. Today she can just about stand up without help but is wobbly. She has feeling in her left leg but it is dragging it and knuckling. Her right leg is almost holding her weight and she is using it normally.
Best of all she can wag her tail again.
The vet she has been with is a specialist neurologist in a referral hospital. She has recommended hydrotherapy and will be monitoring her for a few weeks.
So all good at the moment.

Glad to read that she's improved since Friday @Angrymum22 , I hope she makes a full recovery. Bet you were delighted to see the waggy tail!

That's great news! Wishing her a full recovery 🥰

No advice, but so hoping your lab gets better. Also hoping you are OK, not your fault. Labs can be a bit daft sometimes...

Waggy tails, especially with labs, are the best 🤗

I had a border collie with a similar injury. She made an almost full recovery, a little wobbly on her legs- as though she’d overdone the gins. We factored in rests on walks.

We needed to use a sling to walk her for about 8 weeks. Placing her back paws carefully after each step so she didn’t hurt the tops by dragging.

She lived several years afterwards. Living a good life to the age of 13. Sadly we had her PTS due to cancer, totally unrelated to the injury.

That’s good to hear that she made a good recovery but sad that you lost her to cancer. Our first lab died of cancer at 13. She was still full of bounce up until we found the tumours, despite surgery it spread to her lungs and she died soon after. She did have an extra 6mnths of good health until it returned though.
Apparently it’s a common injury in collies with labs coming a close second.
She is rarely allowed to chase a ball because she does throw caution to the wind. My DS was playing cricket with a tennis ball and a spade, the dog had found the ball in the garage while DS and his friend were shovelling slate onto the front garden ( they have been helping me remodel the garden). They miss hit the ball and the dog predictably launched herself after it with awful consequences. I have tried to reassure him that he was not to blame but he was really upset. He flew out to Spain yesterday ( he’s 19) and it was hard work convincing him not to cancel his holiday.

@Angrymum22 mine was also chasing a ball (‘cos collie), probably stumbled on a dip in the grass according to the vet. Horrible to see- the shriek and the sudden loss of the back end. However, your lovely girl sounds as though she is on the right track. Please update over time so we can see how she is doing!

Totally understand how your son feels. My 19 year old is devoted to our dog (we now have a greyhound). He ignores messages from me, but responds to dog photos every time. I swear he only comes home from uni to see the dog.

Quick update. She had her first hydro session today and loved it. When we returned home there was visible improvement and she was attempting to uncurl her left foot.
It’s amazing the work these brilliant therapists do.
She did embarrass me by having an enormous wee on the floor when we arrived. She has bladder control but is still not aware of her bladder until it is really full.
She insisted on having a bit of a sunbathe this morning and a play with her favourite toy.

Labrador with ANNPE injury walking again on week 3 post injury when will he be able to jump on bed / go upstairs again - anyone have any experience with this?

Ours is now 12 weeks on, she has had regular hydrotherapy and we were able to dispense with the sling after 3 weeks. We set up a sort of step to allow her to get onto the sofa and carried her upstairs, well DS does since she sleeps on his bed which is low.
She had a few aborted attempts at trying to go upstairs and jump on furniture but by 6wks she was managing well. She still struggles if she mistimes things but on the whole can jump onto furniture now. We were advised not to let her jump up too soon.
Her left leg is still weaker but she no longer knuckles. She is walking well but does bunny hop when tired.
She is unable to reverse at the moment but manages to turn around without falling over now.
It feels like it’s been a long road, the vet asked us to video her weekly and send them to her so she could monitor her progress. When I look back she has recovered rapidly.
The physio who does her hydro sessions is delighted by her progress but we started treatment a week after her injury on the neurologist’s advice (she is using the videos to demonstrate how early hydro speeds up recovery).
Although she wasn’t incontinent she had weak bladder and bowel control. It has improved tremendously but she still has urgency with her bowel. Fortunately she has her own vocalisation to warn us.

Thank you so much this is extremely helpful and reassuring x glad she is doing so well.
it’s only 3 weeks and injury mid back he’s doing very well walking independently on lead for 10 mins am and pm. Therapy too and it’s been so helpful. Only 4 so in his head he thinks he’s ok but you can see a weakness in his right rear leg.
keep me updated x glad to have someone in the same situation x
currently sleeping on mattress in front room with him with all sofa covered with boxes 🙃

It is weird how, in their head, there is nothing wrong. Our dog is fine going upstairs slowly but when she tries to race it all goes wrong. Doesn’t matter how often she stumbles it takes until half way up before she slows down.
We are now able to do 30-40 min walks and with each week she is rebuilding the muscle bulk she lost initially. She can also bounce up and down on her rear legs when excited.
She will probably always have a bit of a swagger but compared to where we started she is amazing.
She did the damage leaping over an obstacle to retrieve a ball. She misjudged her landing, it was a real fluke but it means no chasing balls from now on.

He jumped in the air to catch his ball - nothing unusual fetching balls his whole life just landed wrong. Had no idea it could happen - no ball fetching from now on.
he’s four how old is your girl.
glad she doing stairs now x
is she still lead only walks or can she be let off