Thanks dear. Bella my new yorkie has helped keep Emma at least a bit more active. She has to move fast to get away from the wild child. hahaha. And even wilder Emma has the same problems I do. I have had my cervical spine fused from c4-7. Hubby said there is no way we can go through this with a dog. I said if it comes to it yes we can... Do you have insurance on lalya? I wan wondering about getting some kind of insurance on Emma at least. Do you have a blog or website on lalya?

No, we didn't have insurance. We had been talking about it for months, but she never had any major problems before and this one hit us out of the blue! I swear someone up there was looking out for us because we had just decided to move to a new house and sell our condo, sort of on a whim, and the day Layla needed emergency spinal surgery was the same day the money from our condo sale was released to my bank account :eek: We have thanked our lucky stars for that! We couldn't have afforded the surgery otherwise. To get insurance now would be quite costly because Layla has an existing condition. But now I have a little more knowledge on the disease and I know it can be treated conservatively as well, with medications and crate rest. That's how we treated her latest flare-up with a neck disc, and it worked wonderfully! Hopefully we will not have to go through another surgery.

I do not have a blog or website... basically everything is just recorded here on this thread! That's a good idea though, maybe one of these days I'll have some more time on my hands!

I am sure your hubby would be able to go through it with a dog as well. I never thought Scott would be so on board with what we've gone through (and sometimes, I've had to push him, but he always comes around).

Has Emma gone through treatments before? Surgery or medications for it?

Don't mean to be nosy...
 

Now that you guys are talking about all the $$$$$$$$$ it costs for what you've gone through, I know it's no one's business, but I'm sure we've all wondered what your expences have been so far.

You have done so much for quite a while now, and it has to be a lot.

My little Mariposa, that died in June, at 5 years old, suffered from severe collapsed trachia since she was 1. I have saved all her paperwork, but have never taken the time to add up the $$, which I will do sometime. I KNOW it has to be in the thousands.

My little "Angel Baby" that has CP, has had a lot of doctoring also, but nothing compared to Mari.

Now that I have read your posts, I am wondering about acupuncture for Angel. Her right front leg has always been weak and curled, but over the last year, it has gotten into a tight curl and is almost hard to open up. I do open it up and massage it daily, but she is basically 3 legged at this point, and she has a hard time walking with those little back legs. It frightens me, thinking, in time she might not be able to walk at all, then it will be the end of her. Maybe Acupuncture could help. I'll try anything at this point. She is such a sweet little cuddler, has a great personality, but just can't move very well. She is just a little 2# thing, so she doesn't have anything to fall back on. I love her so.

OK, here I am going on and on...sorry...:aimeeyork

Haha yeah... a LOT! Layla's surgery alone was $3500. Neurologists are not cheap :( That included her stay at the hospital later too... it was a few days before we felt comfortable enough to bring her home. I guess we kept hoping she would be able to go to the bathroom on her own and maybe even take some steps first, but we all know now that wasn't going to happen anyway.

For everything else... we've spent probably $3000 on rehab and acupuncture and whatever else we tried, but at the beginning we were taking her somewhere EVERY DAY! Her cart was I think $345 or something like that. We won't be spending that much on rehab anymore because we know how to do a lot at home. I do think there is still benefit in taking her sometimes though.

Basically, we spent everything we made by selling our last place. I wouldn't have had that money if it happened a week earlier, or a week later. I was going to pay off my motorcycle and put the rest on my student loan. We are SO LUCKY this happened at the right time.


Have you taken Angel to a holistic vet? They might be able to let you know if acupuncture will work. If she is having trouble walking with her back legs, have you considered getting her a cart? There are cheaper ones than the one we got so it might help her out without being too much of a financial burden.

Angel
 

No Angel could never use a cart because she isn't strong enough. She doesn't really have any strength in that right front leg that curls up tightly. If you have ever seen a child with CP, you will see that their legs don't work properly, they fall a lot, and often times they will have a tightly curled arm. That is exactly like Angel.

I don't know if there is a holistic vet around here, I will have to check. I do know there is an acupuncturist that works out of a natural pet food store here. That is what I will do.

Wow!!! Your expences were way more than I had even estimated!! You two are great people to do that. I'm not so sure my husband would have gone along with that! In fact, I know he wouldn't have, not many would have! You have yourself a real winner there girl!

I am so glad that Layla is doing so well. I will continue sending the positive thinking her way, your way....have a great day....Cathe :D

Does Angel use mostly her back legs then? I know that Eddies Wheels makes many carts for many different problems. There are front wheel carts, rear wheel carts, counterbalanced carts, and even quad wheel carts! You can see them here: Eddies Wheels| Quad Carts and Walkers She shouldn't need any extra strength to walk in a cart, but it would help her stay balanced and not have to bear her own weight while walking.

Thanks :) Scott did put his foot down a bit with me. We have been saving for a couple of years for a trip to Europe and he wouldn't let me touch that (and we are going in a few months!) and we also started a savings account to get married someday :) He wouldn't let me touch that either. It took awhile but I realized we can help her without spending so much money. I just felt like I wanted to pay for the best of the best for as long as I could. And I actually owned our condo on my own, and eventually he moved in and paid some rent... but when we sold it was technically my profit to use as I needed. He's still a great guy though! He loves Layla and was just as upset as I was when it happened.

Layla is still doing great, and is back to being on the floor with my desk blocked off by a gate because I forgot the stroller at home one day :rolleyes: I couldn't very well give her freedom for the day and then lock her back up in her stroller and have her crying all day lol! But sleeps all day anyway.

We're now having some major issues with car rides. We have been putting her in the back seat in her carrier, right in the middle so she can see us both. She does not like being there at all and will scream the whole way into the city in the mornings. She might be quiet for the last 2 or 3 minutes of the drive on the highway. I noticed a couple of days ago that she was getting so frustrated she was biting down on the front of her carrier and pulling hard. Obviously, that's terrible for her neck and I made her stop, but this morning I noticed she has eaten a hole right through the mesh on the front of the carrier.

I think we will need to invest in some Rescue Remedy or something to calm her down. I don't want to give her anything that will drug her every day for the car ride but maybe Rescue Remedy will help and it's natural...

awwww poor Layla!
My Dexter does that. I turn up the radio now!! LOL Its been over 5 years of this. He is safe and the carrier is so beat up now but at least I don't have to hear him screaming. He does it because he wants to sit on my lap but I don't allow it when I'm driving! It's maddening and makes me feel CRAZY when I go for a 20 min ride and he screams the whole time like someone is killing him! :(

If you find something that works let me know. I am at my wits end with him. Poor baby! I hate how stressed out he gets in the car, he'll pant really hard too, it's heartbreaking.

If you try the Rescue Remedy, I hope it helps and she does better. Bless her little heart.:)

Layla did well in the car today! She cried a little bit, but calmed down. I had to keep my eye on her the whole way because she was still trying to eat her carrier. I'd say NO, she'd whine a little, and then she'd just lay down. If I turned away, she'd bite it again :rolleyes:

Tomorrow we are taking her back to rehab for the first time since her neck episode. I don't know how she'll do being away for so long but I'm hoping for the best! I knew we had one rehab session left, but when Scott called today they said we have TWELVE :eek: I think they may be wrong though. I guess we'll see.

My smart little girl is still learning new things too :) We were all cuddling in bed on Sunday morning, and Scott would say "Give daddy a kiss" and she'd lick his nose. Then he'd say "Give mommy a kiss" and she'd lick my nose! It's adorable! She's learning the difference between mommy and daddy :D

Oh, Lindsey! That is so sweet. One of those special moments. I'm glad she did pretty good in the car. She's certainly special.:)

Just wondering... have you tried giving her something acceptable for her to chew on in the car? This may not be feasible depending on the type of car seat/carrier you are using, but I put a couple of chew toys in tallulah's basket-style seat and she usually makes it through her short ride dropping only one of them.

Thanks for the suggestion, and we have tried, but she just isn't comfortable enough. We've tried giving her her favorite treats, and she won't even take them! When she was riding on my lap, she would sometimes be comfortable enough to eat a treat, but she just does not like anything now! She does have a toy in her carrier with her most of the time and she doesn't care until we stop and then she wants to play :rolleyes:

It seems there has to be something really causing this anxiety that she has in a car. I wonder if she is just so sensitive to a sound in the engine, maybe even the sound of the wheels, who knows? It might be something that you can't hear, but hurts her.

I wouldn't be afraid to do a light sedation in her morning food to help calm her for the ride. It would make her tired but she would just take a nice morning nap. I think I would rather do that than let her suffer so. I don't believe a little sedation will hurt her at all. Ask your Dr for some torbogesic. I used it a lot with my Mari that had collapsed trachea, I use it for my Chihuahua that has allergies to calm him. It doesn't hurt them, It could perhaps help Layla. I'm sure at this point you are ready to try anything!:aimeeyork

I am almost sure that the thing that bothers her is balance. She used to be fine on car rides... she'd cry a little, but she wasn't in the car much. When Scott worked shifts up at the mines, on his weeks off he'd take her out on errands every day and she did great with him then!

Ever since she has been paralyzed, she's been scared of the car. She was scared on my lap but got used to it and slept. Now she's scared in the back seat. If we're driving on the highway (which we do for 20 minutes each way every day), she calms down a lot. She'll cry driving out of town, then be okay on the highway, and then cry in the city again. The slow down, stop, start, turn, etc. I think is what bothers her most. We're moving and her body is moving but she just has her two legs to stabilize herself.

This morning we did really well actually! She did cry in the city as usual, but she fell asleep and snored for at least 10 minutes of the highway drive (after I only had to stop her once from chewing on her carrier!)