Weird episode...

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wyrdsister

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At the end of last week, the BananaSpaniel woke up with minimal use of her back legs. She was fine at midnight when we went to bed, slept through the night at my side, and woke up at six doing a great impression of a snake -- slithering around using her front legs, just about tottering onto her back legs, and then slithering again. Needless to say, we made a sharp trip to the vet! She was back on her legs but wobbly by the time we arrived there, continent throughout, and, despite her standard tendency to melt into a furry puddle of woe at the very sight of a vet, completed all the neuro tests with no difficulties. We ran bloods for kidney problems (she's had a borderline result recently, so it's on our watch list) and infection, both of which were clear. She showed no sign of pain on manipulation anywhere, but was obviously upset about having to resort to aforementioned snake impressions. We we went home with painkillers to see if 24 hours rest and anti-inflammatories helped, with strict orders to return if need be. By 6pm that evening she was bouncing around like her normal self again. A chat with the vet and another 48 hours on painkillers and rest resulted in a spaniel that was pinging off walls in the cottage. Stopped the painkillers and she's still fine, back to normal walking regime. Went back to the vet anyway, and have agreed that if it happens again we'll plunge in with every test under the sun but if it doesn't we could well not find anything. Has anyone else had anything like this happen? Any thoughts on what it might be, please?
 
could be she's pinching off a nerve in her neck ? or has some damage here? old or new, this would affect the back legs and anti flams would reduce pressure and inflammation. I would possibly opt for a MRI if it happens again, xrays won't show a complete picture of her spine. I say this because the dog i lost earlier this year had a very old injury in his neck that i knew nothing about, it had fused but he always had an on , off limp, no vets ever found out why because i never took it far enough on their advice. I found him paralyzed one morning as a result of this old injury and sadly lost him. Not saying it is this of course but worth considering maybe. I hope your dog stays sound, it's horrible when something like that happens and you don't know why.
 
Thanks, Shady. The movement in her neck was fine -- we were a little dubious about a spot lower down, but she's not the most helpful beast at the vet (see previously mentioned puddle of spaniel goo!). I think you're right about the MRI. If she so much as thinks about going wonky again, I'll take her for more tests. I shouldn't have a favourite 'child', but she's it and, yes, it's bothering me not knowing why it happened. Sorry to hear about your dog :-(
 
Temporary strain? One of ours looked like he needed PTS a few months ago, could barely walk. We gave him three days of total rest, Metacam and he was galloping around again within the week. I was terrified it was a herniated disc, has happened to two dogs I know and it took ages to resolve.
 
A similar thing happened to our friends' working cocker - he was about 5 or 6 at the time and totally healthy. Woke up one morning and couldn't get out of his bed - he couldn't stand up. But within a few hours he was better, and fine by the next day. Still no idea what caused it but it's never happened again.
 
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