Dog spinal injury.

Pets with disabilities such as spinal cord injuries face a short list of treatments. Most dogs, who suffer from a spontaneous ruptured disk are given two options for recovery: euthanasia or expensive surgery.

Nowadays a lot of people have opted for a different approach. A wheeled cart that fits to the hind legs to aid in mobility, a solution that, while helpful keeps the dog somewhat mobile, but is still difficult for both guardian and dog. These dog carts have been designed so the dog sits within the seat of the cart with their hind legs tucked up underneath them – normally held up by straps. Due to the lack of mobility you do often see muscle wastage occurring. These carts are really suitable for dogs who are permanently paralysed. 

Now, dogs handicapped by spinal cord injuries may have another option rather than the dog carts. A special harness invented and sold by Dogaids is available. This is whereby the walker takes some of the weight off the dog. This allows the dog to walk for longer periods – which in turn helps either build up muscle or retain the levels. More information can be found at www.dogaids.com.

A dog's physiology, though different from humans in some ways, is very similar in its central nervous system. Like humans, dogs have a neural highway that takes messages from the brain to all parts of the body and sends information from all parts of the body back to the brain. The spinal cord is the main pathway for this information. It is protected by the spinal column, which consists of bony vertebrae that encase the spinal cord and fluid-filled disks that provide a cushion. When the spinal cord is damaged due to injury or disease, these specialized nerve cells may die. Since these nerve cells cannot regenerate, any movement or sensation associated with that portion of the spinal cord is diminished or destroyed.

Despite taking preventive measures, dogs do sometimes suffer a disk herniation where the disk bulges out from between the vertebrae in the spinal column. If this happen to your dog, you must know what to do, and you must do it fast. However, you can't do anything if you don't know that your dog is having a problem in the first place.

Dogs have high pain thresholds and an instinct not to reveal when they're in pain. After all, in the wild, the obviously injured animal is the one that gets picked off by the predators. But if you pay attention, you can sometimes tell if your dog is in pain from a disk injury.

Look for the following warning signs of spinal disk injury:

• Shivering — especially when combined with unusual inactivity

• Refusal to get up and play, even for food

• A yelp when you pet your dog or try to pick them up

• A pulled-in head, arched back, or any other strange position

• A refusal to bend down to the food or water dish to eat or drink

• Limping of any kind

• A "drunken" rear end, which moves but looks as if it isn't completely under control

• Dragging of the back legs

If your dog shows any of these warning signs, call your vet immediately. In the case of dragging the back legs or showing any other signs of paralysis or severe pain, drive immediately to the vet's office or nearest pet emergency facility. Something’s you can wait for but this not one of them. Don't wait.

 

In short, you have just hours to act. Immediate surgery on a dog with a ruptured disk (where the disk is torn and the inner matter, called the nucleus, leaks out) has a much better success rate than a similar surgery on a human. For dogs still feeling pain (a good sign that the spinal cord is still functioning), the success rate for restoring function is 95 percent. The success rate is 50 percent for dogs experiencing total paralysis, as long as the dog was feeling pain within the last 24 hours. But if you wait longer than 24 hours after a disk injury, the success rate plummets to a meagre 5 percent. If that isn't reason enough to rush your injured dog to treatment, nothing is.

Depending on the cause of the spinal cord injury, treatment may be crate rest, physical therapy, surgery or supportive care. Supportive care is often the only option, though physical therapy, especially swimming, may help. Acupuncture has also been reported to ease pain and increase mobility.

Dogs are not ashamed or frustrated by physical limitations. If he is otherwise healthy and happy, consider purchasing adaptive equipment, such as the Dogaids harness or the wheelchair-like carts designed especially for dogs, to make him more mobile.