Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Our big Malamute with the damaged spinal cord is not doing well.  Kodiak’s back surgery was two weeks ago today.  The surgeon, Dr. Lawrence, had found the problem but was unable to surgically correct it.  His condition, called dural ossification, is progressive.  Dr. Lawrence had warned us that Kodiak might not be able to walk again after the surgery for weeks. The worst case would be that he might not return to even the very limited mobility he had before the operation.  Sadly, that is coming true.  He has not been able to walk at all … his back legs have zero strength and just collapse underneath him. 

Yesterday morning, for the first time since coming home, he didn’t look happy.  He was listless and his usual good appetite had disappeared.  He seemed depressed.  When we lifted him up to take him outside to lay on his bed on the porch, we noticed his front legs seemed weak all of a sudden.  He ate some dinner last night but without much interest.  This morning he wouldn’t eat at all but did drink water.  We took his temperature and it was normal. 

We called our specialist in Missoula, Dr. Dave Bostwick, today to review what we were seeing.  We were concerned about pneumonia or some other kind of infection.  Both Dr. Lawrence and Dr. Bostwick had earlier told us that paralyzed dogs … especially big ones … can develop a variety of medical problems because of their paralysis.  Dr. Bostwick had us start Kodiak on some high-powered antiobiotics to complement the post-surgery antiobiotics he is still getting. 

Kodiak ate a little food at noon but didn’t want any dinner tonight.  Just now, when we brought him inside for the night, he could no longer use his left front leg at all, and his right front leg barely worked.  We checked his heart rate, breathing rate and temperature again.  Everything was within normal range.  Yet he still looked depressed.  No energy, no zip, just kind of blank.  We sat with him for nearly an hour, just loving him up.  We gave him another dose of his medication and kissed him goodnight. 

We hope things will be different in the morning.