Dogs loosing control of hind end?

Question

Okay my friends dog, a 9-10 yr old bully for the past 2 weeks has lost control of her hind end. She uses her front legs to get up and she can kinda fling her legs forward but has no control over them. she walks on her toes and lost major mucel mass in her hind area and was in pain. Nothing happened to her this was brought on all at once. They took her to the vet and he said theres no way to determend what is wrong with her. He gave her prednozone and antibiotics. The meds helped with pain but now she is loosing control of her bowls. She is so upset over this and dont know what to do. I told her to get a second opinon and she cannot right now cause the first three visits the that vet drained her of any extra cash and she wont get paid for another week. Does anyone have any idea what caused this? I personally think the is no good and she needs to locate another one.

Answer 1

Well I wouldn't say they vet is an 'idiot' *frowns at DP*. Were xrays performed? If nothing showed up on the xrays, this indicates a neurological cause, which can only be pinned down by an MRI or CAT scan. In the absence of access to these imaging techniques, steroid and antibiotic treatment is not an unreasonable way to go. Often it can be a first choice of treatment if an owner can not afford diagnostics - sometimes these problems can clear up with this kind of symptomatic treatment.

Ask the current vet what the options are for finding out the cause of this and if a specialist, or someone with an MRI scanner could help. I doubt very much the vet will say 'there's no way of finding out' - there usually is! Maybe the vet means there's no point pursuing expensive treatment, or that there is no means of finding out at HIS surgery.

If the vet can't find the cause with his own facilities, by all means find another vet - if your friend wants to pursue a diagnosis at this stage. An old dog who sounds like he's losing quality of life - it may be that it's kinder to call it a day rather than put him through lots of investigations.

It could be neurological, spinal or arthritic problems, or a number of problems (often the case in older animals). Consider what the prognosis is for this dog - is it worth finding out a definitive diagnosis if it isn't going to save the animal?

Chalice

Answer 2

Poor thing. I don't have any advice on what it could be. Your friend should take her dog back to the vet, and arrange at least a payment schedule. Don't make the animal wait, it could possibly make things worse. I just had an emergency with my 10 month old puppy, and when I took her in, it cost around $200. I was flat broke, and when my dog was in pain, the last thing I could think about was money and costs! Luckily, they let me put down a small deposit, and I'm going to pay the rest when I get paid this week, even though they offered to bill me in small installments. Just tell her, do not wait to get the dog checked again, or the only results she may end up getting are ones that she doesn't want to hear. :( Good luck.

Answer 3

Hey there,

Your friend should definitely get a second veterinary opinion.

Specifically a veterinarian that specializes or has experience working with neurological, nerve and spinal disorders.

They'll probably need to perform an MRI and X-Rays, to help see if they can diagnose the problem. At the very least, get the X-Rays done.

It could be attributed to some kind of spinal injury, tumor, stroke, dysplacia, nerve damage, or other neurological factor.

It's hard to diagnose problems of this nature without a specialist because there are so many factors in what could be causing the problem.

A specialist may be able to nip the problem and find out the root cause.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

Answer 4

My 4 yr old Pitt Bull had this same problem a few years ago. Turns out that she had a stroke and that a blood clot lodged in her spinal cord and paralyzed her hind legs. It was like her legs were asleep and she had no control over them. She also lost control of her bladder and bowels. My vet did everything possible but said if she didn't get better in a few weeks then she never would.
I kept her for 10 weeks carrying her around and keeping diapers on her but it didn't improve and I finally had to put her to sleep.
Good luck but be realistic. I still miss my Zaida!

Answer 5

Hi, I have a 9 1/2 year old Doberman that has these symptoms. She does has cardiomyopathy & is on medication for that. When she started having this problen with her hind legs I thought it was due to poor circulation in her hind legs which the cardiologist said she has. Well now I am being told she probably has "Wobblers Disease". I would get a second opinion. When a dog of mine had Osteosarcoma (bone cancer) the first vet told me it was hip displasia, the second vet told me it was the cancer. With having two different diagnosis I went to a third, a cancer specialist vet, he confirmed it was indeed cancer. Go to as many vets as possible until you feel satisfied!!!!! Good luck to your friends dog. What is the breed?

Answer 6

The dog badly needs to see another vet. Sadly it seems as if the end is close. The dog seems as if it's starting to suffer. It may well be the time to make that most horrible of choices and to set the little one free to run at the Rainbow Bridge.

The dog just can;t go on like this. It HAS to at least see another vet. Maybe as a good friend you could lend the money to her to see a real vet rather than this one who took her money and does know what the heck he is on about.

I'm sending prayers for this poor animal.

Answer 7

My parents golden retriever had the same issue. It turned out that there was a blood clot in the femoral artery. There was a clog at the start of this artery. There is an artery that comes down from the aorta and then creates a fork to go down each leg. The clot was at the fork which prevented normal movement on the back end. Unfortunately the figured this out too late and the dog died shortly after. Get the dog back to the vet and mention this to them. I wish you the best of luck. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Answer 8

pets are like humans, things go wrong, but with pets there are many things you can't help them with, you can't struggle to try to keep them alive and well once nature has taken it's course. It's time to take that pet to the vet and ask the pet to put the suffering animal to sleep. One of the hard parts of owning a pet is realizing that their time has come and that sometimes they can't pass away on their own. So being a responsible and caring owner you have to take the action on your own to show that you love your pet and have them put down. I suspect the pet could have had a stroke or something in the brain malfunctioned or maybe it's just age (as they age faster than we do), or maybe if bought at a puppy mill something was wrong from the start. It's unknown, but the result is that the owner must be responsible and take action. It can't be fixed.

Answer 9

look up mylopethy (sp?). my dog had it, we were told there is nothing that can be done about it, just try to make it not get worse. its a degenerative disease of the nerves in the base of the spine so they lose feeling from the hips down. one test is to "knuckle" the back feet by having the dog stand (if it can at all) and tuck the toes under the back foot. a dog (we were told) WILL not keep it like that. but a dog with a disease like this wouldnt know its foot is like that and will not correct it. its a really sad disease, my dog lasted about 2 years after diagnosis, but it just kept getting worse even with treatment. she was 15 but he mind and upper half were as young as when we got her, but then she started falling and just not even attempting to fix herself, she was incontinent, and she was just sad. so we had to put her down one day when she fell in the kitchen. :(

i wish i had known about the wheely carts you can get for dogs. she would have gotten around just fine in them.

Answer 10

That's what happened to my dog before we put him to sleep. He was 16, and he could barely walk. His back legs would just kinda swing all over the place, we thought he had lost almost all the nerves in his back legs. And we figured that it was was his time. It could very well be that way for your friends Bulldog. I hope I'm wrong, and hope you figure out what the problem is.