rickw0708

Hi Charles Thanks for your advice. As the accident happened at night I had to take Lexie to an emergency hospital - closest being the one in Plenty Rd Bundoora. I have taken her back there for her followups as they (I think) know best her history re this accident - although, she has seen 4 different vets on her 4 visits. That said, they have been kind and to me, as a layman, thorough. On her last visit, the vet did spend quite a while feeling all along her leg from shoulder to foot. She did say to me that as the Xrays showed no breaks and nuerologically she seemed very good, she had expected to find some excessive movement in the joints to indicate problems with the tendons/ligaments but had found nothing obvious and no obvious signs of pain. [Forgive me, these are my words not the vets exact words:) ] This is why she felt it would be best for me to bring Lexie back next week for a more detailed appraisal by one of her more senior(?) colleagues - perhaps even to leave her there for the day. She gave her anti-inflammatries but I am sure she did say she didn't think they were going to be the cure-all. I have spent many hours now pouring over the internet looking for information - not sure its such a good thing to do, but... I have seen many articles talking about how long these nerve type issues can take to resolve so I am hopeful. Thanks again Rick

Hi Emma Hope things go well for you and your dog - I may need your accupuncturist if all goes well !! I have a 15 month old Border Terrier (Lexie). About 2 and a half weeks ago she was struck by a car. Fortunately the car was not travelling fast and her immediate injuries were not visually too severe. She spent a night in the hospital to keep an eye on her shock and to watch for any internal injuries. She returned home and has returned to normal apart from an inability to stand on her front left leg. The vet had mentioned it may be a brachial plexus avulsion(?) (which in its worst case would require amputation) but that as Lexie was able to hold her leg up rather than it typically dragging on the ground was a good sign. After 2 weeks now she still doesn't bear weight on this leg but she does use it to paw at things, rub her nose, etc but just can't seem to actually stand on it. She was taking tablets for potential swelling on the brain which have now finished so the vet has put her on anti-inflammatories to hopefully help with the leg. At her last vet visit the vet thoroughly checked her leg and said that she was somewhat perplexed as structurally the leg was fine (Xrays on the night of the accident) and that nuerologically(?) the leg seemed fine and she appears to be in no pain. Her pupils have returned to normal as after the accident there was some concern about one of them. She said she was not too sure why she wasn't able to bear weight on the leg. I now have an appointment next week with the vets senior colleague for a more intensive evaluation - she did mention tendon/ligament damage. As I said, Lexie behaviourly is pretty well back to normal - its just the leg. Last night, she got quite excited at the prospect of the dog next door being out and she ran back and forth along the fence and she used all 4 legs as if nothing was wrong - but as she had to slow down to turn around she would go back to hopping before taking off again on all fours and once back inside went back to hopping. I have also watched her furiously dig at the lawn/dirt with both front legs although I am not too sure how much force is being produced by the bad leg. I am a bit confused/perplexed as to what the problem could be and was hoping someone could shed some light on this for me. Regards Rick