Darlene's Megan Feb 2015 conservative— Malti-Poo

Thank you so much, Linda. I had a feeling all I had to do was search the site and I'd find the exercises I was looking for. I can't tell you how much Dodgers List has meant to me and to Megan. I was completely lost when I stumbled upon this site and now, I'm much smarter and Megan is much happier. That means the world to me.
Dealing with a paraplegic dog is all very new to me. It's a comfort to know that should be ever have a problem, I now know where to turn.
I can't thank you all enough. Megan sends her love to all of you, as do I.

Megan is lucky to have you! Good luck with her PT.

This is a general question but you all seem to know everything so...Megan's urine smells HORRIBLE! I don't think any of the doctors have checked for a urinary tract infection and I'm thinking since the family who used to have Megan told me that she piddled when they picked her up, she may have been overflowing for some time and that a UTI could be causing this. Is that true or is there something else that could be causing this? I'm expressing her bladder regularly now but she still has times where she wets her crate. I've just read on one of the DL pages that I should withhold her water before bed and that could be avoided. I wash her every time this happens and although I'm careful, I'm fairly certain it would be in her best interest not to have to bathe her so often. My concern today is the possibility of a UTI, should I take her in to see our vet?

Thank you, Pauliana. We've got an appointment with the vet. I'll let you know what we find out.

Wow Deb, thank you so much! We're going to start that tomorrow. My house smells horrendous! We have some shopping to do first thing in the morning and then, I can give my poor little girl a reprieve from baths. It wasn't the smell that was getting to me as much as the possibility of her skin being burned by the urine. I don't mind giving her baths and she doesn't mind getting them, in fact she gives me kisses the whole time, but I'm sure that's not good for her when she's supposed to be on strict crate rest. Oh, this is going to make life much more pleasant for all of us! Thanks again!

Glad the Baytril is on board. We all have our fingers crossed that Baytrill is a match for the bacteria Megan has. In the first 48 hours you ought to be seeing a change in the urine as the bacteria are being killed.

Hello All, I wanted to check in here to let you know how Megan's doing and get your opinion on something else.

Megan is now down to 1/4 prednisone every other day and I don't think she's as comfortable as her doctors at the University of Illinois thought she'd be. She's okay on the days she has her prednisone but pants a little more and seems a bit uncomfortable on the off days. We go back down to U of I on July 2nd to get her comfort level assessed and possibly talk about surgery. I plan to call her doctor tomorrow to see if there's anything more we can do to make her comfortable in the meantime. She is still on crate rest and has been on crate rest since our first appointment with them on June 2nd.

I have been talking to Sharon Seltzer who has the blog "Lessons From A Paralyzed Dog" and she told me about a clinical trial going on at Iowa State University for paralyzed dogs. She suggested I contact them and today I exchanged e-mails with one of the people in charge of the trials, Hilary Hu. Hilary asked me to bring Megan on Friday for an assessment to see if she'd be a good fit for the study. I'm a little concerned however because of Megan's comfort level. She did tell me that even if Megan did not qualify, she could give me an assessment of Megan's current neurological status and discuss a day-to-day management plan for Megan's condition. It sounds like a good idea but because this trial, as with many trials, only 50% of the participants actually receive the medicine, in this case Chondroitinase, as well as physical therapy, the other 50% receive only physical therapy. The trial is 6 months long and you don't find out if your dog received the medication until the trial is over. I don't want to wait 6 months and have her still be experiencing pain. And, I think I remember someone telling me that if Megan is in pain or if there's a possibility that disc pieces are causing her pain, she should not receive any physical therapy. Is that correct? The website for the trial is vetmed.iastate.edu/vmc/small-animal/clinical-trials/chondroitinase-clinical-trial-0

Because Megan is not as comfortable as we'd hoped, I think she may very well be facing surgery when we go back to the University of Illinois.

As always, I appreciate any information or advice you can give me. I hate seeing this little girl with anything other than a smile on her face. Thanks again.

Thank you, Paula. You're absolutely right, any help I can get with Megan, I should take. If she does get into the trial, fingers crossed, it will only cost $100. So yes, we will keep our appointment in Iowa on Friday and I'll let you know how it goes. Dr. Hu did say something that made me think Megan may not be a candidate but I brought that up to her and she said she wouldn't know for certain without examining her.

"Assuming the diagnosis is traumatic spinal cord injury, Megan may be a suitable candidate for the clinical trial, provided that her original injury occurred in February has not progressed."

I explained to her that the people I got Megan from told me that after she fell, she was limping and it then progressed to paralysis. I don't know if that will automatically disqualify her, I hope not.

Just to be clear, you're saying that as long as Megan's injury is not new, she would benefit from physical therapy? Would that still be okay if she wasn't currently pain free? She's not crying in pain, I just feel that there are times when she's not completely comfortable. I did leave a message today for the orthopedic surgeon at U of I to let her know I thought Megan was hurting so I'm hoping she may allow her to have the prednisone again although they did say her liver enzymes were slightly elevated from being on it for so long already. I think I remember her mentioning that surgery was more of a risk if Megan is on the prednisone. I didn't hear back from her today, hopefully tomorrow.

I had Megan back to the vet today for a follow up on her urinary tract infection and it has not cleared up yet. They took a sterile sample directly from her bladder and are going to do a culture to see just exactly what type of bacteria she has so they can give me a medication specific to that bacteria. She did give me a few more Baytril for Megan until we have the results of the culture on Friday or Saturday. The poor girl also woke up with an eye infection this morning. I feel terrible for her but I'm babying her as much as I possibly can in spite of having to do it through the crate bars.

Thanks again for your help, I don't quite know what I'd do without you guys.

I don't believe this is a new episode as I was told when I adopted her that if she misses even one dose of her prednisone, she was crying and trying to bite when picked up. (I don't know why she'd miss ANY doses but that's just me.)She has not done that to me in awhile so perhaps the Gabapentin is helping. It's just that she does seem a little less comfortable when she does not get the prednisone.

So, we went to Iowa State today, about 11 hours of driving but we're finally back home now. Doctor Hu didn't think Megan was in pain. Our appointment was at 1pm, Megan had her gabapentin and 1/4 tramadol at 530 this morning. She still didn't seem to think Megan was really experiencing pain so I don't know what to think now. BUT, Megan did make it into the trial. She'll be starting next month and if she continues to show that she's not really uncomfortable, they'll measure her and order her cart for her. She'll go for a week during the months of July, August, October and January and stay with them Monday through Friday. They've had some promising results with dogs who've only been paralyzed 4-6 months. Megan was injured 4 months ago so we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Megan is passed out, I'm going to follow her lead.

I thought I'd posted a response Paula, but it's not here. Yes, you're absolutely right. It IS interesting. My local vet noticed some sores on Megan's belly which was likely from lying in a wet bed when she was still with her previous family. I've realized that if I pick her up with my hands, she'll sometimes cry, if I use a towel or blanket, she's fine. SO, that may have been causing her pain. The doctor at Iowa State wants me to keep Megan on the tramadol and gabapentin for now and will assess her for pain while she's there for her first week of the trial beginning July 13th.

We are still having a problem with her UTI, the Baytril did not work. My vet did a culture to find out what kind of bacteria we were fighting and Megan's now on Chloramphenicol. She said there's two types of bacteria which showed up, one that was fairly easy to get rid of and one that was a little more difficult. If this doesn't work, she'll have to receive an injection once a day accompanied by IV fluids. I'm really hoping we don't have to go down that road. I'm just starting the Chloramphenicol today and my local vet said she'd have to be on that for 3 weeks. If I have to wear rubber gloves to administer the medicine, I really don't feel good about giving it to my dog...

I will definitely keep you posted!

Thank you, I'm hoping this works! And yes, I've got my rubber gloves on hand...literally.