Hello Dr. Krista, my 3,5 year old shiz-poo, male got paralyzed on March 29, just playing at home with another dog. Next day we went to EI and we were told that his injury is (slipped disc) at T13-L3, based on xray. Surgery would have been 10.000 $, with 50/50 chance of recovery according to doctor, no chance with steroids. We couldn’t afford the surgery. Our home doctor gave us little hope and Shadow has been on steroids since March 31. After 7 days there was no improvement,doctor recommended euthanasia but with minimum chance we asked for 7 more days of meds. He has very weak deep pain sensation. His back legs are paralyzed, he poops and pees without control, has good appetite and when let out of cage he wants to run on his front legs dragging the back. I just ran across your videos on youtube, not to give up on those dogs, but i am not sure if a miracle can really happen. Is it really possible that he would walk again? I dont want him to suffer but not sure what to do. Could you please let me know your opinion about it, thank you so much! We are desperate…Anita

8 year old Shih-tzu Maltese diagnosed with a bulging disc 🙁

Hi, thank you for making all of the videos on youtube. I have found them very helpful with my little guy Benson…it’s nice to see a vet that goes the extra mile for their patients. Our vet clinic is also caring and affordable as well, which is hard to find these days.

Benson is a miracle dog. He has already survived a grade 2 mast cell inguinal tumor so Cornell and our local vet love him and call him their miracle dog (this was 2.5 years ago)

Now for his most recent issue which is why I’m writing; For a week, he was dragging his front left paw. We took him to our vet (on Monday, March 19th) and she diagnosed him with arthritis….things got worse throughout the week to the point where he would knuckle his front left paw. Our vet had only told us to limit his activity and no jumping so we didn’t restrict him to a crate. By Sunday morning (March 25th) (and he was on 5mg of prednisone since Monday) his back left paw was now knuckling and he was getting worse to the point where he could barely stand up.
We took him back to the vet and they did x-rays and found a bulging disc right around his shoulder blades. He has been on 10mg of prednisone, Methocarbamol, gabapentin and in a crate 24/7 ever since Sunday the 25th. Luckily, he is really only affected on his left side of his body.

We are seeing a little bit of improvement at times and at other times, he is still just as bad as he was on Sunday.

He has never lost the ability to pee or defecate (thankfully) annnnd Benny loves to eat (or drink) so that will never be an issue haha…

However what worries me is the fact that he is ALWAYS as stiff as a board in the morning when we get up or when he gets stressed/excited. It’s as if he re-injures himself because he can’t walk and can barely stand. It takes him at least an hour to recover, stop panting and then relax again until it seems like he is not in pain anymore….

Is there anything we can do to prevent the “morning/excited episodes” or is it all just part of the process? I thought the muscle relaxer would help but it isn’t. I have even gone so far as to put signs on our front door asking visitors to not knock or ring the doorbell.

Last question-do you have an opinion about a dog chiropractor?

Any advice you could give, we would appreciate! We love our little guy-he has such a personality and adds so much fun to our lives.

Thanks so much,
Megan and Missy

My maltese mix has had 2 or 3 warts since Ive had her (5 or 6years). But recently I’ve noticed that a few more are popping up all at once. Does this mean anything or is this just something that happens with age or something

I left my 8 yr old maltese mix alone for 45 minutes. When I returned she was acting very strange like she was dizzy and afraid of me. She won’t let me hold her and she won’t eat or drink.

I have an at least 8 yr old maltese mix. (She was a stray)
She isn’t normally very active. She usually just stays on my bed. She loves to go places with me and shes very well behaved.
I had to leave her home tonight for about 45 minutes. When I got home I noticed she wasn’t acting right. Her eyes were kind of big and moving back and forth like she was dizzy. I picked her up and she immediately wanted down. (Not normal)
It’s almost like she’s afraid of me. She’s not a real affectionate dog but she’s always comfortable when I hold her.
Her head and eyes are moving kind of weird. I have a short video. Having trouble uploading it.
She also won’t have anything to do with food or water.

I have a male German Shepherd Dog( 3 years old). He has recently developed a few red bump(with dark pigmentation on the top) around the center of his belly. They cause him no discomfort or anything. They are about 5mm wide and 3-4mm high in size . I am wondering if that is something I should worry about.

Sorry to disturb but I need advice. Appears Jessy the latest rescue who is 1 years old is causing a pretty disturbing home environment. Here goes: daisy the 13 year old dog has been eating non-stop, Lucy the 9 year old has completely withdrawn very depressed, Stella a 9 year old dog bit the hell out of Jessy trying to get her to stop nipping at her. Tao my male 5 year old cat has started swatting my younger cat Mia. Sasha the youngest cat hasn’t been seen since last weekend hiding from all of us under my bed. I have dog and cat pheromones on all 3 floors. Jessy appears to be herding all the animals by nipping at their haunches. And non stop sniffing which is iratating all the animals. Any advice on how to calm the house?

I recently adopted a 3 year old male treeing walker coonhound from my local shelter. We don’t know any history on him, but it is clear that the shelter did not work with him while he was there for several months. For the most part, he seems to be housebroke. However, whenever we leave he decides to urinate all over the house. He doesn’t do this when we are home, but we don’t let him out of our sight due to this being an issue. He also has this thing where he doesn’t want to do anything for himself. He doesn’t want to move, he doesn’t want to get up, he doesn’t come when called, he doesn’t ask to go outside, he doesn’t want treats for good behavior, he doesn’t eat a lot. It’s like he does what he wants, on his own time, when he wants. We are being patient with him, but we would really like for him to be a family oriented, trustworthy dog. We also do not want to have a dog we have to keep kenneled. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do to fix these behaviors?

9/23/16 2 yr old Maltese has IVDD and has a cervical issue. We didn’t take him to the neurologist, but chose to treat with medication. He was paralyzed is all but one front leg. Never lost deep pain. It’s been two weeks of crate confinement and he is much better. He can sit and has even stood a couple of times.
My question is, how long does he need to stay confined in a small space? Do i let him try to stand?

how can you keep male dogs from peeing on furniture. the dogs have been fixed