Missy And What Ails Her

We think Missy finally has a diagnosis. Weeks ago, I noticed that Missy didn't wag her tail or even lift it up over her back any more. She ususally carried it curled up over the top of her butt. But it just hung down all the time. The next thing I noticed about her was that she didn't go off and do her 'own thing' anymore. She tended to stay near us as we were out and about in the yard or at the barn. I even commented to E that she sure was staying with us all the time. And her favorite activity was to go out and dig in the clumps of tall grass and weeds in the fence rows. At the same time I noticed that she seemed more 'jumpy' than usual. She was reacting to any sound and with an abnormal quickness! Not like her at all, with her Terrier personality. She wasn't afraid of ANYTHING!

Then she started stumbling a bit, and couldn't get up the step onto the porch without help. Then she would fall down. I also noticed that she couldn't bark. When she tried, there was just a weird sort of squeak. It just progressed until she couldn't walk at all, couldn't get up, couldn't turn herself, could only stand for a few seconds, then would fall down. We took her to the vet again, and this time she took x-rays, changed her steriods, prescribed an antibiotic and a pain med. Vet couldn't find anything of significance on the x-rays. All her bloodwork came back normal. Vet was pretty puzzled, thinking she had a back injury but couldn't see anything on the x-rays. She has no fever, no nothin'. She has a good appetite, has normal pottying, but needs help from us to hold her up so she can potty. I carry her outside 4 or 5 times a day for her to potty. She doesn't always 'go' but she is offered the opportunity.

Last Wednesday and Thursday I had to be gone all day, so took her to the vets to board her for the day. I took her home at night, but at least while at the vets, someone would take her potty and turn her several times a day. When I left her I asked that the vet do one more evaluation and tell us whether she thought she had improved any or gotten worse. It had been about two weeks since she had seen her. We were ready to put her down as this couldn't go on forever like this. We couldn't make contact with the vet for a couple of days. Then on Monday morning she called me here at home, and told me she had been doing some more research and studing on Missy's case. What caught her attention was the comment I had made to her that Missy couldn't bark. After studing on it she thinks this is what she has. She has almost all of the symptoms of Coonhound Paraylisis. I never heard of this before but here is some information.

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/acute-polyradiculoneuritis-coonhound-paralysis/page1.aspx

And if you want to read a blog by someone else that had a dog with this, here is that link and this dog was a 155 pound Mastiff!

http://coonhoundparalysis.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_archive.html

I learned a lot by reading this blog and the different links they have. Also the comments are full of information.

Now we just have to take care of her until she is able to be mobile again. The vet said to make sure she eats and drinks and to be especially careful that she doesn't get pressure sores.

Any job seems to get bigger the more we try to fix it, doesn't it? The hallway between the living room and the bathroom had an uneven floor too. Since we had finished the floor in the back room, and painted the whole room and had it essentially finished, E thought we should go ahead and tear out the old carpet in the hall way and redo that floor! It was also concrete! Here he is trying to make some sense out of someone elses hideous repairs. Will keep you posted.