On Thursday 4/2 my dog, Sweet Tea who is a three (3) year old deaf Pitbull stopped jumping on the couch. I noticed her back was hunched as well. This continued throughout Friday so I brought her to my Vet Saturday AM. They diagnosed her w back pain/injury non specific. Put her on Carprofen & Gabapentin. It’s been getting worse every day. Since Tuesday morning she can’t sit still for more than a few min. She’s extremely uncomfortable. Her rear end is very weak. She’s not really putting any weight on her back legs at all. Wednesday was the same, except for now she’s whining while laying down a lot even though she’s on meds. I also noticed her vision is off - like she lost depth perception. She can’t see things eye level, you have to put it above eye level so she can follow it. Again, Sweet Tea is completely deaf so she’s already special needs. It’s heartbreaking to think she may also not be able to see.

Brought her back in to my regular Vet Wednesday. They added on Methocarbamol which is muscle relaxer to try to manage pain. That helped make her comfortable. My Vet thinks this is a Disc issue and she needs an MRI.

Woke up Thursday morning and Sweet Tea is completely lame in her back end. She just drags around half of her body.

Went to Purdue University ER in Indiana on Thursday to get a Neuro Consult. She will need an MRI and likely surgery. Estimate as of now is a range of $8000-$10,000. Purdue University will not do MRI until I leave a minimum deposit of $6000 because upon initial examination they are pretty certain she will need surgery right away.

I rescued Sweet Tea from being euthanized @ CACC in September of 2023. She was pulled by One Tail @ a Time Rescue and I picked her up same day. She is a beautiful soul and I’m doing absolutely everything I can to help her. She’s just a baby.

Any help is greatly appreciated. ❤️❤️❤️

UPDATE THURSDAY PM: I am bringing Sweet Tea home tonight because they won’t keep her without a minimum of $6000 deposit which I don’t have right now. Docs from Purdue attached. I’m planning to bring her back tomorrow AM if I can get that together.

UPDATE FRIDAY: @ Purdue. Unfortunately things are worse than expected. Neurologist thinks due to vision loss that there is something going on in the brain as well. Sweet Tea is currently getting an MRI on her brain and spine as well as a spinal tap. Hanging out at Purdue while I wait for results. I’ll update once I have a definitive diagnosis. I’m very nervous! Sweet Tea was in good spirits before she went into her procedures. She gave me a bunch of kisses! ❤️

UPDATE SATURDAY: Spoke to her Neurologist. No disc issue. It’s worse. Sweet Tea is currently @ ICU @ Purdue getting steroids to try to reduce the inflammation in her spine. She will be there for a few nights. Her diagnosis is not definitive yet but based on MRI/Spinal Tap they think she either has Central Nervous System Inflammatory Disease (type unknown as of now) or Lymphoma. Her spine MRI showed that her spinal cord has a lot of inflammation from mid back to tail. Her brain MRI was initially unremarkable. Radiology results regarding brain MRI still pending for confirmation.

Lymphoma is more unlikely due to the rapid progression of her symptoms and because the dog was perfectly healthy last week. She has all the clinical signs of CNS ID. Both conditions produce very similar cells in spinal tap. Waiting for final Pathologist results.

Prognosis unknown at this time. Waiting for more test results.

Cost for MRI + Spinal Tap + hospital stay + treatment until Monday will be around $6000+.

In my heart I don’t believe she has cancer/Lymphoma. Based on my research she can regain mobility and her sight if she’s treated early for CNS ID. I am fully committed to taking care of her no matter what diagnosis it is.

UPDATE SUNDAY: Sweet Tea is still in the ICU. Good News is she is still eating A LOT and pooping on her own! Bad News is she has blood in her urine (they think from sling) so they had to put a catheter in and increased her fluids to try to dilute that. Ophthalmologist looked at her eyes yesterday and said she has blood behind her eyes but can be common with either diagnosis she’s expected of having. Couldn’t say if she will be permanently blind yet, too early to tell. Her reflexes in back legs haven’t improved since yesterday but they aren’t worse either. She was in a lot of pain around 5am today so they had to put her on methadone but she is alert now and seems comfortable.

I’m hoping to go pick her up tomorrow and care for her at home but Doc said that’s still TBD. I have a lot of stuff from my previous dogs that can accommodate her current paralysis.

UPDATE MONDAY: Sweet Tea is still in the ICU. Her condition neurologically is static. She still has a lot of blood in her urine. She also has an UTI now which she is being treated for w antibiotics. She will be getting an XRAY and ULTRASOUND this afternoon to make sure that there’s nothing else going on w her kidneys/bladder. Doc will call me this evening with results. She’ll need to stay in ICU for another night. Poor baby!

UPDATE MONDAY PM: Ultrasound and X-RAY done. Sweet Tea’s bladder lining is inflamed. Could be an irritation from catheter. No issues w kidneys, no tumors, no unusual masses. They’re going to remove the catheter 4am tomorrow and see if she’ll pee on her own outside. Blood pressure is still high so I’ll need to take her to get that checked at regular Vet once she gets home, may be circumstantial but she’s on meds for it. She is still eating like crazy which is soooo good! The Doc said he saw a tail wag today too which gives me hope. ❤️ I’m planning to pick her up tomorrow late afternoon if all goes well medically until then. She’ll have a long road ahead of her but I’m committed to do everything I can to get her better!

UPDATE TUESDAY: GOOD NEWS!!!

Sweet Tea is coming home today. She’s made some improvements this morning neurologically. Her reflexes are starting to come back in rear legs and she’s responding to light in her eyes and her pupils are dilating! She’s eating and pooping on her own too. She still has paralysis in back legs so she can’t walk and her vision is still mostly gone as of now but there is a possibility both can be regained. She also still has blood in her urine, they pulled the catheter @ 3am and did have to express her bladder this morning. I will continue her care at home and hopefully w some TLC she’ll make improvements. I’ll keep everyone updated. Thank you all so much for your support. ❤️ I’m so excited she’s coming home.

UPDATE WEDNESDAY PM: Sweet Tea is doing good. She’s got a lot of energy! Eating and drinking water like crazy (she’s on high dose of steroids). Her urine is still red and full of blood. Right now she’s incontinent so she’s going pee 10-12 times a day then has to be fully cleaned so she doesn’t get infection/sores. I also have to express her bladder 6-8 times per day. She also does go potty outside w rear end harness lift. Her acupuncture Doc came to house today and worked on her, did points for bladder, immune system, back. Sweet Tea did not want any needles in her head so we left that alone. She is enjoying being home, looking outside and barking at everything w my other dog. It’s been hard but I’m fully committed to nursing her back to health.

UPDATE THURSDAY PM: Good News! Got the culture results back this morning and got different antibiotics to treat her for UTI/Bladder Inflammation/Blood in urine. Gave her the first dose early this morning so hopefully we’ll see some improvement within next 48 hours. It’s a rare bacteria so Doc said she’ll need to be on meds for a few weeks. Took her to regular Vet today to check blood pressure, it was 210! So still monitoring that. For now she’ll stay on same meds. She is definitely getting some feeling back in her back legs. When cleaning her I accidentally moved her back leg out too far and she turned around very upset. She’ll see Neurologist again Monday for check up so we’ll see what they say when they do their exam. She’s at home napping now w windows open enjoying this nice weather!

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