Dec2014_OLD MILL ANIMAL HOSPITAL PET OF THE MONTH
Lucy, a 9-year old chocolate Labrador suffered from a very unusual condition in September, where her front legs had suddenly become paralysed over the course of just one hour. Her owners were obviously very concerned, as there are several worrisome things that can cause paralysis in this area, including venomous snakes, and paralysis ticks of course. It would be very unusual for either of these critters to cause a paralysis of only the front legs though, so further investigation was warranted.
It turned out that Lucy suffered from an extremely rare condition called Fibrocartilaginous Embolism, where a piece of cartilage gets lodged in a blood vessel in the spine, causing localised paralysis and pain. This condition is very serious and debilitating, and a lot of physiotherapy and intensive management had to be performed by Lucy’s owners. They never gave up on her though, and slowly she started improving and gaining more function of her legs. We were delighted to see her for her check-up recently, and to see her actually walk in to the surgery all by herself!
Whilst she has lost a lot of weight and gets quite tired, she seemed quite excited about her little outing as well, as you can see by the blurry photo – she just wouldn’t stand still for us! Well done to brave Lucy and her human family.
Old Mill Animal Hospital
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