ROCK HILL, SC.....Adorable Poppy is a four-year-old Dachshund that was brought to the vet after becoming lame on her rear legs. She was put on cage-rest and given meds and sent home. She improved and then became worse and was down on her rear legs. Poppy was brought back to the vet to be Euthanized because they could not afford any of the x-rays much less surgery or primary care. The hospital was prepared to put Poppy down when they decided to give her one last chance and contacted us.
We had sweet Poppy taken to Carolina Veterinary Specialists in Matthews, NC where Dr. Russel Quigley, our Neurosurgeon, was waiting for her. Everything about this little Angel was perfect except she was becoming paralyzed. Dr. Quigley did a Cat Scan and decided several discs were compressing her spinal cord. She would be permanently paralyzed if surgery was not done immediately.
When we were first contacted concerning Poppy, the first thing I asked was if she was incontinent and the second was if she had deep-pain sensation in her legs. People say dogs have deep-pain all the time when in reality the dog is responding to you pinching their leg not becuase they feel it but becuase they see you doing it. There is a big difference when you see what it looks like when a dog is pinched and reacts appropriately. I have enclosed a video of Poppy responding appropriately. It was this video that told me she would probably do well with surgery. An animal that has deep pain will try to bite and react like an animal in distress because pinching with forceps HURTS.
Sweet Poppy could not have been more of a delight. She tried her best to walk but was distinctly uncomfortable and could not control her rear legs. Surgery was her only option ever to walk again. I was elated once I saw she had deep-pain to give her this chance. Poppy's surgery was unremarkable which is a good thing. She is now healing and has already begun to get up and move around without any issues. Poppy is one of the lucky ones. It had been almost a month since she became lame and usually, the spinal cord deteriorates rapidly. In Poppy's case the compression was slow coming on and therefore gave her more time.
Please, help us with this beautiful pups bills. Neurosurgeon, Cat Scans, Surgery, and ICU all spell one thing to me, massive hospital bills. Dr. Quigley thinks Poppy will have a full recovery. She is a young pup that will soon be able to sniff and play to her heart's content. Thanks for caring about her and all of our critical care pups.
