Arnie’s MRI , spine & neck surgery & hospitalisation

29/08/24 11:30AM - Arnie has now been taken in for emergency neck and spine surgery. After being stabilised for 48 hours in hospital, his breathing/ vomiting is now stabilised enough to be put under anaesthetic. The MRI has confirmed what the neurologist suspected, there are discs that have slipped and are pressing on the nerves.

The delay of the MRI and surgery is due to negligence of our local vets, he is now receiving the best care possible. Although the risks are high, we hope and pray he gets through this thank you for your support x

Hi my name is Anais and I am pleading for your help and support to cover the costs of my 3 year old French bull dogs veterinary costs. If you could donate even £1, I would be eternally grateful.

This first started around 2 weeks ago, we noticed Arnie was quite withdrawn, he was struggling to get upstairs, not playing with his fur sister, Minnie (they love playing zoomies at least 5 times a day!) and yelping out occasionally, whenever he got up, when Minnie sat near him or tried to play with him.

When I took him to the vets, they said it was due to the heat and to keep an eye on him. I wasn’t satisfied with that, so I saw another vet for a second opinion, she said he’d pulled a muscle and put him on Pardale (doggy cocodamol). Later that evening, it became apparent that Arnie was in a lot of pain. My in laws visited (who Arnie absolutely adores), he would normally rush up to them with a toy in his mouth, snorting with excitement but instead he sluggishly stood up and let out a screech. At this point, we all noticed that something definitely wasn’t right. I saw a more senior vet the following day who advised me it was suspected IVDD as ‘French bull dogs can suffer with hemivertebras (spinal malformation) that could possibly predispose them to spinal injuries’. The vet’s findings suggested delayed proprioception in the right hind and delay withdraw reflex in the right hind.

They prescribed anti-inflammatories, gabapentin and Trazodone. With strict crate and pen rest, only to take short steps into the garden to go to the toilet.

Arnie was back and fourths to the vets nearly everyday for just under 2 weeks.

I was pleading for help, he was suffering in pain.. Yelping, crying, severe panting, over heating, standing still unable to move, which then turned into more severe pain, vomiting black fluids, not eating or drinking and not able to take any medications.

The vets tried several pain reliefs, anti-inflammatory and anti-anxiety medications, costing nearly £700 in vet visits and medications. By day 12 we were no further forward, Arnie had deteriorated. I had to attend the vets over bank holiday weekend (at an extra cost). By this point, his left front paw was limp and he was occasionally knuckle walking. Early hours the pain was getting out of control. He had a few injections over 24 hours which had minimal effect, at this point, as you can imagine, I am at my wits end, pleading for help. I asked for a referral to the neurologist. The vet told me there wasn’t any point going to see the specialist as they would do/say the same as they had said but she would do the referral anyway, if I insisted.

This was Monday afternoon - the vet said she would speak with the neurologist and get back to me, she didn’t, Arnie was in pain all night requiring an out of hours emergency appointment. He had more pain relief injections and an anti sickness injection. It settled him for a few hours but by early morning it had started again. I still had not heard from the vets so I decided to call the specialist hospital myself. By the time I’d got Arnie to the specialist hospital, he was in a bad way. He was having trouble breathing, in a lot of pain and was dehydrated. The neurologist made an assessment and decided there was only one option, and that was to admit him to hospital.

Our insurance will only cover £1000 and our bill is already at £1,750. The neurologist has called me this morning and advised despite Arnie being with them for just under 24 hours, no significant improvement has been made. He is still vomiting, in pain and refusing to eat or drink. The specialist has decided to keep him for another 24, possibly 48 hours. This means our bill is now around £3,500. If no further improvement an MRI and surgery will be considered. He is also concerned about his breathing and snorting, which may require further BOAS treatment.

We appreciate times are hard for everyone and any help is truly appreciated, from the bottom of our hearts ❤️

Arnie is our baby, my soul dog, and both of us will do anything to help him now or in the future to recover, we just want him home, pain free & back to playing zoomies with his sister, Minnie