Welsh Griff needs help

[Dogbones]

Our Welsh BC ran up a set of 8 concrete steps on Saturday night at full acceleration, yelped once then collapsed with total loss of use of his rear end.
The emergency vet did an x-ray that showed no broken bones and gave him drugs for muscle pain he's on a drip and three days later has shown no signs of recovery.

We are desperate to get our boy back to his usual 3 year old self but the vet can only shrug her shoulders and say wait and see.

Anybody out there come across this kind of injury before and offer some much needed advice.

Many many thanks in advance

Neil
North Wales
UK

[Wendy M]

Neil, I am SO sorry to hear about your BC's injury. If it is a soft tissue or spinal injury, an X-ray probably would not show anything...my vet would ask for an MRI, which gives a view of the tissues which can lead to a better diagnosis. Of course, it is a expensive and you need to find a vet that has MRI equipment...and it also involves sedation.

If it were my dog, I would be seeking a second opinion from another vet, and possibly pursuing an MRI should it be available. Sending lots of healing thoughts your way for Griff!

-Wendy M.

[ajones]

One of my childhood BCs had a similar event occur, and I remember how terrified I was for him. So I have some idea of what you are feeling, and I am sorry you and Griff are going through this experience.

In my case, doing diagnostics beyond a basic vet exam was not an option because the decision was my parents' and even taking the dog to the vet for an exam was, to them, an excessive expense. In those pre-Internet days, I read what I could and designed a PT regimen that I used with him over many weeks. Eventually, he did recover almost full strength in his legs and lived a normal life.

However, that is obviously not a course of treatment I'd be comfortable with now. (I wasn't even comfortable with it then.) I mention the story just to show an example of a dramatic and mysterious injury ultimately being recoverable. I agree with Wendy that a second opinion is in order to help get a better sense of what is happening.

Wendy mentions and I know from experience that finding a clinic that does MRIs can be a challenge (at least in my part of the world) and then the test itself is often quite expensive. Would an ultrasound be a possible tool here? I am asking because, although my dogs have had them, the situations for them have been quite different than Griff's.

Regardless of what you decide, I hope you find a vet that can do more than shrug. I firmly believe there is a time for a "tincture of time" recommendation (my own doctor has given me that line for one of my own injuries), but I think that after three days without change, it is time to see what another veterinarian thinks and suggests.

Best wishes helping Griff--and please keep us posted.

[Dogbones]

Thanks for your replys folks.

We hope to bring our boy home from the vets tommorow, have made a sling to help him with some PT and have our fingers and toes crossed for him.

Will also take him to see another vet, you would think a Welsh Vetinarian would have seen this kind of thing before.
Again, thanks
will keep you in touch
Neil

[ajones]

Thanks for the update, Neil. I am sure you are eager to have Griff home, and I expect he will feel better being with you, as well.

Best wishes as you care for Griff and try to get more answers about what is happening.