Spinal thrombosis~ any advice?

[faye0731]

Hi! I apologize in advance for the long post. I took in a boy about 3 weeks ago from an abusive/neglectful home. The owner was arrested and he was left with the husband, whom didn't provide him any care for who knows how long. He was on death’s door when I took him in due to low blood sugar from not eating and severe dehydration. I was able to get him stable by syringe feeding him pedialyte and sugar water every 30 minutes for the first few hours. He had infected feet from urine scalding (the cage hadn’t been cleaned in months) and adrenal disease. The vet gave him clavomox and an implant for the adrenal disease. His feet healed up and he is already gaining some fur! He seemed to be getting better and more active, but two days ago I woke up to feed him and he wasn’t able to use his back legs. My first thought was insuloma since I had read that can cause back leg weakness, but he didn’t get better after eating. I was able to get him an appointment at my vet almost immediately, and after some testing she was unable to find anything wrong with him. She thinks that he has spinal thrombosis. He has some movement of his feet, one more than the other, and has some control of his bowels/bladder. He seems to want to make it to the puppy pad, but goes accidentally when I pick him up or if his belly is stimulated. He acts like nothing is wrong and he’s perfectly normal (he doesn’t seem to be in any pain whatsoever). He’s learning how to get around fairly well already too!

Since he makes a mess on himself often, I’m trying to find out what would be best to protect his skin? Best soap to use for him? His bottom is irritated even though I’m trying to keep up on cleaning him right after he goes. I think the cleaning is making him more irritated as well (I just use a baby wipe or wash him off with warm water). His legs are also getting sore looking since he has been dragging them to get around. I cleaned them and wrapped them with gauze and medical wrap to find if make him ankle warmers of sorts, but they fall off more often than they stay on 😭 does anyone have any better suggestions? Also, what are some good exercises to do with him? He doesn’t like water so swim therapy isn’t going to be a great option 😅 any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. He has had a very rough life so I’m just trying to make him as happy and healthy as possible. Thanks!!

[Corvidophile]

Good for you getting him out of there, it’s terrible the way some people act around animals. Plain warm water, baby wipes, or baby shampoo (2 in 1 with conditioner included is even better) will work and won’t irritate too much. Just don’t rub too hard. I would wrap the feet, he might get the idea to chew the gauze off and injest it. They should callous a bit over time. What material is he housed on? Fleece is soft and good for easily washing out messes as it’s polyester. You might do better with cotton though, as pee on fleece tends to stay on the surface and concentrate and crust over, and with cotton it would soak in and remain soft. It’ll stain, so just use old cotton tshirts or sweatpants. Not towels, as the loops the material is made up of can catch claws and get stuck.

Medically I don’t know what’s wrong with his hind end, or why it would set in so quickly. I’ve dealt with very gradual hind end weakening due to steroids (prednisolone for insulinoma, and cortisol being overproduced due to adrenal disease) but that’s a slow come-on. It does sound like it could be a spine issue. After he relieves himself, you can gently flex his back to see if you can relieve a pinched nerve- hold by the hips and shoulders and twist him in opposite directions, and then convex and concave. He might feel pain during this, so watch his face to see if he squints or pulls back his whiskers. A yawn usually isn’t a sign of pain as much as a cry of “oh, the indignity!”