[Trish in GA]

If your beloved pet is not given much hope by the vet, but the pet seems to have the strength to heal, trust your pet and help him or her get better! Our vet gave us only the hope of maybe time and prayers when our pet had a stroke. After about 6-8 months, he was 98% recovered.

About a year ago, our 10 year old Yorkie, Lover, had a stroke at night while in bed, then rolled off and further hurt himself with a pinched nerve and maybe other damages. More serious, however, were the stroke results. We rushed him to the night time pet hospital and then were at our vet’s office 6 days a week for two weeks. During that time, he could not sit up without falling over, could not walk, could not express his bladder or bowels, and couldn’t eat or drink. We had him hydrated and bladder/bowels expressed every day until eventually he could do both on his own. The vet put him on some medication for pain and said only time and prayers might work. The vet was not sure what happened and could only treat suspected pain. Obviously, we prayed and prayed and, over the next three to four months, Lover improved, very little by little. At first, he would sit up for a few seconds without falling over, then sat longer and longer. When he took his first step, it was a miracle! We let him try again and again, not rescuing him when he fell. We considered the attempts to be exercise that would get him walking again which, little by little, he did. It took about three months, but Lover was walking just as he did before! The first day he slowly ran to meet me when I came home from shopping was heaven.

Simultaneously, Lover was not able to eat or drink by himself. After he was hydrated at the vet’s for about a week, we gave him water using a syringe a couple of times a day. He slowly learned to drink again but it took several months. Lover wasn’t able to cup his tongue easily. His ability to eat on his own took about six months. He was on a number of special diets and textures to see what worked – what was enticing enough to make him work at eating. Although he lost some weight during the early weeks, we were able to stop the weight loss as he acclimated to hand feeding. It took time for each feeding because he had to be enticed by a little bit of canned food or chicken put on his tongue so he could taste it. He would then try to stick out his tongue to let us put more on it. He eventually learned to take the hand fed food and then small amounts of dry food in a bowl. We slowly introduced more of the small bites dry dog food – which he used to eat – to let him begin to feel “normal” again. A year after his ordeal began, he can eat easily most days but if enticement time is needed now and then, chicken or dog food may go flying in all directions until he gets his tongue right. He is a real trouper!

During the early months, Lover had a pinched nerve and he would yelp at our touch at times, but the vet could not determine exactly where it was happening. Lover is very stoic at the vet’s, and he would never yelp for the vet. I couldn’t groom his front half or clean his eyes without him yelping, but I learned to hold him in my arms in a different way to get it done for him. It took a few weeks or months, but the yelps slowly disappeared and he is free of that pain now.

I am writing this for the people who are not being encouraged by their vet but know their dog still has the spirit to recover. It’s a difficult decision, weighing possible pain, will to live and your vet’s opinion. Pray and follow your heart.