Back Injury or Diabetic Neuropathy?

Georgia --

Hi -- it could be either -- it could also be that she was simply injured more easily than normal. 

There are a lot of things you can do -- I have a whole list of things you can do for arthritis, pain management and a lot of them might help restore some of what she's lost. 

Acupuncture would be my first suggestion - but try http://www.tcvm.com -- on the left is a locator and you can work by zip code so it will tell you whoever is nearest to you even if you have to drive a bit to get there.  Acupuncture can help healing.

you could think about a cart for her -- that can really help sometimes IF it's a permanent condition.

don't let the blindness scare you -- dogs truly don't see well anyway -- and you can re-train her to know where she is by SCENT probably easier than anything.  Use things like essential oils and flavorings -- things like a touch of cinnamon on the doorways tell her she's near a doorway, something else for the 'edge' of things where there is a drop (like a doorway to a cellar or the edge of a deck).  Another scent that means "these stairs GO DOWN" and another for "these stairs go UP". 

My best friend had a dog who was diabetic (this was back when they thought prednisone was the ONLY way to treat dog allergies) and Mandy went blind after a year of diabetes, but she lived another THIRTEEN years. 

Is she continent? 

Can you tell if she has pain response in her feet?  Both of those are going to help determine if this is permanent or not. 

Another thing -- you may want to schedule a visit with your state's best vet teaching hospital (or a neigboring state).  it's often the best place to get the most cutting edge help available for the least amount of money.

good luck.  If you want that article, email me.  It's all stuff you can get at a health store or at Wal-mart and a few online links.

I forgot to add -- massage can be a BIG help.  http://www.petmassage.com -- they will send you training materials if you want to learn it yourself or they can sometimes refer you to someone near you.  It's been heaven sent for my crew!!

She is not incontinent. 

 All the info you gave me is WONDERFUL!  I am already looking at carts.  Even if this problem CAN be corrected, maybe she needs some time to heal. 

 We don't have a vet teaching hospital in Arkansas, so it would be a ways to travel for me to get her to one ... I think Oklahoma would be the closest.

The info on the blindness is absolutely awesome.  She can still see shadows, etc.  She's not "completely" blind, but basically.  That problem may be able to be corrected, but I don't want to spend thousands of dollars on her if she is going to be "down" ... AND I don't want to keep her alive for the wrong reasons.  I want her to have a quality life.  Quantity is not worth a thing if you are in pain, depressed, sick ...

Again, thank you very much for all this info ... I'm researching it all right now.

 Georgia

Callie...

 Thanks for helping Georgia..... I saw her cry for help on another site I use to belong too and I told her to come here as I knew YOU would reply to needs quickly and others may have helpful info as well.

 So thank you for helping her.....

Hi, Georgia.  I was just curious if your vet took any x-rays or anything like that?  The symptoms sound very similar to those that a dog I used to walk had.  And, it turned out he had a buldging disc in his lower back.  It was a rather long recovery for him but he did recover very nicely.  He was about the same age as your dog.  The chiropractor would probably want x-rays first before he did anything anyway.  If there is a disc issue he/she probably won't want to do much manipulation of it.  But, a lot of the conservative treatments they do help the pain and range of motion a lot.

Anyway, I hope they can figure this out for her! 

Lori

JawjaPeach

My 9 year old westie has diabetes and has had for several months now.  It is being controlled with insulin injections.  About two weeks ago Lacey started losing the ability to walk in her back legs. 

How is Lacey doing?