Monthly Archive

(Note: this is part 2 of the story of Behr’s paralysis. For the rest of the story, please read part 1)

We came home from the vet hospital and then got a second opinion (and third!). I think a second opinion is one that only takes a second to explain or something.  

Mom still used the harness to help me go potty outside because I couldn’t walk by myself anymore.

Then she gave me some tiny pills and I began to feel better!! After 2 days I could walk a little, although I was kinda wobbly. By two weeks, I could even run again, and celebrated by a brief zoomie run in the house (before she stopped me).

Then we started going to a new vet that I REALLY REALLY like. I’m so excited when we get to the new vet place that I jump around and cry for joy in the car. The only other time I do that is when we drive to hiking places.

The new vet takes porcupine quills and sticks them in my back. I like it and usually lie down and fall asleep when she sticks me with them.

I think Mom should just get a porcupine for me and borrow their quills all the time.

The the vet puts a funny mask on me like this:

Ok. Just kidding. It really looks like this: 

Then the vet uses laser on my back. Not the kind for playing laser tag. It feels NICE!! I get so relaxed that I walk like I’m drunk when I try to leave the vet place. Sometimes I even crash into things. Oops.

So now I can totally walk all by myself and even go for hikes with Mom again. Yipee!! 

♥♥ Behr Behr, the racoon masked dog playing laser tag with the vet 🙂 

Behr’s mom here. Behr’s version of the story is funny, but she kinda left out a few things. I’ll fill you in.

Wow. I got home from getting opinions from the veterinarians and felt absolutely CRUSHED. What should I do with a dog who absolutely LOVES running and jumping and hiking and zoomie runs…but may never even walk again? There’s always that “quality of life” talk that I hate. I understand it, but hate it, nonetheless.

She couldn’t walk with her back legs. They hung, useless, and even crossed when I half carried her to go potty, with her feet dragging and folded over (knuckling under). Her disc injury at C5-C6 was pretty bad, in addition to intervertebral disc disease/bone spurs in her lumbar spine. Not good.  

As if that weren’t bad enough, I had suffered a career ending spinal injury myself right before this. That left me with nerve damage in my right leg, so severe that I have to use a Walk-Aide brace that shocks my leg to cause my foot to lift so I can walk. 

I was all too familiar with spinal nerve pain, and knew how debilitating it could be.  I also wondered how in the world I, in this condition, could care for Behr.  Seriously, I was on stress overload.

My heart was swirling with emotions that were all over the place and I couldn’t get them to stop swirling. I was suddenly putting together little clues that she had problems since the fall, but hadn’t connected the dots to recognize what they meant. To be fair, I HAD taken her to the vet multiple times and told them the “clues”, but no one figured what they pointed to.

Behr LOVES rolling in the grass, but would try to and sometimes stop suddenly and jump up. We’d throw a ball for her which she would run hard for several times and then stop suddenly and go lay down or even run and hide. On hikes, she would sometimes start panting even when it was 45 degrees F. The vet checked her legs and other places with no response from Behr that would indicate pain. We checked her thyroid even.

Now that I found out that she had maybe been in pain for a while, I felt horrible. What kind of dog mom am I? Ugh. The regret can eat at you.

So, a few years earlier I had become curious about so-called “alternative medicine” because of some  of my friends who are doctors,pharmacists and pharmacologists (create the drugs) were telling me they had great results with herbs, homeopathy, and other methods.

I ordered a veterinary book about homeopathy because my pharmacologist friend said it was the very safest form of medicine, even for animals. The book had been sitting on my shelf, unread, for weeks.

Then the thing with Behr Behr happened. Suddenly I was open to anything that would help her.

I tried some suggestions in the book (By Dr. Richard Pitcairn DVM) and was totally shocked at the results!!!! It couldn’t be placebo effect since dogs have no idea what you are giving them or why, and no pre-conceived ideas of what the pills should do. No way it was “all in Behr’s head” and not real. She went from not walking to running within 2 weeks. No cart (wheelchair), no crate rest, no physical therapy, no pharmaceuticals.  

Because of the shocking results, I then sought out a veterinarian trained by Dr. Pitcairn to further evaluate and treat Behr. She LOVES going to see her. That’s scary. What dog does that!?  

Behr has her pain managed with herbs, homeopathy, and cold laser. No side effects from pharmaceuticals. For now, this is working. I’d love to have stem cell treatment for her if they could do it without anesthesia.

I did have to get a ramp for her to get into our vehicle with, and switch to a harness instead of her collar for walking. Those are such minor changes in the overall scheme of things.  

The point is, she’s still here, and still able to enjoy life. It works out ok that we both walk slower now and have to take breaks. I had always walked like I was in a race, trying to see how much ground we could conquer, as fast as possible, with lots of elevation gains along the way.

Today I’m just happy to just be with Behr. She gets to go “sight seeing” with her nose because I’ve slowed down enough for her to take in all of the wonderful smells. I’m not constantly hurrying her along on my agenda to conquer.  And I now notice beauty all around that I never took the time to see because I was always rushing. How could that be a bad thing?

So here we are now, on the one year anniversary of this whole injury. Since then, she’s won more titles in her favorite sport (nosework), played at the beach, gone for hikes, and taken vacations.  

Quality of life? I think so. Hers and ours.