Carl's Recovery from tetraperesis

Carl was a young and healthy dog that suddenly was unable to walk or move. His owners took him to his regular veterinarian who then referred him to Resurge for further assessment and recommendations. Dr. Lodato preformed a CT scan to look for any compression to his spinal cord that would explain his symptoms, but there was no compression. No compression means that there was no surgical intervention that would benefit Carl. Pet parents generally are very confused about this type of situation, and rightfully so. Having a young, seemingly healthy four legged friend one day, then having them lose their ability to move is stressful to say the least. Carl’s mom was obviously very upset and we did our best to try to explain to her that this was actually good news. We suspected that Carl had what’s called a high validity, low volume disc extrusion. Meaning that a disc in his back had ruptured but left only the evidence of spinal cord inflammation. Carl woke up from anesthesia after his CT scan and showed some improvements in motor function. In veterinary neurology, any sign of improvement this early out in an acute problem like Carl's, generally yields a fairly good prognosis. It was decided that Carl would stay with us at Resurge for physical rehabilitation for the rest of the week, then we would reevaluate his condition and decide how or if treatment should continue. During his first week we started hyperbaric oxygen treatments and LASER therapy. Both of these treatments would help reduce inflammation in his spinal cord as well as help with any pain he was experiencing. Inflammation of his cord was really his problem and treatments appeared to be helping him very quickly. We also started therapeutic exercises to help target functional tasks that Carl needed so that he could be able to live with good quality of life. 

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Each day Carl stayed with us, he improved. Carl was almost able to walk on his own, but we had to stop treatment and send him home due to the impending doom of Hurricane Ida advancing on the Gulf Coast. We were all hoping that Ida would not be as big or damaging as forecasted, however it was probably worse. Carl’s mom picked him up the Friday before Ida and did the best she could to care for him and herself throughout the storm. They did great despite the physical challenges that were upon us. Carl came in this past Monday and Tuesday for his final treatments and continued to excel and improve. For the short week and a half that Carl stayed with us, everyone fell in love with him. He always loved any attention given to him, he worked hard and he never gave up on a task that was asked of him. The last couple of weeks have been very hard for us who were effected by Hurricane Ida. Loss of property, communication, electrical power, and the financial stress of Ida has taken a toll on us all. I always admire the strength that dogs like Carl have. Their determination and the “never give up” attitude is always inspiring and helps put life into perspective, especially during times like this. I hope everyone who watches Carl’s video can find some happy moments in their recent struggles and that he can help those effected to continue on with a positive attitude despite their losses. 

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