Chester Injury

At 10am this morning, Chester and I were playing in the snow with his favorite ball. He suddenly loss function in his left hind leg. Amy recognized the potential severity of the situation and we quickly rushed him to the emergency vet and specialty hospital in Bern. Upon arrival he had loss function in both legs. The MRI showed a ruptured disc between the thoraco lumbar 12 and 13. This is not uncommon with Dachshunds, however it is with a dog as young as Chester (1 and half years). The MRI also showed adnormalities of the disc along most of the spinal column. So the condition is likely genetic, and the continuous play and jumping combined with the cold weather resulted in the acute rupture. The ruptured disc was applying pressure and decreasing blood flow to the spinal cord. This resulted in paralysis of his hind legs. He went into surgery at around 5pm where a hemilaminectomy was performed to remove the disc material and pressure from the spinal cord. According to the surgeon everything has gone well and they will try to feed him tonight. He will remain in the ICU and be monitored by the neurologist until Friday. Because of Amy's quick response and us getting him to the surgeon in less than 12 hours the prognosis is good for a full recovery. Please keep the little guy in your thoughts and I will keep this blog updated with his progress. To learn more about the hemilaminectomy: http://www.michvet.com/library/neurology_ivds_thoracolumbar.asp