I have four Australian Shepherds of the smaller variety, all being less than 35 pounds. The youngest, Honey, is a blue and black merle with pale blue eyes and the spirit of a Tasmanian devil on crack. She is fearless except for one kryptonite: lightning and thunder. Any storm can find her hiding underneath furniture and trembling. I try and make sure she has my lap time during the spring storms.
Friday evening we got a strong line of storms that romped all over this part of the country. All evening long we listened to the thunder, wind and hail...in the dark a good part of the time. About 11 PM it seemed as though the storm was passed and I thought I'd take out all the dogs and we could all pee and inspect any damage. Honey (the youngest at about a year and a half), who had been laying on her rug mat, wouldn't get up...nay couldn't get up. And she's almost always first out the back door. Assuming she was still gripped with her fear, I tried to coax her up. She could raise herself up on her front legs, but her rear legs were almost useless. I could stand her up and she would stay up, but couldn't walk. I examined her for any injury and she showed no signs of any pain. Her rear legs just couldn't support any weight.
Being the most soft-hearted blubbery loving dog owner I know I headed out at midnight with her to the 24 hour doggy ER. The storm was still doing its thing but seemed to be moving off. I ran into power crews and closed roads and the entire south side of town was pitch black, including the doggy ER. I headed north 10 miles to the only other doggy ER I knew of.
Her vitals were good and she was alert, but still couldn't walk. X-rays and blood work revealed nothing abnormal. Being such an active dog the vet and I came to the conclusion she had possibly sprained her back while she was climbing the walls during the storms. She received a sub-q injections of a steroid to help with swelling and we headed home. I set her down on the floor when I got in at 1 AM and she slowly walked on all four. We slept and Saturday morning she seemed fine but a little slow. By Saturday afternoon she was back to normal.
Yesterday morning I noticed her deaf sister "Sweet Pea" was a little slow in getting to the kitchen for morning grub. By 10 AM she couldn't use her rear legs. I watched her for an hour and when her front legs began to fail I whisked her off to the same doggy ER. I was happy that the same vet was on duty.
My fear was some sort of poisoning, either malicious or vegetative. Although as confused as me, the vet discounted poisoning. Most common poisons (like rat poison) drop their blood pressure and cause hemorrhaging. Her vitals were good and she was alert. Insecticide and herbicide poisoning usually attack the CNS and would almost assuredly cause trembling or incoordination. Poisonous vegetation and mushrooms usually cause violent nausea in canines.
I told the vet a steroid injection and a drive in the truck cured the first one, so let's try that again. She had no better suggestion, except just observation, so Sweet Pea got a steroid shot and we drove home. Sure enough, by 6 PM she was up and trotting around taking care of business. Although a little slow on the back steps last night, today she is fine.
The one suggestion the vet had as a "SWAG" was possibly a tick borne illness. While I treat their outdoor areas with a variety of fairly safe products I would think a tick bite is probably inevitable with any animal that is outdoors. I pulled three off of myself last week but I'm sure they were "imported" from elsewhere and not the yard.
The dogs are all well now. Me and the vet are still scratching our heads.
paden cash, post: 429439, member: 20 wrote: Me and the vet are still scratching our heads
So long as the head scratching continues... All will be well!
N
had a dog eat my stash one time and something similar happened...
Any macadamia nuts around the Cash household? http://www.dailydogdiscoveries.com/this-nut-can-cause-temporary-paralysis-in-dogs/
Stephen Ward, post: 429443, member: 1206 wrote: Any macadamia nuts around the Cash household? http://www.dailydogdiscoveries.com/this-nut-can-cause-temporary-paralysis-in-dogs/
Nope.
Although I disagree with a good deal of the info, my wife has a list of all sorts of stuff that aren't really good for dogs. I respect her decisions...although when she's not looking the dogs might accidently get some Italian sausage off of a piece of my pizza.... 😉
flyin solo, post: 429442, member: 8089 wrote: had a dog eat my stash one time and something similar happened...
I wondered. But neither of them wanted me to take them to 7-11 for a Slurpee and to play video games so I discounted that theory...
I would second the possibility of tick caused...except for the fact that you had two dogs with the same condition, which would probably be very unlikely.
Regardless I would go through them with a fine tooth comb looking for ticks. It only takes one. I would even go to the extreme of shaving them if this comes back.
Get them each a Seresto tick collar.
My very older dog came down with this exact same ailment. He wouldn't/couldn't get up and walk around...his back legs simply would not work. He would try and walk, but end up falling down. I took him to the vet several times but the they had no explanation or treatment. The weird thing is sometimes he would get up in the middle of the night and walk outside and pee like nothing was wrong - the next morning he would be unable to walk.
Over the course of a week, it deteriorated to the point that his digestive system stopped working and he could not relieve himself and I had to put him down. I regret that I did not take him to a second vet for steroids. I suspected that it was cancer related.
Enjoy the time you have with your dogs, because they simply just don't live long enough.
Many vets are very hesitant to give steroid shots to dogs, because it's not good for them.
Several years ago, my brother had an older dog that started prematurely aging (grey hair and everything). She stopped eating and could hardly walk.
Vet #1 says it is an unknown health issue and there is nothing they can do.
Vet #2 says try a steroid shot.
After getting the steroid shot - his dog came back to life instantly. Instead of not being able to walk, she was walking 1/4 mile down the driveway to meet my brother as he came home from work! This recovery took only 12 hours! Unfortunately she aged about 4 years. Her sister is still running around and doing fine.
imaudigger, post: 429459, member: 7286 wrote: After getting the steroid shot - his dog came back to life instantly. Instead of not being able to walk, she was walking 1/4 mile down the driveway
Sounds like what happens to me every time I get one lol
Given how tightly wound that breed can be it could be as simple as over stimulation. Too much of some neurotransmitter released by their reaction to the storm that just shorted out part of their nervous system. Like those feinting goats. Look at them and go 'Boo' and down they go, not that I'm comparing your dogs to goats, but guess I just did. Oh well, glad they recovered.
Williwaw, post: 429496, member: 7066 wrote: Given how tightly wound that breed can be it could be as simple as over stimulation..
Something I wasn't aware of about dogs is that pressure on their spine can cause numbness or paralysis, particularly in their rear area. Unrelated to a muscular or spine injury, a distended or swollen internal organ pressing on their spine can cause symptoms similar to what my dogs experienced. We had just gone through a bad period of loose bowels in all 4 dogs.
I'm convinced they ate a dead toad or a blister bug, got a tummy ache and had some swollen innards. That's just as good a guess as the one that cost $200.
I'm just glad they're back to being nefarious little spawns from hell once again.
Darn things will eat anything and then we let them lick our faces (well.. not me). Luckily mine have been okay after several eaten guts from found dead carcasses. I was thinking over stimulation until you said they all had loose bowels. Glad they are doing good now.
Do you dogs like Jack Daniels?
paden cash, post: 429439, member: 20 wrote: About 11 PM it seemed as though the storm was passed and I thought I'd take out all the dogs and we could all pee and inspect any damage. Honey (the youngest at about a year and a half), who had been laying on her rug mat, wouldn't get up...nay couldn't get up. And she's almost always first out the back door. Assuming she was still gripped with her fear, I tried to coax her up. She could raise herself up on her front legs, but her rear legs were almost useless. I could stand her up and she would stay up, but couldn't walk. I examined her for any injury and she showed no signs of any pain. Her rear legs just couldn't support any weight.
Have you ruled out a bad batch of dog chow with some strange contaminates?
Kent McMillan, post: 429533, member: 3 wrote: Have you ruled out a bad batch of dog chow with some strange contaminates?
I buy 40# bags of some grain-free stuff made from fish and sweet potatoes. It's low on the crude protein, has some good numbers and the dogs like it. I'm about 60% through this batch. A small bit of contamination down in the bag seems unlikely; possible but unlikely.
Don't know, it's a head-scratcher. The dogs really do eat good chow and get very little people scraps, if any at all. Their one treat is little baby carrots from the produce section. They love them. I usually just keep a bag of them open in the fridge for easy access. After their bout with 'Marmaduke's Revenge' I tossed the open package of carrots and took another unopened pack and washed and dried them well and put them in some Tupperware.
Everything seems copasetic for now....(fingers crossed)
