Abbie's Earl 8/3 surgery4wks- Fr. B.Dog- UK GRAD 8/25

Earl: French Bulldog (3 August 2020 Surgery)

Hi my name is Abbie and my dog is called Earl. We live in the UK.

He is a French Bulldog born June 2015. (So he’s now 5 years old).

He was my brothers dog until September 2016 when my brother died and I inherited him.

Earl is a crazy dog who is FULL of personality and he’s extremely active.

He hadn’t been himself for a few weeks, was struggling to get on sofa and slow up steps but still chasing the hose. Then suddenly he would not get out of his bed. He was walking with an arched back but not crying. We took him to the vet and they checked him and said they could not see anything wrong. We took him home but the next day he was worse so we went back, they said he had pulled a muscle and gave him painkillers. Then it was the weekend and the next day he started knuckling when trying to sit and couldn’t get comfortable and when walking he was dragging his back legs. I was not at all happy so we took him to an emergency vet (a different one) by the time we got there he was dragging his back legs. They immediately called a specialist for an MRI and we had to take him straight over. When we arrived it was awful as he could not even move. So upsetting.

They did the MRI that night and took him straight into surgery. It was an extensive surgery in 4 discs. They had impinged the spinal cord badly and caused internal bleed.

He came out of surgery at 3am on 3rd August 2020 (he is currently 12 days post op)

Earls surgeon was a NEUROLOGY/NEUROSURGERY. MA VetMB DipECVN MRCVS Clinical Director. RCVS Specialist in Neurology and EBVS® European Specialist in Veterinary Neurology.

His discharge notes say (Hemilaminectomy T12-L4) weakness in spine due to cord compression. He stayed in the vets until Friday 7th late evening when he came home on strict crate rest with small walks in the garden.

He is on paracetamol 200mg half a tablet twice a day ( he had his last one this evening).

19kg/ 41.89 lbs
Gabapentin 100mg three times a day.
Omeprazole 10mg once a day.

He was weighing at 19kg prior to his operation but has lost quite a lot of weight at present and looking quite skinny. He is being sick in the mornings so we are feeding small amounts.

He is refusing water completely but is weeing a lot. He wet himself when standing earlier but otherwise has been pretty good holding it until he squats outside.

Poos twice a day and they are normal. He is very smelly at present and I’m not sure if this is because of the hot weather here or if he’s a dribbling a bit of wee as his bedding is very smelly.

He is due to have his stitches removed on Wednesday 19th August and we will have a video consultation with his surgeon as they were 3 hours away!

We have had him on crate rest. We carry him out to the toilet 4 times a day and give him a small walk around the garden using his sling provided by the surgeon. He has started to become quite anxious in the crate and pants a lot so in the day we have moved him to a small pen in the living room which seems to have settled him.

He is able to now stand on his back legs but cannot walk far before they give way. We weight bare using the sling. We have been told 4 weeks of crate rest and gradually allow him to take more weight. He can move his back legs into different positions.

He is incredibly strong and once outside it is hard to hold him as he is desperate to walk and run. He saw a bird and went to chase it; so it’s quite hard to keep him calm.

He does not like being pick up and shifts positions and wriggles. He does not appear to be in pain, but seems very sad. He seems to move positions fine but in the evening he struggles to get comfortable. The pen with more space seems to suit him better as he likes to lie like a frog. He also likes to roll on his back and have a belly rub. His back is still quite arched when standing and his scar is quite pinched into a point.