Cornovi Irish Wolfhounds, Puppies

Two or three days later Bill was leaning over the baby gate fussing the puppy when he suddenly called to me saying Topper was 'looking funny' and that he was shaking. I went to have a look, and before our eyes the movement in his rear left leg seemed to melt. That is probably the best way I can describe it, we just stood and watched as the power left him.

I realised what it probably was straight-away, having heard of 'puppy paralysis' before. We scooped him up and dashed to the vets, phoning them on the mobile as we ran to the car to let them know we had an emergency. When we arrived, it was lucky I had a vet who took me seriously because I told her he had a probable FCE and needed steroid treatment immediately.

Ellie took me at my word (many vets wouldn't have), and Topper was given steroid injections. She kept him overnight on intravenous drugs. The next day we took him home. He made no effort to stand; he did have control of his bladder but couldn't tell us when he needed to go, so we kept thick towels under his rear quarters to keep him dry. If you pinched his toes on the dead leg there was only a flicker of movement; sometimes I wondered if I had seen it at all.

What happened after that can only be described as a long exhausting haul of nursing care. I had the rest of the litter to care for as well as the adults, and it was hard work to ensure that Topper had appropriate therapy. There was so little information to be found to tell us what to do. I scoured the internet finding a certain amount of information describing what FCE was. I eventually did find Ellen Kroll's excellent article and the Torteval Wolfhounds website, both giving explanations of FCE.

In purely layman's terms it seems that FCE is always presumed; it is a process of elimination. But, if the puppy appears to have a completely paralysed limb (or limbs), where the onset of this has been extremely quick and there is no real appearance of pain, then it is likely that it has had a Fibrocartilaginous Emboli.

For some reason, a minute fragment of material from the centre of a disk somewhere along the spine escapes into the blood stream. This then blocks a blood vessel, causing damage to whatever cells this vessel served by starving them of oxygen. This is pretty much what happens when people have a stroke. The location on the spine where this happens determines which limbs are affected and can sometimes affect more than one limb and the tail. The damage caused by the lack of oxygen supply to the nerve cells results in the paralysis.

Whether this is caused by trauma - puppies banging around playing in their run, I don't know. Topper had an injury but after speaking to other breeders, I know of incidents where there was no apparent injury at all and the puppies just seemed to fall off their legs.

We were lucky. We knew how important it was to get immediate steroid treatment from the vet. It is crucial that this treatment is received as early as possible. I have read about 'the golden Hour' but certainly if it is longer than 6 hours after the incident occurred, the steroid treatment is of little or no benefit.

After Topper was treated, we were all at sea because there is precious little information telling you what to do with a paralysed puppy in the way of aftercare and therapy.

We knew that it was important that the puppy not just be left to lie in one place. He needed turning regularly, and his paralysed leg needed to be massaged and moved. I was told to move the leg in a bicycling action for about 5 minutes several times a day.

We carried Topper outside to wee, etc., using a towel as a sling, and this carried on for at least 3 weeks. During this time some movement was returning, but it was a slow process. When we could see that he was getting more strength in the leg, I had a chat to a physiotherapist friend who told me how they treat human patients by making them take weight on the affected limb, to remind the brain that the leg is still there. So we helped Topper support himself on the leg for just a couple of minutes two or three times a day.

Throughout this time Topper remained completely accepting of all that was happening. He was such a sweet natured boy that there was never any question that we wouldn't do everything we could for him.

I can't actually remember now long it was before he was able to stand on all four feet unaided. I think probably three or four weeks. It's only in hindsight that you wish you had kept a daily diary of events like this. It seems that puppies can be up more quickly than this, certainly within 10 to 14 days. If it goes beyond this and there is no return of movement, it is a poor lookout.

Although the strength gradually came back, I would guess he now at 2 years of age has only about 75% of normal mobility in that limb. The nerve damage resulting from the infarction seems to have been quite severe. Again, other puppies I have seen and heard of have recovered from FCE with much better results.

Topper seemed to grow normally but developed other problems because of the paralysis. While he was learning to walk again he continually plonked down on the floor, so he developed a bursar on his 'bum'. This grew to a frightening size and eventually developed a head and burst; the only time I had ever seen this happen. Luckily he was, and is, a quick healer, so it was almost a blessing in the end and as his walking improved, this was never a problem again.

Topper had problems with his feet. Because he had uneven wear on his pads, this caused them lacerate and become sore. I scoured the internet for hours looking for suitable boots for a wolfhound, and I can tell you there really aren't any that do the job well. I resorted to light bandages on his back feet which worked well although we spent a fortune in Vetwrap. These additional problems also mean we had to resort to pain relief anti inflamatories from time to time.

This all happened during his first year, and one treatment we tried was McTimony (a gentle holistic chiropractic technique). This had a definite benefit and we were very enthusiastic and full of high hopes but after about half a dozen treatments, Topper hit a plateau and didn't improve further. Having said that, his gait was changing all the time as he grew, and we could tell this was happening because his feet healed and haven't been a problem since.

What is particularly marked is the effect that losing power in one hind leg has had on his overall body shape as he tries to compensate for the weakness. His front is extremely powerful, and he tends to pull himself forward. His good hind leg has a normal length of stride, but the affected leg about half that. He rarely weight bears on the affected leg, so the muscle there is quite wasted. The walk is probably the hardest gait for him, trying to move each leg in sequence with an uneven length of stride.

However, to watch him run across the fields is remarkable because he simply flies along using both back legs as one and doing a very speedy bunny hop. He sometimes tumbles over but always gets up and shoots off again as if it hadn't happened. We are lucky he is always on grass, which provides a soft surface for him.

It is a bit of a shock to some who see him for the first time, because his gait and body shape are so strange.

I do worry sometimes when I see him follow the other dogs on the walk, as it is much more of an effort for him (but he insists on coming along on - creating merry hell if left behind). But then I will catch sight of him playing on his own, throwing a ball around on the lawn and tearing about in his own fashion, and I can see that he is completely happy. There are no regrets that we persevered with him.

There is no reason to think an FCE affected dog will not live a completely normal lifespan. Most FCE cases recover considerably more than Topper has; many to the point where unless you knew about it you might not even pick up that the dog had been affected at all.

I often wonder why it happened, was it the trauma of the injury to his foot? He was the heaviest of the males, with a lot of rear angulation. Some people say it's always this type of puppy who gets it. Was it a weakness in him that was going to manifest itself anyway? We'll never know.

There hasn't been any real study into this condition, although it would make for an interesting project. Wolfhounds seem to be the only breed to regularly get FCE as puppies, and it is more common than people realise. Normally it happens in dogs between 3 - 7 years old. It can occasionally happen to cats and to adolescent children!

It has been suggested that data be collected in the hope that a veterinary neurologist may be persuaded to take on a study in the future, in which case any information will be valuable. Anne Janis runs a database of health information for Wolfhounds. This very useful service has been mentioned elsewhere, and she has agreed to add data on FCE, in case a study becomes feasible. I would encourage anyone who has experienced puppy paralysis to contact Anne and provide her with the details. This information is always kept in confidence. She can be reached on iwstudy@earthlink.net.

If it happens to you the most crucial thing to remember is to get steroid treatment as soon as possible within the hour if possible; certainly within 6 hours; otherwise it will have no effect.

After that, therapy is essential. Physiotherapy, McTimony, swimming - if you can find one which can handle a large breed - the walk-in pools are best. Most of all, provide regular massage at home, keeping the limb moving until the power returns. Paralysed puppies need to move.

Read Ellen Kroll's article which can be found on www.wolfhouse.dk. It is probably the most informative one out there at present.

Topper now is probably as good as he will get. He enjoys his life - particularly his food - and comes on a walk every day with the other dogs. In every other way, Topper is as normal as his siblings - well worth fighting for.

UPDATE: Sadly we lost Topper in March 2006 from a gastrointestinal bleed. We have no way of knowing really what caused this but I suspect that it arose from the need for the anti inflamatory pills. This is in no way typical and I have heard of the majority of affected hounds living a normal life span, unfortunately in Topper's case he just ran out of luck.

MRI scans can now identify FCE - although costly and most people could only do this if the puppy was insured but it does allow us to differentiate between FCE and other injuries that might cause partial or complete paralysis of a limb.