FCE Files - Boogie

Well, I intended to direct you all over to my latest blog Giving Feedback, which is just getting underway and has already been tagged by Google as a potential spam blog. Woo hoo! It isn't spam. It's just that I did some fast writing and the blog has links to companies. Ah, you'll see.

For now though, here is Boogie, pre-FCE, who belongs to Emilie (whose first language is French, I believe, but she's written a great thorough rundown of Boogie's story in English.)

Enough of my chatter. Here is the Boogie FCE File:

The beginning

It all started 2 months ago, in September 2008. We were on holidays and Boogie, our French bulldog, was on the balcony looking at people in the street.

My mother was in the kitchen when she heard the dog squeak, and she immediately realized it was not normal barking. She first thought the dog had been stung by a wasp. Unfortunately, it was much worse! The dog was standing before her and her rear legs were totally paralyzed.

We brought Boogie to the vet clinic. The vets told us it was probably hernia and planned to operate her the next morning. But when they did X ray on her to locate the hernia, they could not see anything. They explained that it surely was FCE, that something was stuck in her spine and it was why she could not walk anymore. The worst news was that it could not be cured by operation. The first vet we saw told us that maybe it was better to think about euthanasia. It was a huge shock. Our dog is only 2 years old and so lively that it was really hard to even think about losing her. We decided not to rush and wait for a few days before deciding on Boogie's future.

The first days

Boogie stayed 3 days at the clinic. When she left, we went back home in Paris immediately so that she would feel more comfortable at the place she's used to live. For 3 more days, she stayed prostrated, sitting on a carpet. We still don't know if it's because she could not lie down by herself, if she was in pain or if she was just disturbed by her new condition. Because she was constantly sitting, a bump appeared in the middle of her back, on the spine. But then she was able to lie down again and it slowly disappeared.

Treatment

For two months, our vet in Paris prescribed corticoids. The treatment seemed effective regarding the dog's vivacity, and I'm pretty sure it helped her to start moving again instead of staying on the carpet. But one of the effects of corticoids is that Boogie started to gain weight. We did not change the food quantities but it was clear that the dog would have been able to eat twice her daily ration. And she was also abnormally excited; it was like she had become hyperactive!

In parallel, she was prescribed – and still has – a treatment to "enlarge" blood vessels. Our local vet thinks that maybe it can help the "little thing" in the spine to be evacuated or dissolved.

During 2 weeks, after the corticoids treatment, she also received injections to strengthen muscles.

We also took the dog to the "Vet School", which is a prestigious institution for vets training and where you can find all kinds of specialists. A professor examined the dog and some students were there, taking notes. The professor even took pictures of Boogie! Apparently, FCE is quite rare and often misdiagnosed and the professor thought it would be a good opportunity to discuss Boogie's case with her students in class. That was a good sign for us, because even if the dog never recovers from FCE, at least we know her condition is studied and may be useful for vet students. It was decided that we should bring the dog to the Vet School twice a week for physical therapy. Two students are in charge of working with her in the swimming pool and do massages. Boogie is a small dog so she gets tired very quickly. In general, 10 to 15 minutes in the swimming pool is all she can do. But we feel lucky to have this chance because there are only 3 or 4 Vet Schools in France and these physical therapy sessions are a bonus to the medical treatment!

Everyday life

Now, that's the hardest part of all this. We can deal easily with the disability, but it's much more difficult to handle faecal and urinary incontinence. When we came back to Paris, Boogie had cystitis because her bladder had not been completely emptied for a few days. During two weeks, my mother brought the dog twice a day – in the morning and in the evening – to our local vet so that he would empty Boogie's bladder. Now we do that once a day, but it still represents a constraint.

At home, things are a bit complicated because we live in an apartment. We have a small garden, but it's useless as the dog does not ask to go out and do her business. We always have to clean up after her; we never know when or where she will do it (surprise!) and *yes* we sometimes feel embarrassed when people are visiting us and the dog just pees or poops right before them!

With disability and incontinence, also come other types of difficulties:

- Scabs on her legs and belly. We treat them with ointment and have put special pillows everywhere in the apartment. But the dog is always moving all around the place so she does not spend much time on the pillows. Nevertheless, her legs look better now than they did 2 or 3 weeks ago.
- Dog's mood. Although she's as joyful, lively and affectionate as she was before, Boogie growls and tries to bite us each time we want to look after her (for scabs or incontinence, for example). My father and the vets are the only persons who are able to handle her, but they are not always there to help!
- Money. Needless to say that our daily visits to the local vet, the medical treatments, the therapy sessions at the Vet School, the special cushions, carpet cleaning and all these little things we do to make our dog's life easier has a price. We do it because we have taken the decision to do all we can to fight FCE but it's quite expensive.
- Lack of understanding. I know it may sound absurd compared with the dog's situation, but my family and I have received no support or encouragement from our relatives and friends. They all think we are crazy to go on with this and that we should put the dog to sleep "because, you know, it's just a dog". We are not humanizing our dog, but she's part of the family. Each time someone tells us to put an end to this, I'm about to cry…The only support comes from our local vet and the Vet School.

And of course, we can't go anywhere we want. Before FCE, we used to take the dog all the time with us on holidays, weekends etc. Now we have to stay at home. I can take care of the dog when my parents need to leave for a few days, but one of us always must stay with the dog. No one would accept to look after her in those conditions.

Progress

The reason why we're going through this… There is progress. Recovery is very slow, it comes with periods of doubt and discouragement, but we can definitely see improvement in Boogie's condition.

FCE + 15 days: Boogie starts to feel sensitivity in the pads, but we have to press them very strongly. She's still totally incontinent and can not move her rear legs at all.

FCE + 30: Sensitivity in the legs is growing. When we press the pads, she's moving them. But it sounds more like an automated reaction. She doesn't seem to feel any pain or to realize than we're pressing her pads. Incontinence hasn't changed at all.

FCE + 45: The dog slightly raises her butt. Her bladder is less supple, which means she's more in control of it. From time to time, she even wants to go in the garden to do her business but it's very very rare.

FCE + 60 (today): The dog's legs are more firm. When we put the dog on her legs, she's able to stand up for a few seconds, although she has no control of them. The real improvement is that she's able to raise her butt high enough to almost stand up by herself. She doesn't do that very often, maybe once or twice a day. But it's a big step considering that 3 weeks ago, she was incapable of moving her hind.

The future

We have no guarantee that our dog will be able to walk again in the future but euthanasia is now out of the question. Boogie is enjoying life despite her disability. We're waiting one more month then we will consider buying a dog trolley adapted to her size (we will have to go to Belgium for that, because there's no seller in France). We don't want to buy a trolley too soon because we were told that it may slow down her progress. What we really hope right now is to make incontinence disappear. It would change our daily life and we would be able to take the dog with us again during our visits to friends or family without being embarrassed or dependent on local vets.

FCE is a real challenge. It's challenging the dog's life and our own lives, and we have learned how strong our attachment to the dog is. We will go as far as possible in the recovery process. We won't give up and just need to be patient.

Yes, FCE is a challenge, and can be a major inconvenience and really tests your resolve. Caregiving is a full time job, and caregiving a confused animal is a tough full time job. We're glad that you're following through with Boogie, Emilie. If she needs to be mobile, maybe she can go on wheels for some time and then you can take them off. It might raise her spirits without slowing down her recovery.

Thank you for sharing Boogie with us and keep us posted on her progress.

If you have an FCE (or dog diagnosed with other problems that cause paralysis) please send me an email with your story and a photo of your dog or you with your dog (either before or after the event) to happyguy@happinessnotebook.com.