The Mystery of Salina's Miracle

The family gathering went well, Salina wore a pink shirt that covered her scarred area so it wouldn’t be a shock for the young children. Most of my family was surpised at how Salina adapted to her life as a tripawd, she was better than they expected. She moved around all day hoping some food would hit the floor. Her Aunt Maria and cousins gave her a get well card with a toy and treats…that was so thoughtful…Salina loved her treats!  Today I threw her new toy and she actually chased after it…each day is a step forward.   I love my tripawd:-)

It’s been nine days and Salina had her surtures removed, to me they appeared like little staples.  She healed well, now have to work on the open sore in her rear area.  Today we bought size 2T underwear and maxi pads, I put her right leg and tail through the leg holes with a maxi pad attached to the underwear to protect her open sore.  Just a little adjustment with a safety pin in the waist and it seems to work ok!  I am going to place the honey & sugar paste on her sore when we go to bed.  She greeted a new guest with a wagging tail and couldn’t wait to walk over to her and be pet!  Our vet did say her right leg may remain that way (unable to use).  We still don’t know what is in her spinal cord that is causing this nerve damage, itt just blows my mind that this happened so quickly. 

What is the prognosis of being on prednisone?

Delete, delete, delete….that’s what I’ve been doing….reality finally hit, I am now grieving the change in Salina’s quality of life. That’s all I have to say today….just shedding some tears…everything happened so fast and unexpected and it just hit me.

Our darling Salina is getting back to normal, when I came home from work she came to greet me at the door!  She also layed under the table at dinner and couldn’t wait for a crumb to fall.  I love seeing her like that.  I am going to try the blog for advice on a couple things.  We are so happy with her improvement.

It is Salina’s third day of recovery.  She appears comfortable, not having that sensation anymore since her leg was removed.  I will be bringing her to a family gathering next week, not quite sure how my young niece and nephew will react.  Of course, the appearance is a bit shocking, especially to children.  Any suggestions?

It is great to be able to meet other who are going through the same situation with their pets.  We rescued Salina 8 years ago in Puerto Rico, she is a Sato, a Puerto Rican Mutt. 

It is hard to explain what happend in the past month, but on 11/4/20 she had her rear leg amputated, which lead me to this site.  It all started  with a walk up the beach, about two days later she was gnawing at her foot, we assumed she was trying to mend a cut to her paw that most likely happend on the beach.  A few days later her foot became worse and we took her to the vet.  She was bandaged, but still tried to tear off the bandage and this time chew her foot.  One evening she couldn’t make it up the stairs and by the morning was paralyzed in her rear area.  This time, it appeared to be temporary paralysis by a tick bite.  Her symptoms didn’t improve so a trip to a Nuerologist was necessary.  We were given bad news, not only was she in pain from some sort of spinal problem, but would be incontinent and possibly continue to self-mutulate her leg area.  We were devestated, and chose to put her down.  We then took her home and to our local veterinarian the next day to say our good-byes.  As she lay on the table, with the Dr. holding 2 needles, I asked for him to check her one more time.  She appeared better than the night before, and decided to give her another chance.  We then visited another Nuerologist for a second opinion.  The outcome was basically the same, but this time we wanted to go forward with an MRI and possible surgery, we had a more positive acceptance to raise a handicapped dog.  Salina did not need surgery, it appeared her spinal cord was inflamed in the rear area, causing her paralysis. It was determined to be spinal tumors, but her spinal tap showed no sign of cancer or inrfection.  We took our darling Salina home and our journey began by helping  her walk with a harness, and she got back to normal by relieving herself outside, she was not incontintent.  Unfortunately, one of her rear legs was “dead” and her nerves were causing her to continue to self-mutilate, for her best interest, her leg was amputated. 

So here we are, the start of her new journey as a tripawd.  She is slowly recovering by walking on her front legs only and using her one rear leg to balance while standing. 

Her one good leg is always stiff and she will not bend or use to walk, but she does have feeling in it.  Any therapy suggestions?

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