Sudden onset lameness 5 days after a fall
 

I don't even know how to describe this or give all the history, but I will give it a try. Pippa fell off the back of the couch 5 days ago. I was not home, but it scared my husband to death. He said she knocked herself out and looked like she had a seizure (eyes rolled back in head, toungue out, shaking). She came to easily and just acted drunk/drowsy for a bit. She was normal by the time I got home. She greeted me normally, acted normally.

Forward 5 days later...I got home from work today and she did not get up to greet me. My daughter said, "mom, something's wrong with Pippa-she won't walk". I came over and picked her up and put her on the floor. She would not move. When she finally tried to walk, she stumbled. She gingerly walked toward my bedroom and the phone rang, so I didn't see how she went. After dinner, we called and called to her, and found her in her kennel. She would not come out even with enticement of bacon. Her face said she wanted to come out to get the treat, but her body wouldn't move. I took her out of her kennel and tried to get her to walk again and she just refuses to walk. I felt each of her legs up and down, she doesn't act like anything hurts. I felt all up and down her spine and she does not react like anything hurts. Her eyes are bright and she is responsive to her normal triggers like "treat" (her eyes light up, ears perk) I am at a total loss to what might be wrong and whether it's related to her fall, or that's not related at all! My Vet is open tomorrow, so I'm going to watch her tonight and take her in the morning. I'm so worried! Anybody have anything like this?? BTW, I checked her for ticks just in case maybe it is tick paralysis or something...no ticks. I wish I knew more about dog health issues! I'm a nurse and can tell you anything about people...I'm just at a loss for my poor dog!!

OMG you must be so worried - I don't know what could cause that but want to send her hugs and one for you too - :ghug:

I really hope this is NOTHING serious - and all the best at the vet - PLEASE let us know how she is ? That fall and a 5 day time gap is really strange but with these little guys - it seems like so many things can result from falls......Keeping my fingers crossed she's ok and I said a prayer for Pippa....She has to be ok :hands: !!

Sending prayers your way for your baby!

I dont know what it could be but I am keeping your baby in my prayers. Let us know what the vet has to say

I am thinking of you and your little girl and hope all works out well for you both.

Please let us all know as soon as you can what the Vet says.

Let's hope they can sort this out very soon. :)

Oh, the fact that you came here to ask shows that you must be very distressed about your little Pippin. I will keep her and your family in my thoughts and pray that she gets sorted out and back to herself.

I will watch this thread for news, as well.

Hey Tiffany... Nurse here too;) Could she have had a little head injury that may have caused a micro bleed that has affected her movement??? Does it look like paralysis??? Is it R or L sided or bilateral. Do you think this could be possible??? I know you said her eyes look bright and she responds to the normal enticements...This is the only thing that made sense to me if she wasn't responding in pain when you checked her limbs???? If its bilateral, kinda sounds like spinal trauma...just brain far---g here, but you must be scared to death...You'll be in my thoughts tonight, please keep us posted. I know exactly what you mean with nursing humans and our furbabys have something wrong and everything I think I learned goes out the window.:confused:

I hope Pippa will be ok. Poor baby. Prayers that it is nothing serious.

Please keep us posted. Hoping all goes well with your baby.

Sending :hands: :hands: to her and to you to.

I don't have any idea what would cause her not to walk. If it was shortly after her fall, I would guess it to be something with her back, but I can't see how all that time she would act normal between then and now.

Best wishes for Pippa's speedy recovery and I will be praying for her!

Any updates on Pippa?

Update on Pippa
 

I lost sleep last night worrying that something major was wrong with Miss Pippa. My daughter came home around midnight and I carried Pippa out to go potty on the pad (she hadn't peed since about 3pm-this was midnight), she did not go...just stood there and looked at me with her front right paw up. She was putting more weight on her other three legs. My daughter decided to take her to bed with her for the night.

This morning, she got up and immediately started walking around NORMALLY!
She won't jump up on the furniture, but that's the only thing different. It's like a miracle! I called the vet this morning, and he said it's ok to just keep an eye on her this weekend but if it happened again he should check her out. He didn't think it was related to her previous fall at all. He said most likely she jumped down wrong on that paw and "stung" it. That silly Pippa just decided to worry me to death I guess! I'm just so relieved she's better today!

Thank you all for the nice thoughts and prayers! It worked:)

OH GOOD !! I've been waiting to see this kind of post by you - what a big relief - sending more hugs ....

and Pippa - no more scaring mommy like that !

Stephanie...this was exactly what was worrying me to death all night. I kept thinking she had some kind of underlying brain trauma! Trust nurses to think of all the horrible things that could be wrong! Sometimes a little knowledge is dangerous (not to others, but to your own psyche!)

I am so happy for you and Pippa. I really thought something was seriously wrong. You must be so relieved.

WOOOO HOOO!!!! Great news!

Whew!! Thank you for the update. Our little ones can sure put a scare into us at times!

I am sorry that I wrote 'Pippin' instead of 'Pippa' in my first response.

My Shankly did something very similar right after he came home with us, about a month later. He (for no apparent reason at all) started shaking uncontrollably and got all wobbly. He hung his head like he was despondent, as well. We rushed him to the hospital and by the time the Doctor looked at him, he was playing and bouncing around.

Yeahhhh...this is the best news I've heard in a long time! I'm so glad...now you can get some much needed sleep!

I'm so glad she is o.k

Your baby
 

Hi,
I am 98% sure I may know what is wrong with your baby...
Altantoaxial Instability!
It is classic what you posted! And they can return to walking..
But the problem will return! Very important to get check out..
The reason they stop walking is compression on spinal cord..
They can be born with a defect that alow the C1 and C2 to shift..

If baby has AAI.. they will be down again... as this will shift again..
I do not want to scare you.. but this shift can cause respiratory failure.
and sudden death if spinal cord is severed..

Mine fell many more times, and this never happened but I have read that it can.. so wanted to caution you... This is a correctable condition!

Please fell free to contact me... This condition is often not diagnosed...
I was seen by many vets before finding the Dx... I can name 3 others
that had the same thing.. going to many vets..
Nell.. email address: juannell@msn.com... Please contact me any time...

Hi Pippa's mom,
I just want to say yes I agree with Nell. I am one of the mom's she is talking about that has a baby with AAI. And he was playing one day in May and all of a sudden he fell to his side and started to seeze(sp?) and then he went limp and his tongue hung out of his mouth. I was rushing him to the vet and he got up and started to run around the truck. He was back to normal except he was walking a little sideways. I took him to the vet and they told me it was a pinched nerve. Sent me home with meds (muscle relaxers). He was fine until July 29, when he jumped off my lap and broke his neck. This happened because of the AAI. He was born with this condition. It goes unsight unseen by many vets. Babybear's neck was broken and the vet told me that he had Liver Shunts.(misdiagnosis) I got a second opinion and found that his neck was broke and he had AAI. He had this the first time he went for the fall in May.
I don't want to scare you either. But please have him checked for this, because if it is AAI you can have it fixed. My babybear is living proof of that. His neck was broken so bad it was decappitated. He was lucky to be alive. He isn't walking yet but that was 11 weeks ago yesterday that this happend. So please I beg you have him checked ASAP. I don't want to see another mom go through what I went through with my little guy.

Val and Babybear

I think you may have meant to type something else where you typed decappitated? It would be impossible for any pup to be alive if they were decappitated... they would have to head.

I'm glad to hear that Pippa is doing better. I was worried!

Doctor said internal decapitation(sp?) sorry. I had his head held a certian way the whole time I went through this ordeal with him. When he moved it in a differant direction he stopped breathing.

Please look further into this, they are right, if Pippa has this surgery can fix this and help her live a normal life.
You dont want to mess with AAI

OMG! I am definetely going to look further into this everyone. I am very thankful for everyone who posted about AAI..how scary! I am looking up as much information as I can and will contact my Vet. My goodness...I wonder where you have to go to get surgery for this????

I had Babybear's surgery done at a Emergancy Hospital. You would want a neurologist to do this type of surgery. I am so glad you are going to look into it. I would hate to see someone go through what I have with my little guy. And it can be detected by a x-ray. Please keep us posted on how Pippa is doing.
Val

Ok now you all have me worried, as well. Shankly wobbled one day and seemed to not be able to walk properly. It lasted about and hour or so and since then, he has done this recently. When I took Shanks in for his check up, the vet did this test where she tucked his front paw under to see if he would straighten it out, and he didn't right away. He finally did, but she (vet) was a bit disturbed at how his response was delayed.

However, she tried it again and he suddenly didn't seem to want to leave it tucked under...everytime after that. I don't want to be one of them pet owners that run to the doc for every little illness, they make a good living on those of us who do. But I do want my Shanks checked for this.

Is it an xray only?

I didn't mean to hijack your thread, Tmatherly, but I am very concerned about this. :confused:

Here is the site I was sent to learn more about AAI
 

Hi Ebby,
We don't mean to scare anyone just would like to inform before anything bad happens. I have a site here that you will get some good info from. It was sent to me when I first came to the boards for some help. I hope this better helps you and Pippa's mom. And anyone out there that is worrying. I will bump my first post so you can see Babybear's story.

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/atlanto...ion/page1.aspx


Any questions I would gladly answer if I can. PM me if you wish.
Val

PS: Thread name New member Big problem.

Ebby-it's ok!!!

I am going to talk to my vet and ask for an xray. X-rays are relatively inexpensive compared to MRI or CT's. I am worried, too. But I've decided to try and stay calm until I see an Xray result. There's not a lot of information on the web-I'm disapointed in that. But I did manage to see some normal vs. AAI xrays on a little yorkie named Mini that was in a rescue organization.