Helping Alfie Walk Again

This happy 4 1/2 year old active boy has lost use of his back legs. Thursday October 18th, we came home from grocery shopping. He’s usually super excited when we come through the door, but this time he was just sitting there. I thought this was strange, so I sat with him on the floor. All he did was nuzzle into my lap, shaking uncontrollably. I checked him out and noticed that he was a little uneasy on his rear legs.
On October 19th, my dad and I got up and took him to our primary vet. At this point, he was still able to walk on his own. Dr. Wayne evaluated him and thought he might have jammed his toes or had a hairline fracture in his paw. She noticed there was some minor swelling, so she gave me an anti-inflammatory and we went home. I had to go into work for a few hours, so we confined him to the dining room where there was nothing for him to jump on. When I got home around 3:20 PM I opened the door and he got up off the floor slowly and very wobbly to greet me. I took him and his sister outside to use the bathroom. He couldn’t squat, and he peed very little. I took him back in gave him the anti-inflammatory and just laid in bed with him cuddling. At about 5:00 PM my dad walked through the door. Alfie tried to stand up, but he couldn’t. I tried to stand him up, but his butt just fell to the ground. We immediately took him back to our primary vet. She evaluated him again, doing a toe pinch test, and there was minimal reaction. She gave him a steroid shot in his back and she asked us to come back Saturday for acupuncture.
Saturday 20th, we took him back and dropped him off with our vet. She did a round of acupuncture on him and said he responded well but we got the news that he couldn’t control his bladder or bowels in general. They wanted me to do massages up his spine and on his feet. She also wanted us to go to Affiliated Veterinary Specialists (AVS), in Maitland, to get a second opinion.
On Monday 22nd, we called AVS and they got us in right away. They took him back for an evaluation, and, after a while, the neurologist came back said he had stage 5 Degenerative Myelopathy, or DM. DM is a degenerative spinal cord disease, common in many breeds of dogs. The disease tends to appear gradually in older dogs. Alfie is only four and a half (4 ½) years old, and his symptoms appeared very quickly. But the vet at AVS told us he was in pain, surgery would not help, and that the best thing would be to put him down. They were quick to suggest putting him to sleep that day, and even offered to reach out to Dr. Wayne. This just felt wrong. There had been no real tests. No x-rays, no MRIs, no bloodwork. I refused to give up on him so quickly. I HAD to keep fighting for my sweet baby. My family wasn’t ready or willing to give up either. After posting a social media update about Alfie that evening, a group of amazing ladies got into contact with me and started helping me look for other vets and options. They told me this was not DM and they were furious that AVS was so quick to want to put him down without running any tests. They sent me a URL to an emergency clinic out in Brevard County and my father and I decided to take him the next day.
Tuesday 23rd, we made the hour and a half drive out to Brevard County. They sat us in the room and we waited until the nurse came in and took him back to the back. We didn’t get to see them evaluate him. After they brought him back, the neurologist came in and told us his nerves were dead, surgery would not help him at all. However, he was not in any pain and suggested that a wheelchair would be a great option for him. He was still a happy little dog and could have a long happy life, if we were ready to express his bladder every day, multiple times a day. Of course, my family and I were 100% ready for that. We love this boy so much. We went home with that news and I updated the lovely ladies who have been helping me. They just could not believe this guy still didn’t want to run tests on him and I agreed. The MRI at that emergency vet would’ve cost $5000 alone. We couldn’t really afford to spend that much on just one test.
Wednesday was a relaxing day for him. I had my own back appointment to go to. He was, and still is, in great spirits. He wants to play. He is eating and drinking normally. He is just being his usual self, despite the paralysis. I continued to talk with the three ladies and they really wanted me to go to University of Florida for an MRI and have him evaluated there. UF has an amazing veterinary school. We hadn’t decided yet, if this is something that we would do, as UF is about 2 or more hours away.
On Thursday the 25th, we took Alfie into my primary vet for a full blood panel just to rule out any infections. We also ordered a DM gene test just to rule that out and see if he even carries the gene. After another toe pinch test, he still showed signs that the nerves were not dead. We decided to look more into taking him to UF, so we went home and did some research. I called UF myself just to make sure they would be open if we left today and they said yes being that they’re a 24-hour emergency clinic. My dad agreed that we should take him. So, we set out on the 2-hour drive to the UF Small Animal Hospital in Gainesville, FL. We left Alfie with the vet techs that night, after the neurologist examined him, it was decided that he would have an MRI first thing the next morning.
The next day, the results of the MRI showed what we were all hoping for. His paralysis was being caused by slipped discs in his back, not DM. They took him into surgery right away to repair the damage. He has been recovering there ever since. The vet techs have been doing physical therapy with him every day since his surgery. There has been a little feeling regained in his left leg, but not much in the right. We received the call tonight that we can bring him home tomorrow and we can continue his physical therapy here. We still won’t know the total cost of everything until we pick him up tomorrow, but we plan to update his goal on GoFundMe when we do. There will still be bills for his physical therapy and acupuncture though, and we ran into another family emergency today. My dad had to go to the ER due to swelling and intense pain in his right leg, which turned out to be a blood clot that is running almost the full length of his leg. The clots have even spread into his lungs. The doctors said he would only stay overnight, but it is just adding to our worries.