Understand the Care Your Paralyzed Dog Needs
Caring for a special needs dog takes patience, support from friends and family, and a guiding hand from your pet professional. It takes time to learn everything you need to know about caring for your paralyzed dog, but here are a few ways you can make sure dog gets the care it needs:
Causes and Severity of Paralysis in Dogs
Certain diseases and health conditions can lead to different levels and severity of paralysis in canines. Sometimes, a dog may slowly lose the use of her back legs, eventually resorting to dragging herself around using her front limbs. That dog just wants to move, but this can cause further damage to the spine and back legs. Other illnesses may result in total limb weakness, leaving your dog completely incapable of moving around on her own.
Here are a few causes of paralysis in dogs:
Loss of mobility can lead to depression and further health issues for your pup, such as obesity. Before making any difficult decisions, you should consult your vet to fully understand your dog’s condition, as well as to agree on a treatment plan. Depending on the cause of paralysis, your canine may respond to rehabilitation, remain stable, or continue to lose the use of his limbs.
To understand your dog’s current lifestyle and level of happiness, it can be helpful to monitor his behavior and compare it to how he acted when he was fully mobile. Ask yourself questions like:
Often, paralyzed or partially paralyzed dogs are still perfectly capable of living a comfortable, happy life. They continue to show interest in playing, they’re alert and excited when they see you, and they maintain a healthy appetite.
If your vet verifies that your dog isn’t in pain and he’s just having trouble getting around, it’s time to look into mobility aids that can expand your dog’s range of motion and allow him to continue to enjoy life by your side.
With a few lifestyle changes, most paralyzed dog can regain some or full mobility. This can drastically improve their happiness—and yours, too! At K9 Carts, we create customized carts for paralyzed dogs and other pets experiencing partial and full limb weakness. If your dog is a good candidate for a cart, we’ll get him or her moving again!
Dogs experiencing rear limb weakness or who need rehabilitation after surgery are best suited to our rear support wheelchair, which is designed to hold the back in alignment, reducing stress, aiding in recovery, and helping to prevent further injury. And for dogs with strong front limbs that will eventually weaken, we offer a front support kit that can transform any of our rear support carts into a fully supportive wheelchair.
Dogs with limb weakness in the front and hind legs may require a full support wheelchair from the beginning. These carts are fully adjustable and can be set with moderate or full support, depending on your dog’s needs. All of our carts are carefully designed to relieve stress and promote decompression of the spine, making your pup more comfortable and able to move around once more.
What’s it like to live with a paralyzed dog? It can be really hard, there’s no way to sugarcoat it. It can be is terrifying, exhausting, overwhelming and often depressing. You try not to let it break your heart or your spirit. You know how badly your paralyzed dog wants to get up and run around with the other dogs, playing, chasing, wrestling, going on long walks. They want to be mobile. They just want to be NORMAL. I try to not think about all that because it could get so overwhelming I’d never function. It seems so bloody unfair. What did a dog ever do wrong to be made paralyzed? Why couldn’t this happen only to really mean people who do terrible things? Why does it have to happen to an innocent dog who never did anything bad to anyone?
But so it is. I’ve chosen this life and will spend every day of it trying to get these animals back to normal, back to walking, back to living a good life. And with that comes a lot of sadness and pain. Some dogs don’t walk again despite turning yourself inside out to help them. The good news is that most of them do walk again. Statistically, about 80% of paralyzed dogs will walk again with therapy. With Ken I had no choice. Ken HAD to walk again. I couldn’t bear the thought of this gorgeous, funny, elegant guy spending the rest of his life being carried around like a ginormous loaf of bread. My back couldn’t bear it either J. And because his front legs didn’t work I couldn’t do it all by myself. I had to have my husband help every step of the way, probably sorely trying his patience as I was/am always foisting these projects on him. When it comes to animals I seem to have more patience than normal and I know that not everyone shares that trait. Ken had become the focus of my life and my staff and I were going to do everything we could to ensure there was one LESS paralyzed dog in the world. Ken WAS going to walk again.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
In the beginning, with my first paralyzed dog, Sophie I used to silently curse the owners of other German Shepherds that could walk normally. I so resented them not having to deal with an 80+ pound paralyzed German Shepherd. It just wasn’t FAIR. Sophie was the kindest, sweetest, most gentle loving dog I’d ever known. I don’t believe in karma. I don’t think bad things ever happen to evil people. And I’ll never understand why animals, children and the elderly are abused. I’ll never understand why kids and animals get cancer (what did THEY ever do to deserve that?) and I’ll never understand why murderers and rapists and terrorists don’t live lives of pure hell for the havoc they wreak.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” css=”.vc_custom_1541954410064{padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”][vc_column] [vc_column_text]With a paralyzed dog in the house many of your own needs get pushed aside. You have to make adjustments. You don’t always have the freedom you used to. Can’t just go out for hours on end knowing the back door is open and all the dogs can relieve themselves whenever they need to. A paralyzed dog is perched or prone on a bed just waiting for you to come back and carry him out, express his bladder, clean him up if he’s had an accident and change positions so he isn’t lying on the same side for more than a few hours. You worry that he might have to go, try to drag himself off his bed and get stuck under a piece of furniture. Or that he is thirsty and can’t reach the water bowl. Or worse, he reaches the water bowl and then drowns in it because he can’t hold his head up. Every nightmare scenario you can possibly imagine runs through your head when you’re not at home. You become a bit of a freak worrying. Its exhausting. And, if you need to go out of town for work, pleasure or emergency who is going to look after him? (Which is why, in my spare(!) time, I board clients’ paralyzed dogs in my home.) But the knowledge that time and a lot of hard work may get this beautiful animal up again makes it all worthwhile. So what if I have a lot more grey hair than I used to? More wrinkles. High cholesterol. What.Ever. This dog depends on you for everything and it is up to you to help him!
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Chapter 5” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1547497718766{margin-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”By Leslie Gallagher” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” el_class=”font-alt”][vc_column_text]Kenny’s melanoma had been removed, with clean margins. That was the good news. The bad news was that he was still paralyzed.
Having said all of this there is also a ton of joy living with a paralyzed dog. Dogs feel no self pity. They attempt to do everything all the able bodied dogs are doing. They don’t wallow in their misfortune. They are as delighted to go for a walk in their wheelchair or walkabout as the dogs who can walk without assistance. They are just as playful, just as joyful, just as full of waggy tails and licks and kisses. To them, their lives are just as worth living as anyone else’s. They are a constant daily reminder to live each day to the fullest, enjoy every moment, every ray of sunshine on your back, every good whiff in the neighbor’s grass, every nibble on their favorite bone. Disabled dogs are an amazing lesson in how not to feel self pity. You can’t have a bad day when you see a crazy German Shepherd running down the street as fast as she can in her wheelchair, mouth wide open in a huge grin, tail flying in the wind!
what life is like with a paralyzed dog | how to care, rehabilitate and adjust
Would you know how to take care of your dog if they suddenly lost the ability to walk? Managing life with a paralyzed dog can be overwhelming, especially when pet owners first face the situation.
Dog Wheelchair LIFE is a website that teaches pet families how to take care of a disabled pet. It provides them with information about products, rehabilitation, and answers their real-life questions.