Teensy

I don't personally know Dr. Cuoto, although I certainly know of him. I nominated Dr. Kroll, the neuro specialist who has been taking care of Irene since her disc rupture and paralysis. He was outstanding in a really terrifying time.

I've been following this story, and I wanted to say how sorry I am that you are going through this. When there is a trauma to the body, like an amputation, the swelling can be tremendous and will sink down to other dependent (lower) parts of the body. Since there is nothing below the amputation site, and nowhere for it to go, it will pool in the other nearby leg. So sweet to see him on the couch. My dog is currently recovering from a ruptured disc on a queen-sized mattress in the middle of the living room, because she was only going to be happy if she was on that bed, and we didn't want her to fall off (she scoots around, and doesn't have a great sense of where her butt is in space). Good luck with the recovery. My heart goes out to you and your dog.

Kathy, my neighbor takes her Berner, who had elbow surgery, to a place for hydrotherapy that she loves. I will certainly be looking into it. Thanks!

Yeah, she saw Dr. Kroll at NW Vet. Specialists, whom everyone seems to agree is the best neuro guy in town. Two Rivers is really close by for us. We'll see what he recommends for rehab, and our vet, as well, but certainly accu seems particularly effective with both neurological problems, and inflammation so why not? Thanks!

Thanks, Meredith, and everyone who followed this thread. It really helped me get through the day! ...And just when I was getting my head together, my last physical therapy patient of the day fainted for no reason, and EMS had to be called! But that's a thread for another website.

THanks, Colleen. So here's the MRI update. Looks like a disc rupture. Lots of bruising, and a tiny piece of disc material sitting on the spine, but he doesn't think removing it will make a huge difference. Pain control, muscle relaxers, and rest. No surgery!

We should hear about the MRI results in a couple of hours. I know they have her medicated, and when I last talked to the tech she was resting, instead of whining herself to death, so that's good. THey can only stay awake for so long, these dogs. Time to get some work done.

Okay, so she's seen the big neurologist that everyone seems to love and trust, and he squeezed her in on a day when he had no available appointments, so I sure love him. Initial eval was not exactly correct about the FCE. Could still be that or disc rupture. He doesn't seem to think surgery is inevitable. Tumor is unlikely due to sudden onset, but still not out of the question. Could also be a chunk of disk pressing against the spine, which would need to be removed. IN any case the chance of a lot of functional recovery is good. I am exhaling a little better now.

Thanks, everyone. She is resting comfortably at the specialty vet. I'm told that she has been seen by the neurologist, and he should be contacting us soon. From the preliminary eval at the specialty ER, they are not thinking FCE, because they think it should have resolved by now? Or maybe it shouldn't be painful anymore? I don't know. I wasn't there for that part of the explanation. Leaning more toward disc rupture or tumor or clot from a tumor. When we saw her this morning she almost immediately fell asleep. She had clearly been panic-whining all night, and was exhausted. This is tough. Wow. I'm surprised I am having such a difficult time connecting the dots, and how much fear and panic is impeding my thinking.

We are currently working on transferring her to specialty emergency. She's still in pain, and now losing strength in the left leg. Looking more spinal chord than nerve root. Still could be an FCE. No bowel or bladder incontinence that they could tell. She's been super anxious. My Irene does not like new situations.

Waiting for them to call me back. They were doing rounds. Anyone have any thoughts on this head tilt the vet was talking about? She was really freaking me out with that.

Right. Even before they talked to us about her initial exam, I was wondering why it would have happened in the first place. I've seen her wipe out on corners, but this was straight on, and she was tearing it up, and then she just wiped.

Thank you. This must be what she was talking about. Seems like most of the dogs mentioned in this thread are older than Irene (8), but it sounds like a better prognosis than a disc rupture that would require surgery.

Thanks. I'm super worried about her. When I called to check on her she was whining at a high pitch in the background. I'm afraid if nothing else, she's going to worry herself to death.

Greyhound friends, Irene has had an accident and is currently in the ICU at our local emergency vet hospital, Dove Lewis. We were having a lovely day at the dog park. There is a very nice one close by, and we have been getting there regularly. She's fit as ever, by all accounts. She was running very fast on a straight path when her right hind leg suddenly went under her, and she was on her side. After that she was unable to stand on that leg, and she was in a lot of pain. The neuro screen was suspicious, and the x-ray didn't show any evidence of fracture or dislocation, so they suspect either central or peripheral nerve involvement. For some reason they are concerned about the possibility the she may have thrown a clot that ended up putting pressure on her spinal cord. She mentioned that Irene had been holding her head at tilt?? Not sure how the two are connected, but it seemed like she was trying to say that there might be a problem higher up. She also mentioned that she thought the right thigh was significantly smaller than the left. I find it very hard to believe that I wouldn't have noticed something like that, or any signs of her favoring that leg. She was always getting glass in her paws when we lived in Baltimore, so we are very conscious of her gait. Symptoms are 100% unilateral. She hasn't had a neuro consult, yet, but they have one on-call 24 hours/day in case her condition deteriorates. I haven't been able to talk to her regular vet, yet, either. Thoughts, anyone?

Awesome!

OMG, welcome from Baltimore, MD (formerly Utrecht), and I am positively mental for Loca's ears!

I just went through this with a non-grey. My feeling is, if it doesn't look like an emergency, then it's probably not. I waited, and it was fine, but it was not a greyhound with this thin skin. While I was waiting, I posted here, and veterinary nurse on this message board recommended cleaning the wound with Hibiclens, which you can get at Rite-Aid or CVS. When I took the dog to the vet during regular hours, they cleaned it, gave me an antibiotic for her, and told me to put a warm wet compress on it twice a day for 5-10 minutes for 4-5 days. This was to keep it open so infection couldn't get sealed inside.

I thought this freezing/statuing behavior was really common with greyhounds, actually. There are threads about it here, and lots of info on my adoption group's yahoo group. Irene still does it sometimes. From what I can tell the correct thing to do is to be as patient as you can possibly be, and try everything that anyone suggests. We tried: just waiting her out, sitting down (this completely freaked her out), luring her along with hot dogs (when we really needed to get somewhere), crouching down and whistling/calling her, randomly reinforcing normal walking with kibble and treats, walking her with other dogs, walking back behind her and coming up on the other side, walking back behind her and taking little jogging steps along side her. Sometimes we would just have to wait for another dog to pass by. She doesn't do it as much as she used to, but she still does it once in a while. The thing that worked best for me was crouching down and whistling to her. Sometimes I would have to do it a few times in a row to get her past whatever she was fixated on. The thing that works best for my husband is just ignoring her and continuing to walk. That doesn't work with me though. She just becomes an anchor. Both of my friends who recently adopted greyhounds have had the same trouble, and solved it in different ways. I can tell you this much, she has never statued when I was walking two dogs at once.

Seconded!!

I have a cordless dremmel. Holds a charge for several trimmings. No problems with speed, either, but Irene isn't fussy. She helps me out by roaching. Maybe I don't know what fast is...

Puncture wound shaved and flushed. Instructions to compress it 2x/day. Head shaved so that the dermatitis can dry out and heal. She looks hideous, but hopefully she'll heal up, now. She was also given an antibiotic for both areas. I'm not too confident about the dermatitis. They said it looks chronic. The bill wasn't too high. Definitely worth the peace of mind.

ok, a 50p is definitely bigger than this. Still going to take her in, but thanks to all the wisdom here, I can rest assured that I'll most likely be wasting my money.

Ok, good to know. I've heard about infections getting trapped inside, so this is what's supposed to happen. I'm going to get this disinfectant, now.