Little Joe's 7/18 surgery — miniature schnauzer

My name is Suz, and 8 days ago, one of my 7 yo miniature schnauzers, Little Joe (female, 8 kgs [17.6 lbs], spayed) went from having a normal, active day to being in tremendous pain with both back legs suddenly paralyzed (it was worse on the left side).

She was as active as ever that morning, however, I did notice that she was holding her head up in an unusual way for her.  I noticed it two different times, but she otherwise seemed fine.  (Before last Friday, I had no knowledge whatsoever of IVDD -- there was never any hint that Little Joe was anything but extremely healthy.  I've learned a lot over the past week, but there's still so much that I don't know.)

On Friday, she came to find us right away at about 8:45 am, when her back legs stopped working -- in fact, I witnessed her rapid decline from wobbly to full on paralyzed. (Terrifying.  I first thought she'd had a stroke.)

My husband Ed and I rushed her to the vet who correctly diagnosed her situation and sent us to a neurosurgeon who was about a mile away.  We live in Sarasota, FL, where there is a veterinary practice specializing in the exact type of surgery that LJ needed.

 We got there FAST.

Little Joe went directly from an MRI and into surgery ("standard left side T13-L1 hemilaminectomy") in just a few hours time. 

(By 10:30 am, while at the surgeon's, she'd already lost the ability to feel deep pain on her left side, and surgery was the only option.)  She was given a 75-80% chance at full recovery.

Sadly, after the doc opened her up, her chances dropped to 70% (which is still better than nothing!).  He reported that the herniated disc had done a huge amount of damage to LJ's spinal cord.  It blew out a vein, and that the hemorrhaging created additional nearly fatal swelling on her spinal cord.  There wasn't a lot of disc matter to clean up, but the bleeding was stopped.


So that was our week-ago-Friday.

Yes, it is IVDD, but the rest of her spine looks very good.  No other trouble spots.

She came home on Sunday, but went back to the vet's M- F (but home each night) for hyperbaric oxygen treatments, with the hope that this will help further bring down the swelling and give her the best possible chance.  (We're going to continue with those next week, too.)

Little Joe is currently in post-op recovery, and although she's regained deep (and even some moderate) pain in both her right rear leg, and in her tail (yay!), she still has zero deep pain in her left rear leg.  

So, currently, she cannot walk or wag her tail, and the only pain seems to be from the surgery.  Although early on she continued to hold up her head in that same odd way I'd witness that Friday.  (We increased her pain meds upon noting that.)

She came home from her surgery with a urinary catheter in place -- the vet wants her to keep it in at least until her sutures come out.  (He expects her recovery will take longer than most, due to the severity of her spinal injury.)

Her front legs work just fine, but she's having trouble getting traction to shift herself in her pen.

Considering the seriousness of her IVDD event, we will be overjoyed if she gets mobility back in just one rear leg.

She was a very active and independent dog, and is sad and confused by her inability to move.  (We're also looking for advice as to how to help her adjust.)

We also have another schnauzer, Dexter (male, slightly bigger, neutered), who was LJ's litter mate.  He is upset and confused, too.   

Little Joe is eating with her usual gusto, although we've made a point to reduce her regular food by a small amount since she is slightly prone to gaining weight when she doesn't get regular exercise.  

She is drinking like crazy because of the prednisone.  Her urine has gone through a variety of shades and colors, and she's had some unexplained bleeding from her vulva (she was spayed at 6 mos) that totally freaks us out, but the vet seems unconcerned.

Her bowel movements seem okay -- she was constipated for several days after the surgery.  We could use some tips on how to regain normalcy (or at least the new normalcy) with that.

Her meds:

Clavamox (antibiotic) 125 mg 2x day
Tramadol (for pain) 25 mg (as needed -- started every 8 hrs, then 12, now 1x day)
Prednisone (anti-inflammatory) 5 mg (We are currently tapering off, 1x day for 5 days)
Famotidine (Pepcid) 5 mg 2x day
metoclopramide 2.5 mg 2x day
lactulose (stool softener) 4 - 6 ml every six hours (tapering off as stool becomes softer)

Our doctor is optimistic about Little Joe's ability to regain mobility in her right rear leg, and in her tail.  He believes she will have full control of her bodily functions, too.  But he described the injury to her spinal cord as being similar to a "gunshot wound."  

Other things to know about Little Joe:

She's very sweet and very smart, but she goes red/hot zone really fast.  She's terrified of strange dogs, so we've always taken precautions to keep her from going into that noisy, excited place.  It's even more important that we do this now, when she needs to not jerk herself around.  So taking her out for a "walk" (or a carry, just to breathe the air and figure out a way to poop that's NOT in the pen…) is fraught with peril.  

Both Ed and I are self-employed writers, we work at home, and our schedules are very flexible, so that's great.  But it's been challenging to care for Dexter at the same time.  We'd had a whole routine, and a set of commands/cues/repeated language that Little Joe still wants to respond to.  (For example, when Dex needs to go out, she gets very anxious, because he and Ed are leaving the house WITHOUT HER!!!!  I've been sitting with her, distracting her with food.  (We've been carefully leaving out bits of her meals, so I can do this without increasing the amount she eats each day.)  

Another thing -- Little Joe was/is extremely well trained to sit if she wants ANYthing.  (She's supposed to sit to say hello, too.)  Attention, a treat, to play, to go for a walk. If you don't notice her sitting there, she stands up and sits again.  And again.  Until you see her.  It's kind of insanely adorable.  Right now, she wants to not feel the way she's feeling -- she wants to be able to walk again.  And she keeps trying to sit up in her pen -- as if, maybe if she does that, if she's very, very good, we'll give that to her.  (It's killing me.)

Slippery feet question:  Any ideas of what we can use to cover the foam pad, so that her front paws don't slip on it?  (I've covered the pad with trash bags, and then a waterproof mattress pad, too.  We've tried a fleece blanket, and then a towel, but she just keeps slipping.)  Booties don't seem like a good match for Little Joe, unless there's something out there that isn't too confining…? 

Glad to have found this forum.  Looking forward to encouragement and advice!

-- Suz, Ed, Little Joe and Dexter