Rayz and prayers for Rusty

[Lisa]

Angela posted.....

I feel sick....

Got the call about Rusty's MRI (about an hr ago) His spine is worse then they thought. He has multiple disks that are deteriorating. There are only 2 options.

1. Surgery. However due to what they found, he is given a 10-30% chance of recovery & walking again. Meaning, he still may never walk with surgery.

2. Let him go.

He's going to have surgery and we will go from there.

He needs more rayz guys. Come on Rusty. These are just stats, you can do this!

[Alex's Mom]

This just sucks. Big time. Tons and tons and TONS of and . Anxiously waiting for an update... holding you all close in my heart.

[RustysMom]

Thank you Lisa for posting!!!

Thank you everyone for your thoughts, prayers & rayz




I got a call at 1 am this morning.

Rusty did well with the surgery. They removed all the bad disk material. They were going to call me in 8 hrs for another update.

Im still waiting. If I dont hear from them I will call soon.


What makes me mad. Monday when he went down, we went to the emergency vet because our vet wasn't open for 2 more hours. They said he was still showing feeling and that she felt he didnt need surgery at this time. Crate rest and meds, recheck with our vet in 4-7 days.

4 days later, see our vet. He does indeed need surgery and should have gone on monday right away. He doesn't have feeling. Now we are at a less chance of recovery because surgery should have been done within 24 hrs.

I seriously thought he was going to be ok, I've seen dogs do well on crate rest and meds. He was going potty on his own. Or so I thought. Only problem was he had lots of diarrhea.

when we went to the neurology center, he needed to be expressed because he was not able to go on his own. I swear I saw him pee at home on his own! His pee was brown when they expressed him.

we could have made things better had we got him in on monday!

[RustysMom]

just got an updated call.

he is doing ok but he has blood in his urine, bladder infection from not being able to pee on his own.

Still having diarrhea.

So they are treating him for both issues.

still no sign of improvement of movement. Said it could be 4 weeks to see any.

[Yolanda]

Let me first say I wish Rusty nothing but a full recovery.

Then I want to say, I am very disappointed with your surgical vet, there is always a third choice of allowing Rusty to live a very full and happy life as a wheelie dog. I have had wheelie dogs via rescue for many years and they do well

As for the surgery the fact he is not peeing right after the surgery is common, think about all the trauma his little body has went though. Thinks take tie for the swelling to go down. He will need time to heal and they theraphy to rebuild his strength. Find a holistic vet that does lasar therapy and acupuncture and even chinese herbs.

Always think positive around him and smile even if you want to cry. He will pick up on your attitude and if you are depressed it will depress him.

I am here for you if you need me.

[lotsadox]

I agree with Yo. It does take time. When Amanda had surgery, it took her several weeks to walk again, but she did and lived to be 17 years old. It also took a couple weeks for her to pee on her own again. Don't give up on Rusty. I totally agree, it can take a great deal of time for the swelling to go down after the trauma of injury and surgery.

The e-vet said that Bogart would never walk again. I wasn't ready to give up and neither was my vet. At 15, we didn't want to do surgery so we did crate rest and meds. It took 10 weeks. Count 'em. Ten. Before he walked again. But he did walk and even ran. At 15 years old!

I agree with finding a holistic vet. I love my holistic vet. She has indeed worked wonder with my dogs and taught me so much.

If Rusty isn't in pain or the pain can be controlled there is always the third option of a cart. I had already decided to get on for Bogart if he didn't walk. Talk to Yo. I did and she's a great source of inspiration and support in these situations. She been thru it many times and knows how you feel right now.

Sending tons of and

[RustysMom]

being a cart dog was a third option. However, the vet said it would only be an option if surgery was done to relieve the pain that he is in. I guess he had multipal disks that were damaged per the MRI. He said if we chose to not do the surgery and chose not to put him down, he would not live a good quality of life because he would be in pain.

Where we took him is where Amy took Laika twice for surgery.

I will never give up on him. But I dont want him to suffer either. We will take it day by day.

[LexieLuvr]

Oh, man, this so sux! All my prayers go to Rusty for his recovery! I had to cath Jack for a couple of weeks after his surgery and it wasn't a big deal. I have faith that he willl be okay. Don't give up, stay positive and give him time to heal. Tons of prayers for your boy and for you!

[Lisa]

Yo & Amy gave me so much help when Pogo went down & had surgery. When he gets out, follow the doctors orders, they will give you some very specific instructions and exercises. It is the total opposite of crate rest. He needs to rest (obviously), but move too. Because all the material is gone, you are not worried so much about containing a disc leak.

We will be here every painful long step of the journey. I agree with Yo, you have to stay positive around him. Even though you are going to roll in a ball and cry.

Just as an FYI, it took Pogo 3 days to pee on his own.

[Ivan]

So glad you didn't give up on Rusty. He's in excellent hands, and you're gonna help him heal.

Don't worry about the multiple herniations. It's not tragic news, cuz that's same as what Buddy's neurosurgeon found on his MRI, and they fixed both old & new sites all at once, and he's running around like a puppy nowadays.