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?
Handicap? What handicap? 😉
With some dedication to daily rehab exercises, Salina should do well. Be sure to review our California Animal Rehab video interviews for lots of helpful stretching and exercise tips for Tripawds. And stay tuned to the Gear blog for new FitPAWS canine conditioning equipment reviews.
Her handicap is actually her right rear leg, she has feeling in it but can’t seem to use it. Her leg has become stiff, every time I try to exercise it, it seems to hurt her.
does salina have a doggie wheelchair?? one of our larger tripawds here uses one for a rear amputation…geesh i can see the picture but not the name in my head..we’d recommend posting a question on the forums (if you haven’t already) and there should be some helpful suggestions there. welcome to the site, glad you were able to give salina a ‘second chance’, she sounds like a special girl!
charon & gayle
I actually got a wheelchair off of Ebay, unfortunately it was too small. When I walk her, I use a harness for her rear end, she does very well walking on her front feet. I think a wheelchair will be helpful for more speed and exercise…they are quite pricey and my vet bills are quite high at this moment, I definitely have no regrets, she is worth every penny.
We are doing our best for our Salina, thank you for your support.