Hi,

My 4 and a half year old jack russell has recently (4 weeks ago today) had spinal surgery for a slipped disc. we were told the op was quite big as 5 vertebrae had to be seen to. Trouble is, she still cant move her hind legs, although she still has deep pain sensation, and sometimes moves them to 'squat' when we take her outside. She also knows when she needs to go the loo, so i dont think she's incontinent.

What can we do to help her walk again? Her back legs are now really skinny and im worried because ive seen posts by people saying that they should walk again within 4 weeks of the op..

Any help would be greatly appreciated

lewis

what is the prognosis from your vet??? how have you been helping her with movement? did they suggest any sort of physio eg swimming or massage?

It is hard to advise you the best way forward when we dont really know the background and what advise you have been given you should have been given aftercare advise by the vet

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t5ry asking your vet about massage techniques and if it will do any harm , a friend has a boxer and he had major surgery a year ago the vets told her he stood little chance of walking properly even the royal college of vets said the same , my friends persistance and time meant he now has a perfectly straight leg and foot and walks normally , this was amongst other things down to long daily massage treatments to stimulate circulation and nerve endings to repair themselves.

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Thanks for you replies....its promising to hear of success stories too! our vet said to give her physio and massages, especially along the spine. Also to curl her tail down and under her legs to maintain straight posture. But the fact we've seen little improvement in 4 weeks is worrying. I will definately look into message techniques and i suppose we'll have to see what happens...