Tuesday, December 13, 2011

My sweet Jeremy Todd's surgery



It's been quite a time for us. Jeremy, my beloved 3-year-old Cocker Spaniel, ruptured a disc in his back on Sunday as a result of intervertebral disc disease and his hind legs are now paralyzed. His breed is susceptible to this condition, thanks to selective breeding. He was absolutely fine on Friday. We went down to the beach and he had a grand time running and chasing seagulls. Saturday morning, he wasn't as exuberant as he usually is and didn't act like he felt well. By the afternoon, he was trembling and not himself at all. I took him to the Garden State Veterinarian Hospital and was told he had a back problem. They prescribed 4 weeks of rest in the house and cortisone and pain pills. By Sunday afternoon, his hind legs were completely paralyzed. It's absolutely unbelievable how fast he went downhill.

He had emergency surgery on Sunday night. One of the discs in his back had ruptured. He had an extensive amount of damage to his spine. They told me that his spine should be white but it was purple. That could be the start of myelomalacia, which is a softening of the spinal cord. Death could occur from that as a result of respiratory paralysis. This could happen any time over the next seven days.

But on the positive side, they're giving Jeremy a 50-50 chance of a full recovery, if his spine doesn't deteriorate from the trauma. And today, just two days after surgery, he had some feeling in one of his toes! The doctor said that, although he's not out of the woods yet, it's a sign that his spine is trying to heal. All we can do is wait to see how he recovers from all of this. Unfortunately, there's a 40% chance that it could happen again.

I'm devastated that this happened to my sweet boy. He's had a rough time of it as it is. Before I adopted him, he had been hit by a car, breaking his clavicle. His owners took him to the vet but abandoned him there. He was put in a shelter in North Jersey where he sat in a cage for six months. He became cage aggressive, the shelter felt he was not adoptable and he was scheduled to be put down. Rescue Ridge came to the rescue and took him and I adopted him from them almost two years ago. I'll always be indebted to Rescue Ridge for saving Jeremy. They've been very supportive throughout this nightmare.

He's such a good boy and tries so hard to please. He faces being in a crate for the next 6 to 9 weeks, which will be difficult for him due to his long time being caged at the shelter. He cannot even urinate by himself. Please keep him in your thoughts in the days ahead as he recovers from this trauma.

8 comments:

Janne said...

My heart goes out to you, and I hope your Jeremy heals. I adopted my hound from two lovely ladies who found him abandoned in the woods and near starvation. He is such a sweet dog and I cannot understand how anyone can be cruel to these loving animals. I will keep Jeremy in my heart and you are a wonderful person to give him your love and care.

Unknown said...

It's hard to understand cruelty to innocent creatures, Janne. Thank you for your kind words.

Catwalk Creative Vintage said...

I'm so sorry to hear about Jeremy's plight, but positive he will make a full recovery. He's lucky to have such a caring owner as you Marjorie. Keep us posted and good luck! :-)

Unknown said...

Thanks so much, Louise.

Jonara Blu Maui said...

I will keep you in my thoughts as well..it takes so much energy to be a care giver for a human let alone a helpless animal who can't even tell you how they feel. You are a such wonderful person to be there for Jeremy..what a precious doggy he is! My kitty Crash developed diabetes and lost the use of his back legs..there were the catbox trips and the diareah..and oh yeah it was very trying ..I found myself in tears a lot..but we do what we can and they know we love them. Even if it means we need to let them go because they are just suffering too much. Thankfully my Crash got better with insulin shots and his legs started working again! I did just have to put down a baby goat I was raising though..his momma died and he got a bone joint disease and was in so much pain. I took care of him for weeks and he was like my baby being carried around in a pouch I wore. Finally it got to where I could hardly touch him cuz of his pain and I had to carefully pick him up every hour and hold him over the grass so he could go to the bathroom. That was no life for him. He's asleep and out of pain now and his personality lives on in his twin sister who is very healthy! It was still very rewarding the short time we had together and whatever happens with Jeremy..you are the luckiest dog owner to have had him for the time that you did! Hopefully thats much much longer!

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for your encouragement and caring, Jamee. It's so hard to see any animal in pain and confused about what's happening to it. I'm hopeful that this will be a temporary set back for Jeremy and that he eventually will be fine. I will do all that I possibly can to help him. Thanks again.

♥●• İzdihër •●♥ said...

I am really sorry .I can understand how you must be feeling.
Be strong!

Merry Christmas :).


p/s : Please visit my blog and follow each other.

ChezChani said...

I'm so sorry for you and Jeremy Todd. You were so lucky to find each other 2 years ago and hopefully will have continued luck to get him through this.