Coonhound Paralysis

This blog talks about our experience when Goya (our 150lb English Mastiff) came down with coonhound paralysis (also called acute idiopathic polyradiculoneuritis).

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Why we're doing this blog about coonhound paralysis

My husband, Gary, and I, Bonnie, have a 9-year-old Mastiff, Goya, who was stricken with coonhound paralysis in early December 2005. Now, in late March 2006, he is still recovering and we hope that he will have a full recovery. Although we could find a lot of information on the web about diagnosis and prognosis, we could find very little practical information about how to nurse our dog and what to expect through the course of the disease. We hope that this blog will help other people who have dogs with this affliction.

It will take us a while to populate this blog with Goya's history with this disease, and it will probably be a mixture of current updates and remembering back to what was going on in December, January and February, but we'll try to remember to date our stories with the day they happened, so you can sort it out. (It's too bad we didn't think of this when this all started, but we didn't, so this retrospective will have to do.

Please feel free to comment and ask questions.
Especially if you have experience with a dog with coonhound paralysis, please help by sharing your expertise.

posted by Bonnie @ 3/26/2006 05:47:00 PM  

76 Comments:

  • At Wed Aug 16, 01:32:00 PM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    We live in Walnut Cove, N.C..Our one year old chow chow Tasha is on day 4 of this disease. She started with total front paralysis and could not even lift her head. On day 2 she could lift her head and by day 4 she is now able to stand and take a couple of wobbley steps. Our vet is treating her with prednisone and doxicyline. She seems to be doing slightly better each day. The emergency vet we took her to on day one (sunday) wanted to put her to sleep stating she had a spinal cord injury and would forever be paralyzed. Thank God we could not do it without getting an opinion from her regular vet who knew right away what the problem was.

     

  • At Wed Aug 16, 03:50:00 PM EDT, Blogger Bonnie said…

    Good luck to Tasha! She is lucky to have such wise owners.

    Your vet must have a lot of experience with coonhound paralysis because we had to take Goya to several vets and specialists before he could be diagnosed correctly (see Gary's post on March 28th and his response to a comment to the post on March 27th).

    Our vets said that coonhound paralysis is very hard to diagnose because of its similar symptoms to spinal injuries, tick-borne diseases like Lyme disease, Myasthenia Gravis and stroke. And they all have different treatments!

    I hope this blog helps Tasha in some way.
    Bonnie

     

  • At Sat Apr 21, 10:16:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    4/2/07 On the 3rd week of Duchess being down, heart aches for her to walk again!
    4/5/07 Still waiting on improvment in Duchess. trying not to get anxious.
    4/6/07 Heart feeling heavy for Duchess, so long to see some major improvment that will encourage hope for her and I both.
    4/7/07 4 weeks in this thing with Duchess. God give us strength ! pee pee on the tarp thismorning cause of snow.
    4/10/07 Duchess tried to lift paw to hold bone, (tried)!
    4/15/07 Duchess seemed to be doing better but hurt herself while turning over this morning. Still worry about the pain she has.
    4/17/07 Today Duchess tried to lift her body, she got chest off the ground and even tried to sit up when I picked her up and sat her down. This is good news!!!
    4/20/07 Duchess walked across the driveway with a sheet under her belly and me helping her with her weight. I think it is safe to say at this point that Duchess is going to walk again.
    4/21/07 6 weeks. Duchess completely sat up on her own today by herself.

     

  • At Mon Jul 23, 10:16:00 AM EDT, Blogger scooby said…

    Scooby (London, Ontario) was running and playing on Wed., July 18 and suddenly became paralized by end of day Thursday, 19th. The vet said he had a spinal cord injury and very unlikely to recover. Surgery was recommended but with no guarantees. He is on predizone right now and late Sunday he tried to lift his back end. He would not have a bowel movement in the house (he went from Thurs to Sun)He started barking and insisted on going out. Late Sunday we made sling (98lbs dog)and assisted him outside. Success. Monday morning he dragged himself to the front door and again tried to lift his back end. The vet had asked if he had been in contact with a racoon-not to my knowledge but did not say anything about this disease. A family member told us. We are being optimistic!

     

  • At Mon Aug 20, 10:26:00 AM EDT, Blogger P. R. R. said…

    We live in Central Missouri, our 1 and a half year old English Mastiff began showing these symptoms 3 days ago. She was fine, running around the farm all day, then when we went to put her in the kennel she could not stand up. Her hind legs seemed paralyzed. We took her to the vet, and he gave her an I.V. to rehydrate her, and said she probably overheated. Her symptoms got worse through the day, so I searched the internet with descriptions of her symptoms and found this site. We knew this had to be what she had, she's notorious for getting into scuffles with racoons. And she had a large bite mark on her face from a few days before. We took her home from the vet and made her a bed, and just keep feeding her normally. She seems to have worse symptoms in some ways, but she has been able to get up a few times and walk around the yard. If we pick her up onto her feet, she is able to walk around for several minutes. There's got to be some way's for the vet to treat this. Is there something similar that humans get, maybe that can shed light on how to treat the dogs?

     

  • At Wed Sep 05, 01:58:00 PM EDT, Blogger Sarah M said…

    Atlas was playing on Saturday morning as usual and then Saturday afternoon he laid down and did not get back up. My boyfriends grandparents take care of him most of the time because we cannot have pets where we live and he has plenty of room to run around there. They took him to the vet that night and the vet took blood samples and x-rays and kept him there for the night. It is now Weds (after a long holiday weekend) and the test results are finally in and are clear as well as the x-rays not showing anything irregular. His other symptoms besides immobility include inappetite (it isn't that he can't eat but that he won't eat) he has been sick from any food that has gotten down, and he is very inexpressive as he does not respond to familiar people. The vet has determined that it is either coonhound paralysis or botulism but is leaning towards coonhound paralysis. She has ruled out Lyme Disease because of the blood tests and because he did not have any visible ticks when he came in. She says that he needs constant care and cannot come home right away unless given a feeding tube. Does this sounds right to the people who have gone through this before? I trust that she knows what she's doing but I don't think she has ever been around a case like this before. I also have read that Lyme disease can sometimes not return positive for the initial test and that test results can often be incorrect. I am worried that if it is treated as Coonhound paralysis and it is really Lyme Disease that the Lyme Disease would cause terminal problems. I'm so lost right now and it would be nice to here something from someone who has dealt with it before.

    Thank you.

     

  • At Thu Sep 06, 11:50:00 AM EDT, Blogger Bonnie said…

    Sarah,
    Goya never had some of the symptoms Atlas has. He always responded to us normally. I always joked that Goya acted like a normal mastiff except that he couldn't get up, but that since most mastiffs are lazy and just lie there anyway, we could hardly tell that he was sick.
    He always was happy to see us -- wagged his tail enthusiastically if we went out of the room for 30 seconds and came back in. Except for the 2 days where the paralysis extended to his tail -- that was TERRIBLE because we couldn't tell that our Goya was "in there" without the tail wags. But his tail was the first thing to recover, thank goodness.

    The lack of lethargy was what baffled our vets. They said that if he had Lyme Disease, or several other things, he would have been lethargic and not responded so energetically the people he loved. That's one of the clues they followed to eventually diagnose coonhound paralysis. So at least the handful of vets we took him to agreed that lethargy was counter indicative of coonhound paralysis.

     

  • At Thu Sep 06, 11:55:00 AM EDT, Blogger Bonnie said…

    P.R.R.,

    I'm sorry I missed your post a few weeks ago. But we never found any information at all about _treating_ coonhound paralysis. No literature, no vets, no pet owner experience has led us to believe that there is effective treatment. Everyone seems to agree that there is no treatment, that the disease has to run its course and the body has to heal itself, and that nursing care is the only thing you can do. So we did that, and have put a lot of stuff about it on this blog. We hope this information s helpful to you.
    Best of luck to you and your mastiff.
    Bonnie

     

  • At Tue Oct 02, 04:35:00 PM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I have a 3 year old German Sheperd who we think has Coonhound Paralysis. We are only 3 days in to it and are sill unsure if he will make it. The vet thinks it could be Botulism from eating a dead animal (which may or may not have happened) but I think it is Coonhound Paralysis. We have Coons in our area and about a week ago our dog appeared to have been in a fight with another animal and had small scrathes on his nose. Two days ago I awoke to find his hind legs nonfunctional. Throughout the day he lost function of his front legs as well. I know he is feeling pain because he cried and cried and cried. By the next morning, breathing became difficult for him. That's when we took him in. Because he was in so much pain we really tried to avoid transporting him, but thought we finally needed to. He also lost function of his bowels and was unable to urinate or have a BM on his own. The vet gave him antibiotics and steroids, but nothing helped. They cathed him a couple of time throughout the day and we took him home that night to care for him at home still with no idea what was wrong with him. It is now day three. He is completely paralysed, lost the abiity to vocalize, lost his gag reflex, continuously has droll or something clear coming out of his mouth soaking towels, but we can see in his eyes that he can still feel everthing and is very alert. Oh my, how this hurts to see him that way. The vet had us bring him back today to monitor his respirations and they wanted to start physical therapy in hopes of full recovery. I told them they are nuts. He is in such pain when you move him that I think we need to give it more time and see at least one sign of recovery before we put him though therapy. There is still a very real chance that he may die. I would rather make him as comfortable as possible untill we see any signs improvemet. We will pick him back up tonight and I plan to keep him home. The vet is supposed to put a cath in that should last a couple of days if needed. He had beening eating and drinking for us, but I have no idea what to expect now when we pick him up. He just keeps getting worse and may not be able to swallow. I don't know. I just think he is better off at home in our care. Our case seems to be on the severe side of anything I have read, but the symptoms all match. Wish us luck!

    GS owner with a Sick, Sick dog

     

  • At Tue Oct 02, 07:21:00 PM EDT, Blogger Bonnie said…

    To the folks with the sick GS - I am so sorry to hear about him.

    The difference between your dog's symptoms and Goya's is that Goya never displayed any signs of pain EXCEPT when he desparately needed to move his bowels but did't want to do it in the house. We described this behavior as "distress" -- he wimpered and cried and looked beseechingly at us until he could hold it no longer.

    The first few times this happened, we thought he was dying and packed him into the car and drove to the vet -- as soon as he got into the vet's waiting room, he let go of his bowels and was fine by the time the vet saw him. But he just wouldn't "go" in our house or in our car -- he had to get to a place he didn't care about to relieve himself.

    Later, we figured out how to get him outside (see the pictures of the hydraulic lift) and put him on a schedule, which worked a good deal of the time. He also seemed to get used to letting go in the house if he had to. We covered the mattress and floor surrounding it with plastic and sheets and did a lot of laundry.

    This behavior might be what you are seeing with your dog. But if what you are seeing is pain associated with moving his legs, then it is not the same as Goya's symptoms.

    The best of luck to you and your dog.

     

  • At Wed Oct 10, 11:39:00 PM EDT, Blogger oldmountainman said…

    Hi Everyone!
    Just for the record - a dog does NOT have to have contact with a raccoon in order to have coon hound paralysis. It was named that because it was first diagnosed in coon hounds who had had contact with a raccoon. But it is actually an autoimmune disorder. The immune system gets overstimulated and attacks the peripheral nerves that run on the outside of the spinal cord. These nerves affect the muscles, so the animal loses the use of whatever muscles are attached to the nerves that are attacked. The overstimulation can be caused by vaccinations, viral or bacterial infections of the respiratory system or gastrointestinal system, etc.
    If it is truly coon hound paralysis, antibiotics won't help. The animal needs intensive nursing care and physical therapy (massaging of the legs and other muscles, etc)
    We actually cared for two dogs who had the disease at the same time. We learned a great deal. If we can be of help to anyone, please contact us at edwinneace@bellsouth.net. Good luck!

     

  • At Wed Oct 17, 10:57:00 PM EDT, Blogger HAyers said…

    We have a 1 1/2 year old Llasa that started with paralysis in his hind-end the weekend that he turned 1 in March. From Saturday to Sunday his condition went from the hind-end all over his body. Our vet did x-rays and blood work and were convinced that he had hurt his back in some type of accident. I tried to convince them that this was a neurological problem without success. By the end of the week the paralysis was full body and he was having respiratory problems. We rushed him to a Specialty Vet Clinic in our area where he spent 4 days in intensive care. The vet at this clinic was at a loss and sent Camden's samples all over the country looking for some explanation. One of the only things that even fit his symtoms slightly was Coonhound Paralysis. After 4 days we were able to bring him home but were still not convinced that he would not have to be put down. This all began in March 07 and we are now in October 07 with some signs of improvement. Camden gets around on carpet and on grass much better than our hardwood floors but he has learned how to army crawl very fast across our floors. I am so very thankful that we didn't listen to everyone around us that tried to convince us to put him down right after this all started. I feel strongly that Camden will always be our "special needs" puppy and that he will never be the way he was but we will continue to love him and take care of him. Even his brother Fenway has learned to deal with him (he now lays down so they can fight on an even playing field). Even though he has every right to be a grouch he is the sweetest dog I have ever had the priviledge of loving.

     

  • At Thu Dec 06, 11:18:00 AM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi I read your blogs on goya history of physical progress and had a few questions. On Sunday November 25, 2007 our dog Bella, a bernese mountain dog, woke up did her normal routine of going outside barking rolling around, but she was acting really strange (breathing heavy, walking around a lot, going in and out a lot). At the end of the day she ate her dinner and laid down for a few hours. Around 10pm we called for her to go outside to go potty and she could not walk with her hind legs. She could get up but she would do what they call a drunk stumble and fall over. My husband and I slung a towel under her belly and noticed that she could use her right leg but was dragging her left leg. We immediately took her to the emergency vet where they did an X-ray of her chest. The X-ray showed that her spinal cord did not show any abnormally but they did find a lung mass. We then transferred her to internal medicine where they did an ultrasound and did not find cancer anywhere else in her body. We took her home at that point trying to decide what to do next. Over the next week bella's other hind leg become immobile and she lost the ability to wag her tail. We noticed right away (Monday night 11/26/07) that she lost the ability to bark and she could no longer lap water from a bowl or feed from bowl. We began feeding her on her side and using a water bottle to keep her hydrated. We finally were able to get an appointment with a neurologist on Monday (12/3/07) we were ready to proceed with a MRI to find out if this was a rupture disk, but b/c of the lung mass the neurologist thought that the cancer is probably in her spinal cord and that is why she has the partial paralysis in her back legs. He also stated that he would be very guarded to do any surgery on her even if she did have a disk problem. He also stated that she did not seem to be in any pain beside discomfort from not being able to walk and since she continued to decline over the past weak he did not feel it was disk problem. He believed at this point we should not proceed with any further treatment and even offered to put her down at that time.

    At this point, we trusted the doctor and were starting to make final plans. Last night I received a phone call from my sister about coonhounds paralysis. Bella continues to eat (and believe me she can eat), drink, and besides being uncomfortable because she can not walk, she is in a good mood and excited to see us to the point that when we come she thrashes her body around and cries trying to get up. She is able to control her bladder to a certain point but she drags both her hind legs and her front paws twitch a lot. My husband and I are now conflicted on what to do or if it could even be coonhounds paralysis. What keeps us hanging on is we cant understand why she would lose her bark from cancer (unless the cancer is in her throat) and why she would continue to eat normal and be in such a good mood if this was from cancer. Also, it was so sudden and there was no signs. We wonder if the doctors maybe overlooked coonhounds paralysis because they found the lung mass. We understand that Bella has a mass that is most likely cancer but we would be willing to nurse her back to health if it is possible and let her live the rest of her life as a normal dog.

    So I guess my questions are does any of the symptoms described above relate to what you have seen when your dogs were infected with coonhounds paralysis and when did you start seeing signs of improvements, last night when I was lifting bella tail to clean her up she pulled it back down and stretch her hind legs (improvement maybe or maybe a reflex)? Also, the bark when did that come back (if that occurred)?

    Thank you for any help we are so confused, we don't want her to have to suffer if it is cancer but we don't want to put her down if she will be able to return to a generally normal lifestyle.

    Thanks,

    Courtney Brandenburg
    Court0778@cablespeed.com
    cbrandenburg@mde.state.us.md

     

  • At Mon Jan 21, 12:48:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Thank you for starting this blog. Until October 17, we had never heard of coonhound paralysis. In a matter of 24 hours that all changed. It is a very scary infliction, and heartbreaking to watch it happen to your companion.
    I can tell you that with the right vet and a quick diagnosis, it CAN be treated. Brody, our 5 year old beagle/springer spaniel mix, spent 9 days in the hospital. They weren't sure in the first 48 hours whether he would rebound, as it was beginning to affect his breathing. Luckily, we go to a holistic and traditional clinic. I am thoroughly convinced that accupuncture daily in the first two weeks of the onset helped Brody tremendously. He was also treated with an herbal supplement, as well as antibitotics and steroids for the first few days. They also started him on rehabilitation (swim tank, etc) almost immediately. It has been 3 months and he is his happy little self again. He has trouble still with his right front leg and paw. He still "knuckles" a bit, and it hangs out to the right, but he has his energy level back, he is able to walk the neighborhood again, and he is chasing the cat like old times. Have patience. There IS hope.

     

  • At Sun May 18, 08:55:00 PM EDT, Blogger steve said…

    I just admitted my britany spaniel to UPenn for what appears to be coon hound paralysis. She has lost motor function in all fours and just lost her gag reflex. I am worried that she may have to be placed on a ventilator. In anticipation of that decision, does anyone have any prognosis for dogs placed on ventilators. How long should I expect her to need mechanical ventilation? What her chances of survival?

    I am grateful for any info you can send my way.

     

  • At Mon May 19, 11:55:00 PM EDT, Blogger Bonnie said…

    Stephen,
    I believe there is excellent prognosis for a dog even if she has to be out on a ventilator for a while. Goya never got that bad, but there are many others that you can find here, and elsewhere on the web, who recovered much faster than Goya did after getting off the ventilator. Good luck to you and your britany.
    Bonnie

     

  • At Sat Jun 07, 06:29:00 PM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi, I don't know if anybody is still posting on this blog but it really did help me. Our 14 yr old lab stopped walking a week ago. Saturday she was unsteady, Sunday she could hardly bear her weight and Monday she was almost comatose. She could always swallow, and never lost control of her bowels and bladder, but we have to support her while she goes. She perked up a git by Thursday; she lifts her head and follows you around the room with her eyes. She wags her tail like crazy. We really thought it was the end of her given her age and the fact that she has always suffered with spinal stenosis. We thought she had finally suffered a complete spinal compression and would not recovery. What kept me going was the thought that if Jazz walked (or more appropriately) was carried into my office with these complaints, I would suspect GB Syndrome (I am an NP). This post infection polyneuropathic syndrome presents in people much the same as this condition presented in my dog. We have been able to nurse her well at home and I am feeling much more optimistic about a recovery. I still have to talk to my vet about all this...I did send her some info and asked her to consider this diagnosis. I am waiting on tender-hooks to hear back. Your stories have really helped. Thank you all. Shelley

     

  • At Sat Jun 07, 07:13:00 PM EDT, Blogger Gary said…

    Good luck Shelly, I believe with care your dog will pull through. Tail wagging is a good sign.

    As you can read, our vet initially thought Goya had GB. Bonnie closely monitored his heart when on the GB medicine, and we ended up taking Goya off it when Bonnie was unable to detect a heartbeat. His lack of heartbeat was probably a combination of her poor detection ability and a weakened heartbeat. The vet told us that if he didn't have GB, then the medicine would weaken the heartbeat. Anyway, we now don't believe that GB was the right diagnosis. Watch carefully for medicine side-effects if your doctor prescribes the GB medicine though.

     

  • At Sat Jun 07, 11:12:00 PM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Thanks so much for your encouragement. It has been a really tough week here: not the work of caring for Jazzie but the thought that I was going to have to euthanize her without knowing what was wrong. I'll keep checking the blog, thanks again. Shelley

     

  • At Sun Jun 08, 11:37:00 PM EDT, Blogger Bonnie said…

    Shelley,
    I think Gary (giraffe) is a bit confused. When he said our vet initially incorrectly diagnosed "GB", I think he was thinking of Myasthenia gravis. I assume that when you refer to GB, you mean Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which is the human equivalent of coonhound paralysis, which is why they present so similarly.
    All our best to you and Jazz,
    Bonnie

     

  • At Tue Jul 22, 11:49:00 AM EDT, Blogger Sandy said…

    My story is not as positive as the ones I have read. My dog "Cassie" a yellow lab 5 years old lost the use of her back legs. She was her usual playful fun self up until 6pm and I noticed her back legs were weak. I took her to the vet right away and by the time the vet had finished examing her she could not stand at all and could not blink her eyes. The closest specialist that could put her on life support was 4 hours away and the vet was hoping there was a tick on her - which we could not find. The vet gave her some thing to kill a tick if there was one and we made the desision to take her home and hope for the best. She passed away at 6 am that morning. The paralysis "ascending" I'm told was very swift and spread to her lungs. We still do not know what caused this...All of your stories seemed to have a slower and less paralysis....

     

  • At Tue Jul 22, 11:57:00 AM EDT, Blogger Bonnie said…

    Sandy,
    I am sorry to hear about Cassie. The vets don't seem to know much about these mysterious paralysis cases.
    Hugs to you and your family.
    Bonnie

     

  • At Fri Sep 12, 02:19:00 PM EDT, Blogger Unknown said…

    I have a 'lil border Collie mix diagnosed with coon hound parylisis. Second week out. Started in right back leg and progressed to all four limbs. My vet originally thought it was an orthopedic problem and then realized it was much worse. My "Bandit" was sent to UC Davis in California for diagnosis and is now home, but still does not have use of his limbs. It will be a long haul, but I will not give up on the sweet little guy. It is like taking care of an invalid child. Bandit had developed aspiration pneumonia from vomitting and cannot urinate on his own yet either. I'm learning . First time on the web/ blogging/ .

     

  • At Fri Sep 12, 02:20:00 PM EDT, Blogger Unknown said…

    I have a 'lil border Collie mix diagnosed with coon hound parylisis. Second week out. Started in right back leg and progressed to all four limbs. My vet originally thought it was an orthopedic problem and then realized it was much worse. My "Bandit" was sent to UC Davis in California for diagnosis and is now home, but still does not have use of his limbs. It will be a long haul, but I will not give up on the sweet little guy. It is like taking care of an invalid child. Bandit had developed aspiration pneumonia from vomitting and cannot urinate on his own yet either. I'm learning . First time on the web/ blogging/ .

     

  • At Wed Oct 29, 12:23:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I read your blog on the coon hound disease and it prompted me to leave a comment to hopefully understand this problem with my pet I don't live in an area where raccoons are rampant but a gentleman named Ed on this blog said it was just named when the problem was discovered and stresses a good point. My dog is a 4 yr old. mixed cocker spaniel/lab dog named Bella. I am actually on Day 2 of her paralysis, on Sunday 26Th of Oct was the initial onset,. she was walking around doing her usual thing, until i noticed she was very out of it, something gave me the feeling that something was not right, the next morning when i opened the sliding door to do her normal routine, she was trying to get up but could not and gave me this look like something was wrong, hastily i went to the vet and all the blood work and x-rays came back normal, she is very alert and like a normal dog except both her hind legs, she has a normal appetite and drinks water, but the vet said she does not know what is going on and could be hereditary and we needed to see a specialist now and it has to be done that night or else the more we wait the price for the procedure goes up and still no guarantee that she would walk again?, they wanted $7,000 for the procedure and did not guarantee her recovery that she would walk again. Other people who have had their pets seen there said that its a clinic motivated by greed and prayed on the emotions of the pet owners. It's Day 3 now and i have been caring for her on my own and today after praying with my dog i pinched her toes and her left leg moved up! We were planning on putting her down, but now after today's revelations and reading all these stories, it has given me hope for my little Bella. Some people on the blog has mentioned medications? massages? acupuncture? and there is a thread on line with USA Today about paralysis recovery for canines that was successful? It sounds like on these posts that there are many professionals, if there is anything anyone can offer to help her recover like good medications or exercises it would be a great blessing for our little one. Please help us, we do not have children and alot of money and she is the only one keeping us alive and happy. I will add everyone and their pets that is going thru this in our prayers tonite. my email is serranocs1@yahoo.com

     

  • At Wed Oct 29, 07:19:00 PM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Update on Bella, It is now Day 4 and I have taken her to a new vet. He seems very concerned and bless him for his kindness towards us. He is Diagnosing Bella with IVD Intervertebral Disc Disease. I hope this helps out other people and there pets? Google "IVD in Dogs" it will send you to the top results. It has been informative and reassuring. I really admire the owners who have the strength and time to take care of their loved one. My wife and I has been very tired taking care of her and everything comes with a price. Unfortunately, we are considering that we let our little girl go and have her finally rest. We can't afford the cost and life is hard for us all including many others on this blog site. If this will ease her suffering, then we want whats best for her. Our prayers still go out to all of you.

     

  • At Thu Nov 13, 06:53:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    James,
    I just emailed you. if your Bella has Coon Hound Paralysis she will recover with time, and not so much money, just effort.
    I blogged above you about Bandit.

    Bandit has other issues now, but not all recovery dog do and his may not be related. I am still learning and so are my vets. We must teach them sometimes.

     

  • At Thu Jan 22, 05:59:00 PM EST, Blogger mmh416 said…

    We lost our 10-yo yellow lab to Coonhound Paralysis in January. Like others, the onset was sudden and progressed at a frightening rate. Hailey got up from a morning nap, walking like a drunkard. I called our Vet immediately and within 2 hours she couldn't control her back legs. We took her to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at Texas A&M University. The vets were very compassionate and caring. During the next 4 hours, during the neurologist's exam, Hailey lost even more nerve function. Her esophagus filled with air and she was no longer able to swallow. The prognosis was bleak so we left her in ICU at the hospital. By the next morning, her condition had deteriorated to the point that pulmonary collapse was expected at any time. With a broken heart, we held her closely as she was put to sleep. We have other dogs at home and are concerned that this disease will afflict the remaining dogs. Have others seen it come back or reoccur in other dogs kept on the same premises?

    Has anyone related the onset to a recent vaccination?

    I'm just looking for a trigger...

     

  • At Wed Mar 04, 04:42:00 PM EST, Blogger Unknown said…

    In response to Marsha's questions:
    I,m no expert on coon hound parlysis, but blogged above about my Bandit. Bandit was stricken last September and is now fully recovered. It was the first time the vets at my Fresno clinic and at UC Davis had actually treated a coon hound paralysis dog. Quite scary for me. Bandit was paralyzed for a month and a half. This was a short term compared to some dogs. He also couldn't urinate on his own. He had aspiration pneumonia at first too and was quite ill from vomiting. (He probably had this uncontrolable vomitting due to seperation anxiety because I had to leave him at UC Davis and his stomach was probably upset from meds given him here in Fresno. Not really sure why the vomitting.)
    Anyway, as far as I know, know one really knows what triggers the coon hound parlysis except that it was named for a coon hound that was maybe bitten by a raccoon. It has been suggested that triggers can be anything. I have "searched" in vain for what caused Bandit's illness. Go figure: I do dog rescue and can have up to as many 40 dogs at my place at any given time. To think that my favorite "fur-child" be stricken with something so bizarre.
    Apparently anything can be a trigger. It is not contagious from one dog to another. I have been told it can retrun so it is important to keep your dog's immune system healthy. My vets recommends that Bandit never be vaccinated again for anything and I have him on immune boosters and pet vitamins and a good healthy food. He also gets acupunture treatments as he did when he was paralyzed which I think sped up his recovery. I hope he never sees another bout. I also understand that coon hound parlysis is more prevlant in the east coast and southern states than it is here in the west coast.

     

  • At Mon Sep 21, 07:58:00 PM EDT, Blogger metsetinc said…

    We are in day 10 with our 12 year old Westie. The emergency vet said put him down they said it was his brain or back. Wow am I glad I didn't listen to them. We are swimming with him 45 min 3 times a day with his life jacket on. His legs work in the water but not on land. We had to have an enema given on Sat as it had been over a week since he went to the bathroom. Today he stood for the first time to pee. He shuffled his legs a little. But at this point I will take any encouragement. He is not eating much but some if I hand feed him. He drinks a ton of water however, which is not like him. We pray that this is the problem and he will come back to normal for us.
    Thanks for your blog it has helped to know other dogs have come back to their normal state.

     

  • At Wed Feb 10, 02:17:00 PM EST, Blogger Unknown said…

    I am visiting the blog again, though my Bandit is healthy now after over a year since his coon hound paralyis.
    I still keep him on a good diet and vitamins and supplements (Holistic foods and Transer factor for part of it. I watch him constantly for every little move he makes I seem to think that is "not normal". I take him for accupunture when he looks like he might not feel up to par. But...for the most part, Bandit is a normal 8 year old Border collie mix...just over weight..due to beiing spoiled.
    I know that coon hound paralysis can return, and I worry about it, but I pray it never will, so I try to keep Bandit's immune system up.
    Prayers to all of you that must face what the rest of have incountered with our "fur-kids". It is a battle well worth fighting.
    Bandit is happy and healthy now..the past behind us..may we never see it again...
    Sandy
    (Fresno, CA)

     

  • At Mon Aug 16, 12:27:00 PM EDT, Anonymous Nancy Lampton said…

    We found our three-year-old Golden retriever in the back yard, unable to move out of the sprinklers. This was VERY sudden, as she had been okay the night before. She woke us up at 3 AM to go outside and vomit, and refused to come back in. We found her paralyzed about 3 hours later. She was quickly diagnosed at an emergency vet hospital, with some rule-outs, such as botulism and tick paralysis. She was in the hospital from August 4 to August 7, and during that time she became able to swallow and blink. She had been on IVs and doxycycline, and on day 3 she was able to "swim" out of her crate onto the floor. We got detailed instructions on supportive care, and set her up at home. Progress has been slow but steady. With warm dry weather we let her stay outside in the shade most of the day, with one of the family watching her. She can perform her bodily functions and then move (squirm or crawl) away from the spot. Yesterday she made it up to all four legs for a few minutes, very wobbly. Today she is a little steadier. She doesn't like to eat much--we are hand feeding her chicken and beef, and she seems totally averse to water, turning her head and moving away from her bowl. This dog normally loves water, so I don't understand this at all. We give her broth from the cooked chicken, and she's not dehydrated. She was muscular and athletic before this illness, and we're hoping for a good recovery, but we'll take what we can get.
    We don't have ticks in our area, and the vets ruled out botulism, so evidently she contracted this from the local raccoons. People in our neighborhood think it's cute to feed them and we've seen them in our yard at night. I intend to warn them about the danger to their pets.

     

  • At Mon Aug 16, 01:51:00 PM EDT, Blogger Bonnie said…

    Nancy,
    So sorry to hear about your Golden, but it seems like she is progressing quite well. She's young and otherwise healthy, so I bet she's up and back to normal in no time at all.
    Best of luck to you,
    Bonnie

     

  • At Thu Sep 23, 07:34:00 PM EDT, Blogger Unknown said…

    Well, here i am again. My dog, Bandit, a Border collie mix had coon hound paralysis almost exactly 2 years ago. He came down with again two weeks ago. His first signs of "reinfection" were anxiety (panting,pacing, and hiding). Immediately took him to the vet and blood work showed his white blood cel count was up. Antibiotics were given, ut a few days later I noticed a bad tooth so I am thinking the infection triggered the retrun of the coon hound disease. Sloly the paralysis started taking over his limbs again. He cannot urinate on his own and am taking him daily to have his bladder expressed. This time out, so far he can combat craawl if he wants to which he could not do two yerars ago. Once again, I am in it for the long haul. I will return with an update.

     

  • At Sat Sep 25, 02:19:00 PM EDT, Blogger Bonnie said…

    Sandy,
    I am so sorry to hear about Bandit. Please let us know how you and he make do.

    I wonder if there is something about having coonhound paralysis once makes a dog more susceptible to it in the future or whether there is some underlying susceptibility to it in the first place. I also wonder if any vets are doing research on this phenomena -- if anybody knows, please post.

     

  • At Fri Oct 22, 12:10:00 PM EDT, Anonymous veterinary clinic said…

    Is this a rare case to dogs? I'm a new dog owner and I'm always worried about my pets health.
    Winston Salem Veterinary Pet Clinic provides comprehensive veterinary care for Dogs, Cats, and Small Pets such as Vaccinations & Preventive Care, Illness & Injury Care, Surgery and Internal Medicine, Dentistry, Radiology and Microchipping.

     

  • At Sat Oct 23, 04:37:00 PM EDT, Blogger Gary said…

    Veterinary Clinic

    Thank goodness this is an uncommon disease. One of the great things about the web is that even those with pets that are afflicted with uncommon diseases can find people that will support them.

     

  • At Sat Dec 04, 09:22:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Our 7 year old yellow lab went "down" about the middle of Sep 2010. Our vet was great. Sam stayed in hospital for 11 days. He had tubes for everything, but at last they came out and Sam came home. He has made steady progress still under his doctor's watchful eye and still on antibiotics. We got "walk about" harnesses and he is now on his feet- not too steady perhaps but quite good. And we really want to thank you for the tip about clipping front end to back end to keep the back end from walking off. Tried that tonight right after reading about Goya - it certainly helped a lot .Thank you for such an informative and encouraging series of posts Mary.

     

  • At Wed Dec 29, 12:01:00 AM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    This is an update on Sam, the yellow lab who went down on around the middle of Sept 2010. He is continuing to make progress. We still use the back end walk about harness. but he needs it more so we can help him balance rather than for support. He can walk about 30 feet on his own. He stands to eat and to 'toilet' He cannot get to his feet without some help but we are hopeful this will improve. Sam has been having therapy for several weeks and will start acupuncture soon. We still wonder if he has coon hound paralysis as that diagnosis was never given. We have been told he has disk spondylitis but somehow that doesn't seem right as to us his symptoms are more like CHP. I don't suppose it really makes a lot of difference what its called as long as we can get him through it. Thank you again for your blog and all its useful information and encouragement to all of us struggling to get our dogs back on their four feet again. Mary.

     

  • At Thu Jan 20, 08:53:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    This is an update on Sam the yellow lab. He is still making good progress. He is walking without support now. He does swing his hind legs and he's still a bit wobbly but he is a happy dog. He's getting acupuncture now and it does seem to be helping. We are very optimistic now. Thanks again for your blog.
    Mary.

     

  • At Thu Mar 03, 11:37:00 AM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi there,

    I have a message for the webmaster/admin here at coonhoundparalysis.blogspot.com.

    Can I use some of the information from your post right above if I provide a link back to this website?

    Thanks,
    James

     

  • At Thu Mar 03, 11:53:00 AM EST, Blogger Gary said…

    James, I have no problem with you using information from the blog under the conditions you describe where you link back to the original pages.

     

  • At Sun Mar 13, 11:23:00 AM EDT, Blogger Dr. K - Orthopedic Surgeon said…

    That is a very cute dog, it's a shame to hear about his condition. I hope he'll recover soon.

    Thanks also for sharing this information!

     

  • At Wed Apr 06, 07:28:00 PM EDT, Blogger Unknown said…

    Well, here I am again. Third time with my doggie. Two and a half years ago and I researched the heck out of this mysterious affliction and then again it hits my dog almost two years ago to the date. September to september. Now, yesterday, my furkid begins his stumbling in the back end. I can deal with the parysis that each time lasted about 6 weeks. What scares me is reading about the pet parents that under go "kids" that have problems with their heart and lungs. I'm watching my Bandit like a worried mom does. Took him for an acupuncture treatment today. If I only knew the trigger.

     

  • At Thu Apr 14, 05:16:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi - I am really glad to find this. great job!

     

  • At Sat May 21, 07:07:00 PM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Sam the yellow lab continues to keep well. He can run again at a fair speed and he swims at the beach. The acupuncture seemed to really help him. Sam gets metacam every morning, fish oil and vitamin b complex as well as olucosamine. He's happy and so are we to have our big baby back. We go for a long walk morning and night and will be eternally grateful to to Goya's family for providing the information that kept us going.

     

  • At Fri May 27, 06:57:00 PM EDT, Blogger Darla said…

    My Bobo, a happy, energetic, fun loving, frizbee catching, soccer playing Australian shep/Rot mix started with what seemed to be an achy back. The vet found a bit of arthritis in an xray and gave us pain meds. The next day Bobo's left leg was some wobbly and over the next 4 days the wobbly spread to both legs and got worse. By the end of the 4th day, his back legs would not hold him up.

    I pulled a queen size futon cushion into the living room on the floor for him for comfort. He continues to eat, drink, pee, and poop normally. I then went to the internet and matched his symptoms to coonhound paralysis. Over the next few days his symptoms stabilized. He still cannot move his hind legs and have been blessed with an absence of any respiratory problems.

    I have invested in puppy pads to help keep him clean. We modified some of our games to futon versions . . . rolling the ball to him softly, so he can still play with his toys. He can walk normally if I hold his butt up, but he is big and can only do this for so long. He tried to take me mouse-hunting with him LOL . . . I could not keep up!

    He seems to understand that the futon mattress is his safe place right now. He soooooooooo wants to go outside, but not yet.

    This is the end of the second week and he has figured out some compromises on his own . . .he can push himself into an upright position, pivots on his butt, then tip himself over to the direction he wants to go (on the mattress). He "digs" with his front legs to move forward and sideways while lying on his side and extends his front legs into the mattress to push himself back. (clever fellow in many ways LOL) He smiles his big beautiful smille through all of this with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth.

    I work his hind legs with flexing exercises 4 x per day, 50 reps each leg to keep his legs flexible and maintain muscle. I rub his back and neck muscles and sleep close by at night in cas he needs me.

    His mattress faces the back door which I keep open so he can see out. He did not bark a few days but is back to it now some.

    I have read it may take months to recover, so I ham prepared to work hard and be attentive.

    Last night I noticed him stretching his back legs lightly in his sleep, but will not do this when he is awake. He is wiggling his toes on the back legs slightly when I tickle the bottom of his fluffy feet. This is encouraging.

    My best to each of you . . . these are our "other children" and members of our families.

     

  • At Sat May 28, 02:25:00 AM EDT, Blogger Darla said…

    Tonight Bobo threw up his whole dinner . . . first time . . . might have been the way he was sitting. I hand feed him and bring him his water. He drank more water than usual this time maybe too much. He sat up smiling immediately afterward and spent some time barking at something he saw out the back door. He is snoozing soundly right now and will offer a small snack when he wakes up.

    I have some materials here that would make a good ramp to the back yard (he is to heavy for me to carry down the steps without risking both of us getting injured) . . . also have an wagon the could be padded on the inside for transporting outdoors. all four sides of the wagon are removable which would make it simple to get him in and out.

     

  • At Sat May 28, 08:15:00 AM EDT, Blogger Gary said…

    Darla,

    So sad to hear about Bobo. His symptoms seem to be similar to Goya's first bout with coonhound paralysis. Our hearts are with you in your nursing.

    There are other possible diagnoses for his reported symptoms, and you didn't report that those causes were ruled out. You can read what we did in the post "Details of first bout with coonhound paralysis". In particular, ticks can cause paralysis and the treatment is doxycycline. The vets put Goya on doxy and he got better almost immediately. Though we now believe that his getting better was not because of the doxy.

    I fully understand the issue of helping the dog move around when the legs aren't working well. You can read all the tricks we had to do to handle a 150lb dog. The vets now seem to have hand slings (which are MUCH easier than towels) for lifting the back of dogs. In the past year we had a dog get ACL surgery, and were given one. Slings weren't handed out when Goya was first treated.

     

  • At Sun May 29, 01:46:00 AM EDT, Blogger Darla said…

    Thanks Gary,

    I checked Bobo thoroughly today several times and could find no ticks. He had a good day. Ate fine, no more vomiting, so must have been the position. We played ball on the futon. He is getting real good at catching his toys from his side and perks his spirits to play a game similar to his normal stuff.

    I sat crosslegged on the futon mattress earlier today and sat his rear on my lap. He was able to sit upright for about 30 minutes like this and was happy to have a back rub and I was able to check for ticks.

    The top of his rear thighs seem to have some feeling returning . . . he lifts his head when I rub the muscles. When doing the flexing exercises he whimpered some this time and I stopped. Although this is a sign of feeling, I worry he has strained something. I watch carefully when he is moving about for back legs getting tangled and intervene when he needs help.

    I have kept in touch with the vet by phone since the last visit 10 days ago and will take him in again once there is a way to get him to the car safely. I found instructions on how to make a comfortable rear sling out of a sweatshirt and that is tomorrow's project.

    I also found a belly wrap that hold a sanitary pad that can be comfortably put around his middle that preserve his dignity and help keep him clean . . . Link http://www.k9-carts.com/products.php

    I also found some instructions for homemade carts . . . Link http://handicappedpets.com/www/index.php/pet-care-articles/homemade-dog-wheels-diy.html

    Thank you for sharing your love for Goya . . . it is inspiring

    Darla

     

  • At Thu Jun 09, 02:32:00 PM EDT, Blogger nicholas said…

    Hello everyone,
    I found this blog because I just lost my 6 year old australian shepherd Lucy to what I think is coon dog syndrome, I would just like some closure on the issue and would like to know in all your opinions if this was the cause
    I am an officer in the Marine Corps home on leave and so I decided to go for a run near my house in rural Illinois, my active and energetic dog wanted to tag along, and I enjoy her companionship, I did a 6.5 mile run and Lucy completed the run fine, the next day she had a slight limp in her front right leg, but I thought it was just from the long run, then two days later I woke up to find two dead baby coons in my yard and my Lucy with a gash under her jaw, I live in the country so coons are a nightly occurrence so I thought nothing of it, then a few days later I attempted to take Lucy to our family farm because she enjoys being around the livestock and found she couldn't even walk, I looked her over thinking maybe she had been hit by a car but found no physical injuries and no pain sensitivity, I lifter her up and she sat up but then promptly fell over, we took her to the vet the next day, and the first thing the women behind the counter asked was "did she get into a fight with a raccoon" and I replied that she did and she said that it could be this disease that dogs can get where they are paralyzed and she also mentioned that family friends of ours had a dog that had this happen to him twice and he slowly made a full recovery, we left Lucy at the vet overnight for observation, and my mom called our family friend to find out the details, we found out that it was a long road to recovery but that it was not typically fatal, the vet called the next day to tell us that our dog was like this because of her scuffle with the raccoon and that she had a 50/50 shot of recovery and there was not much we could do for her, we took her home, she was totally alert and recognized the people close to her, she lost control of her bowels and lost most of her ability to bark, I put her under a shade tree and monitored her 24/7 she ate and drank like normal and appeared totally alert without any sense of pain or agony, she continued to eat and drink like normal and so I thought she would with time and care pull out of this, I went away for a few days, I just received a call from my mom saying Lucy had within the last hour had difficulty breathing and that very suddenly she had passed on, I have just researched this disease extensively and found most dogs recover so long as difficulty breathing does not set in, does this sound like coon dog syndrome? I am very distraught over what happened and would just like some closure, so if you can tell me anything it would be GREATLY appreciated, thank you very much

     

  • At Thu Jun 09, 02:32:00 PM EDT, Blogger nicholas said…

    This comment has been removed by the author.

     

  • At Thu Jun 09, 04:15:00 PM EDT, Blogger Gary said…

    Nicholas,

    I am so sorry to hear about your loss. It did sound like Lucy could have had a bad case of coonhound paralysis. Coonhound paralysis can reach the lungs. I think if Goya had such a case, we would of lost him also.

    The only part of your story that didn't ring true for me as a coonhound paralysis story was that it was the front leg that initially had problems. In my experience (limited to the 2 times with Goya) the disease started weakening the back legs and crept toward the front. The creeping could be slow or fast. In Goya's first case, the creeping happened over 2 days, and he was only paralyzed in the back 2 legs. In the second instance his legs were paralyzed but his bowels and lungs worked fine.

    It is possible that the front leg problem was simply due to the tussle with the raccoon and thus was independent of any transmitted disease.

     

  • At Fri Jun 10, 05:21:00 PM EDT, Blogger Darla said…

    Hi Nicholas,

    My heart goes out to you with the loss of you dear friend Lucy.

    I hope you can find some comfort and closure here.

    Darla

     

  • At Sun Jun 12, 10:23:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hey - I am certainly delighted to find this. cool job!

     

  • At Tue Jul 12, 04:35:00 PM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hello. And Bye.

     

  • At Wed Jul 27, 06:25:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Dental Marketing said…

    Great approach! I love it!

    Keep it up! and,

    Good Luck!

     

  • At Thu Aug 04, 06:54:00 PM EDT, Anonymous Nicole, bernese mountain dog training expert said…

    I have heard about insurance for pets. I think this plan or service should push through to assist pet owners in dog diseases such as this.

     

  • At Fri Dec 02, 11:19:00 AM EST, Blogger Challenges in Schools said…

    A six-year-old American Fox Hound or possibly a beagle/coonhound mix.
    We are fostering Jack, our son's dog, while he is in Iraq. 11-11-11 we noticed that he had slowed down, stopped barking, and was walking in figure 8's around the house and in the yard. He seemed to be holding his head low, and his gait was irregular. 2 vets saw him in their office that afternoon and evening. The first one did an exam and declared that he could find nothing wrong. The second vet, a large animal vet and chiropractor, did an exam and an adjustment; then, declared that Jack was "all jacked up" and probably had a pinched nerve. We started him on a pain pill (tramadol) and an NSAID over the weekend and nothing changed. On Monday (11-14-11) we took him back to the first vet's office, but saw a third vet. She seemed to think Jack's condition could be from a tick-borne bite. I had done research on the symptoms that Jack exhibited and decided that it was Coonhound paralysis. She ran blood work and eventually the first vet also X-rayed his neck and hips before the chiropractor vet would perform another adjustment. We noticed that Jack had improved after the first visit to the chiropractor; so we thought a second one couldn't hurt. At this point, after 10 days, Jack was still mobile, but just barely. He was not barking, and needed us to lift his food and water bowls to his mouth. He was sitting, but could not walk on all four legs. We began to use a towel sling in order to carry his rear end while he moved his front legs in order to go outside to pee and poop. One thing that had returned was his bark and his alertness; this kept us going with in-home nursing care. After 1 or 2 days we noticed that he was peeing into the towel as soon as we lifted him to a standing position. I made up an assortment of meals similar to a bland diet with rice and chicken, rice and fish and rice and scrambled eggs. We put him into doggie diapers because he was starting to develop sores on the tops of his rear paws from being dragged outside to pee and poop. He began prednisone twice daily 11-25-11 for 5 days. At this time I was out of town for 4 days and my husband continued to administer 10 mg of Pepcid ac with the prednisone in a pill pocket. When I returned 11-30-11 Jack had developed a severe case of diarrhea. We stopped the prednisone for two days and administered probiotics and an anti-diarrheal. At this point, 12-2-11, 3 weeks since first noticing the symptoms, I am cleaning his sores with beta dyne and wrapping his paws with sterile gauze and taping them so he doesn’t remove the bandage. He rests peacefully on his side for 4 hours at which point we begin a routine of anti-diarrheal followed ½ later with water, rice/yogurt/egg diet and a probiotic. Today he began a much- reduced dose of prednisone and Pepcid ac in a pill pocket.

     

  • At Mon Jan 02, 12:50:00 PM EST, Blogger Deborah Perkins said…

    I have a walker coonhound and he has had 3 bouts of the symtoms of this disease. He has drooling after he eats and has not completely lost all of his motor control of his limbs, he also has respiratory problems. We have tried giving him antibiotics, he seems to get better after a few doses, we also are giving him ibuprophen. We called the vet after we were told of this disease. The vet says it is not coonhound paralysis it's heartworms. I refuse to believe this diagnosis and will not take the dog to him. One his litter mates has had the same problems and they were told of this diagnosis. I was wonderring if drooling and respiritory problems are part of the disease?

     

  • At Fri Aug 10, 10:30:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Thank you for the excellent posts

     

  • At Sun Feb 17, 09:32:00 AM EST, Anonymous jamini said…

    I be aware of regarding insurance arrange for animals. i believe this strategy or help ought to force through to assist pet entrepreneurs in dog sicknesses like this.

     

  • At Fri May 24, 05:19:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Dog Diapers said…

    Thank you for your important post..I believe there is excellent prognosis for a dog even if she has to be out on a ventilator for a while.I was going to have to euthanize her without knowing what was wrong

     

  • At Thu Sep 12, 05:59:00 AM EDT, Anonymous penis girth said…

    Im thankful for the article. Great.

     

  • At Sat Jan 31, 03:39:00 AM EST, Blogger Caroline & Anton said…

    I would like to quickly tell you of the methods we devised for looking after our darling poodle, Silver who suffered a miserable end with coonhound. the vet assured us we should nurse him through it. Here is a picture of him having a bum wash after he pood in his nappy overnight...a weekly event as he hated messing his bed and could not know he had a kids nappy waiting to catch it. Then you wil also see a long drop we dug for him in the garden . We would lay his penis over that hole and he weed every time. we took him out there every few hours and he always weed. We kept paper towl in there to absorb excess. this was under a part of the roof of the house and we had to take care to shelter him from sun/rain etc< hence the garden table whichwe used as a roof. OMG. The we had to get him some memory foam against bed sores. I had bed sores in hospital and I tell you, they caused me more misery than my total hip replacement so we need to be extremely vigilant to turn our animals as it is literally AGONY and if you are paralysed....say no more. I hope I can post these photographs I have selected.
    No I cannot post them.
    ok, the long drop consisted of a jar sized hole in th ground...[plastic yogurt container with bottom removed. Top has to be cushioned so as not to cut into tummy of male dog. The poppy pad has hole in it to go over container and prevents the dog getting damp while lying on the ground over the hole to wee.

     

  • At Sat Jan 31, 03:44:00 AM EST, Blogger Caroline & Anton said…

    I would like to quickly tell you of the methods we devised for looking after our darling poodle, Silver who suffered a miserable end with coonhound. the vet assured us we should nurse him through it. Here is a picture of him having a bum wash after he pood in his nappy overnight...a weekly event as he hated messing his bed and could not know he had a kids nappy waiting to catch it. Then you wil also see a long drop we dug for him in the garden . We would lay his penis over that hole and he weed every time. we took him out there every few hours and he always weed. We kept paper towl in there to absorb excess. this was under a part of the roof of the house and we had to take care to shelter him from sun/rain etc< hence the garden table whichwe used as a roof. OMG. The we had to get him some memory foam against bed sores. I had bed sores in hospital and I tell you, they caused me more misery than my total hip replacement so we need to be extremely vigilant to turn our animals as it is literally AGONY and if you are paralysed....say no more. I hope I can post these photographs I have selected.
    No I cannot post them.
    ok, the long drop consisted of a jar sized hole in th ground...[plastic yogurt container with bottom removed. Top has to be cushioned so as not to cut into tummy of male dog. The poppy pad has hole in it to go over container and prevents the dog getting damp while lying on the ground over the hole to wee.

     

  • At Wed Apr 29, 05:54:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    april 2015,
    thank you for this post, our rottweiller OJ has left sided paralysis started with l hind leg only & then with exercise & prednisone he started getting better (it seemed) not so apparently on Easter Sunday he started limping on his front left paw, & it's going all down hill from there, He has a great appetite & doesn't appear to be in pain, but mentally i think it's the worst part for him, no longer able to play with other dogs, run or jump in the windows to look out, take walks, now he can't even get out of the car. not easy making a rotweiller do something he don't want to do either. We are going to try swim therapy with him on saturday 4 more days & i so excited hoping it will help him physically as well as mentally, i do need some kind of harness to help him with walking any suggestions anybody

     

  • At Tue Jan 03, 05:21:00 AM EST, Blogger myScorz said…

    I have successfully worked with coonhound paralysis/polyradiculoneuritis and written a very easy to read book which is available on amazon. I found that there isnt a singular place for all the information in regards the rehabilitation, exercise, diet, medical facts etc so with this in mind this was written – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coonhound-Paralysis-Idiopathic-Polyradiculoneuritis-Rehabilitation-ebook/dp/B01MRXTUNS/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483437179&sr=1-2&keywords=coonhound

     

  • At Thu Jun 22, 08:31:00 PM EDT, Blogger Kristie to said…

    Did you ever find out what it was that your GS had for sure and did he recover? Our almost 4 year old GS, Rip, just started the symptoms of this last night. He's staying at the vet tonight for IV antibiotics but supposed to come home tomorrow. Our 13 year old lab mix just died from the same symptoms a few days ago. We're very scared for our GS but hopeful since he is so much younger.

     

  • At Thu Aug 10, 10:43:00 PM EDT, Blogger Unknown said…

    I live near london, my friends dog is going through the same thing. Emergency vet suspected coonhound paralysis or tick paralysis. She was surprised how suddenly and severely it progressed thought walking in the morning, 4 legs and tongue paralyses, and very laboured breathing. The dog is still alive after 3 days, but not improving yet. I hope your outcome was positive.

     

  • At Fri Aug 11, 09:17:00 AM EDT, Blogger Gary said…

    W AS, Sorry to hear about your dog. As we described the first bout of coonhound paralysis lasted about a week or so. Hope your dogs is as short.

     

  • At Sun Nov 26, 08:23:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    This comment has been removed by the author.

     

  • At Tue Feb 18, 08:31:00 PM EST, Blogger Rayna’s Mom said…

    Hi Bonnie, what is the link to the full blog? I only see comments

     

  • At Tue Feb 18, 08:38:00 PM EST, Blogger Rayna’s Mom said…

    What type of herbal treatment did they give your dog?

     

  • At Tue Dec 22, 04:34:00 PM EST, Blogger Cameron Ayala said…

    If you are suffering from Herpes or any other disease you can contact:………………….Robinsonbuckler @ ((y a h o o)). com,

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  • At Fri Jul 16, 12:20:00 AM EDT, Blogger Unknown said…

    Hello,
    I know that this is an old post and I hope Tasha is doing well now. I would like to ask you about the medical treatment during coonhound paralysis. You mention that you vet treated Tasha with prednisone and doxicyline. Did this helped? I have a 4y old dogo Argentina Marvin and he is down with coonhound for 3 weeks now but I cannt see any improvement until now. Our vet said that there is no medical treatment that's why I ask you

     

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