Fibrocartilaginous Embolization - Info needed

It appears Christine's (Clondoncamper) pug girl Sophie had a Fibrocartilaginous Embolization last night. She had an MRI but has some paralysis on both the front and back legs on the right(?) side. I'm going to go with Christine to pick Sophie up in an hour or so and see what the vet says. Meanwhile, I wanted to ask here if anyone has any first hand experience with this and if there was any recovery? I did find a local vet specialist that seems to have a bit more hopeful information on their site. http://petsurgery.com/fibrocartilaginousembolization.html

Meanwhile, if you could keep Sophie and Christine in your thoughts. She is heartbroken. Sophie is just a youngster. :(

No first hand experience other than ruling out FCE as a cause of Kayla's issues. I do, however, believe they can recover from an FCE and regain mobility. Will she be taking her to see a neurologist?



Lots of prayers for Sophie and her owner.

dieselsmom wrote:No first hand experience other than ruling out FCE as a cause of Kayla's issues. I do, however, believe they can recover from an FCE and regain mobility. Will she be taking her to see a neurologist?



Lots of prayers for Sophie and her owner.

I'm going to recommend it. We'll see what the vet has to say. I'm going with her to be the eyes and ears for her and take good notes. She can't even see straight right now.

It's a new one on me, Lisa, so I had a look at the link. I can see why she is so worried about her darling girl. I hope Sophie's prognosis is promising and she gets much better. A ton of good thoughts coming their way. Please post updates.

That is nice of you to go with her, when I hear news that is not so great I tend to tune out.

Please keep us updated, in the meantime I will be thinking of her.

A new one on me. Lots of good thoughts out to them both.

Is it "sick sophies" week or what?

No ideas, just a bunch of positive thoughts and prayers for Sophie and her mom. Bless you, Lisa, for being such a good friend.

Lisa, how did the visit with the vet go? And how's Sophie doing?

Never heard of it before, so the link was very interesting. Sounds like there could be a reasonable chance of recovery, if muscle tone can be kept up with physio while the spine is healing.



Keep us updated, good one to add to the PA knowledgebank - oh dear, it sounds as though I am forgetting the distress this is causing, but I'm not.



Speeding puggy healing vibes to Sophie, and calm-down vibes to her mum.

This is all new for me too. In all of the dogs I've cared for over the years, I've never even heard of this!

The vet visit ended up turning out more positive than I expected. The vet compared it to a stroke. A piece of cartilage breaks off and injures the spine. It usually presents itself around at 3 or 4 years old. Sophie just turned 3. Who knows what caused it and it doesn't appear to be a genetic thing. The trouble is between her 6th and 7th vertebrae where her neck becomes her back. BOTH her left and right legs are paralyzed BUT she was trying to use her front leg more than she was even earlier in the day. She's not in any pain - which is relief - but is pretty confused about what is happening to her. She has to be taken outside to go potty and be held while she does it. She's not liking that at all. Her PT consists of holding her up to stand and doing bicycle movements with both legs. She will start water PT next week.

The good news is that she will probably get a bit better, gain muscle strength, and be able to get around. She may have some permanent issues but the vet is pretty sure she won't stay as severe as she is right now.

We saw a dog on the way out that had suffered the same thing and was bouncing around the waiting room. Apparently, he couldn't even walk a few months ago. If she can manage that kind of recovery, it would be amazing!

It's going to be a long road for Sophie and Christine, but the vet sure made both of us feel a LOT better than I did when we arrived there.

Still, it breaks my heart. Sophie is a completely sweet black diva and is ALWAYS a very happy girl. I adore both her and her fawn sister Sasha.