England has run out of vets

[jobe619]

Hi i have a 3yr old german shepherd and i am trying to solve a mystery for two and a half years. When my boy was about 10weeks old he suffered a bad tumble down some stairs after being reassured by the vet he was ok i bought him home. The next day he started vomiting badly and the vomiting went on for three days during this time he went to the vet a number of times and received medication for vomiting. When the vomiting stopped he started to limp on one of his front legs again he was returned to the vet and a pull was diagnoised.

However two and a half years and £10,000 later my boy is still not fully able to use his leg. He can put it to the floor and hold his weight on it however when he walks he drags his toes to the point he makes the top of his foot bleed where he drags it along the floor. If he holds his leg up and in front of him he can control his toes he can stretch them and apply pressure if he decides to drag them down your leg. But when the leg is aimed at the floor the foot is useless he has no control over it apart from the fact the leg can hold his weight if he flops it down on the floor properly. The muscle in his leg is now badly wasted.

I have been to numerous vets and vet hospitals he has had hundreds of tests and everyone has come back negetive, please if anyone has any idea what this is please let me know as i am running out of places to turn.

[poop123]

i dont think you should get him put to sleep maybe just get it amputated. That would be the best idea, he isn't all wrong, it's only his leg! And i think that would be better for you and your dog.

[Jaybay]

I certainly understand the frustration - I feel it myself with my own doctors.  Over here, my vet is a better doctor than most human docs I've dealt with.  :-)

You might try posting your question to Dr. Cheng on our Ask a Vet forum here (it's free).  Even if she can't recommend a particular treatment to pursue, she may be able to help you find a veterinary specialist who can look at the case with a fresh set of eyes.  Best of luck to you both!

[jobe619]

hi thank you for the info. Amputation was suggested in the past, the thing stopping me is that at times you can see him use the leg perfectly. To date all vets have said there is no nerve damage. At the moment the only help they seem to be volunteering is all offering to do a free post mortem should i have him put to sleep. which is most distressing for me it feels like they want a quick answer as they are puzzled and the quick answer is to put him to sleep and open him up so they can get the answer. Money for bills is not a problem finding a vet who is prepared to think outside the box is

[Jaybay]

It sounds obvious that there is some kind of nerve damage that occurred, but pinning down where the exact problem is can sometimes be impossible.  Have any of the vets recommended amputation of the leg?  Since it's now injured to the point that he's dragging the foot and injuring it further because he can't feel it, he may be better off without it.  You'd be surprised at what a 3-legged dog can do.  

The reason I bring up such a drastic solution, is because I've seen this sort of thing happen to another dog.  He belonged to a friend of mine and got hit by a car.  The nerve damage was so great that dragged one rear leg constantly.  He couldn't feel a thing, so it was constantly infected from cuts and scrapes.  After the amputation, the dog recovered quickly and went on to have a great life.