1had surgery, 1 didn't

[sally's mom]

hi

we have had two dachsunds that went paralyzed. one recovered without surgery. she was rehabbed at home for a very long time, "walking" her a little bit at a time with a long towel circled under her belly to hold her up. this was very hard. but also very much cheaper than surgery!

the one now has had surgery with good results. my partner's parents paid for it. we couldn't have afforded it. i'm very glad she had it. she can't jump on furntiure like she used to (is this really bad?)

i take a lot of walks which she likes to go on, too. now i tend to carry her in my purse (large purse!) on the way there and let her walk on the way back.

she can run and do most things like before but i guess i am worried about her getting sick again.

i will say that she was on prednisone for a long time before we got the surgery to help the inflamation/pain. it helped, but then caused her to have a hard time healing after the operation, which caused an infection and a bigger scar than usual.

we tried to go to a holistic vet but had a hard time getting in to see one as new patients. has anyone else had luck with holistic vets? we heard about one dog that was cured of paralysis with accunpuncture. anyone know anything about that?

bye

[Owen's Mom]

Some friends of mine from Dachshund Rescue lost their first baby on the Operating Table during a disk surgery. Their second went down several months ago, and this time they decided to do the holistic route. Little Wally had acupunture, natural raw diet, doggie massage etc.... It all paid off and he's i GREAT shape now http://dachsie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif!! The total cost of treatment was less than half of what it would have cost to have surgery.

This is going to be Owen's new vet! No doubt about it. http://dachsie.org/ubb/ksmile.gif

~~Amy~~

[Tanya]

I spoke to someone on another board who treated her dog's back problem with acupuncture using a holistic healer. Her dog did very well (not a dachsie) until something went wrong and he became completely paralyzed. She used a holistic healer and vet. When she had to put Peppy down, the holistic vet came there too to be with them. Her dog was not a candidate for surgery because he also had seizures in addition to the back trouble. We paid $1500.00 for back surgery for Punkin and she died 4 days later. The vet even told me she might have lived without the surgery. I felt awful when he said that. I think surgery is great if you can afford it, have it done quickly, and done by a specialist. Some dogs, like Peppy, don't have surgery as an option so it's nice to have other alternatives.