I have a female welsh corgi 'sassy' and my male welsh corgi 'nitro'. and my son and I love animals. We have 2 horses Arabs, 1 mini horse, 2 cats and 2 Pembroke Welsh Corgis. Now my 'Sassy' woke up yesterday and was dragging her hind legs liveless behind her. I could not stop crying, she did not understand what was going on. I took her to the vet right away. They x'rayed her spine and hips, poked her with a needle, ruled out the tick disease and told me she has a slipped disc, which is known for corgis. I thought my life stopped. She was put on Anti inflammatories. That is it I thought, she has to stay confined for 6 weeks, no moving around at all, may be it is going to heal itself. My darling friend, she is a vet Nicole called me back and said, she needs more aggressive treatment. So I put 'sassy' back in the car ( I was crying heart broken) and drove to Nicole's vet clinic. She gave her steroids, special food, a pill (antacid) prednesone and another one. I will add the names later, when I get back online. I would so appreciate any input, if there is a chance for her to get her feelings back in her liveless backend. Help!!! Will she walk again? Are there any people with corgis who healed and walked again??

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Hmm, I didn't know that begging was used as an exercise. Even in a Cardigan book I have it says not to let them stand up like that as it could create back problems. I'm glad to hear that it won't hurt him because he insists on doing it. You can't keep a good dog down! What I do watch for though is him falling backwards when he does it. He's fallen a couple of times and that can't be good for the back. He's like a toddler you have to be ready to catch at all times. :)
Hi Shannon, danke so much for your mail. I had send a Christmas card to the club for everybody who was so nice and reply when I needed it the most, but I do not know where it ended up. I pray for you also, that Aber will fully recover, it most probably takes a while. Once he can go by himself and do his business, that will be a big relief for you too. I don't know if you know that I struggle with severe lower back injuries myself. At first I even thought Sassy has sympathy pains. I really do not know what she had or has. I could not do the surgery so I tried everything in my power to get her better. I took her to the chiropractor twice a month sometimes even 3 times. Every time I would get a treatment, so did she. With current, electricity to get rid of any blockage in her spine, and manual adjustments. She responded wonderful. I also started her up on DGP supplements which a lady at the chiropractor told me, she was giving it to her dog who could hardly do anything anymore and now she would jump on and off the bed. I would never let Sassy do that again, no sofa, no stairs if I can help it. She went up and down the stairs may be 3 times since then. I really try to stop her and we carry her, but you know how hardheaded corgis are.:-) She is trying to keep up with nitro my other tri colored corgi male. We have snow now and they just love it, never minding the freezing cold. She jumps and runs, drags her hind, she thinks she can do everything Nitro does. You can tell when she overdoes it, she starts flopping to the right or to the left. Her left leg is not as strong as the right, BUT just last week she walked on the lenoleum floor without flopping, we all clapped at the chiropractor. She is doing so much better, so much better, but I am soooo scared it will happen again. I can let her out in the yard to do her business and all I say is: Sassy messy slow down. She just gives me That Look. I am so glad I did not put her down, like they suggested at the vet. She gets massages from me all the time and I can feel on her spine if she has a hard place anywhere. She knows the drill AND she also lost weight. That must make a big difference too. I know it, I can tell on myself. Once one cannot move around anymore, you lose muscle tone and gain weight. I put her on diet food. Nitro is also on it, he gained a lot too, but he has not lost any. I don't understand it at all, since he runs a lot, but oh well, Sassy did. She even gets on her hind legs too in the morning when I get her out of her bedroom :-). She used to sleep with me and now she has to stay downstairs with Nitro, cause I am so afraid she will jump on the bed or off, if she is on it, in the middle of the night. I was so skeptical of the supplements, cause it is just money making a lot of times and I don't have much to spare, but I really think they help. I found them for $ 22.96 I think for 60 tablets. 1 tablet per 30 pounds. I gave her 2 for a week and now she is getting 1.5 of them. If you order 2 you can get free shipping on top of it :). How old is Aber?? I did not know that there are so many corgi's with back problems. I read the postings, but I tell you, a lot of them make me soooo sad and worried if she keeps improving or goes backward on day, you know what I mean?!
So I so appreciate all the nice mail and the tips I received, it helped me a lot. See I wonder how many corgi's get better and stay that way, I wonder what happened to Sassy, she got out the car, was limping with one leg and the next morning she was paralyzed. She did not even feel the long needles they put in her back and feet, to get a reaction, which there was none, nothing. The other day she tried to do that "foot work after her taking care of No.2" but she could not do it, it looked really funny, she just looked at me. She also tries to scratch herself behind the ears, she does it a little bit, but not as powerful as normal at all, at all, but she tries. The only thing that she developed that I could do without is, she is barking all the time now, when she gets excited, when she thinks somebody is coming, when she wants her food. I don't have a clue where that comes from, ohh and she is nipping in my leg, my pants really, but I have had a little bruise or two already :-). She is funny. We can take her back to church now, since she can go and do her business by herself now. I thank God for hearing our prayers, we sure prayed a lot.
If you have any questions, please write me. Do you know, if I could publish this email to the club members to use it as my 'update'? I really do not know much about the computer, sorry.
You have a very, very Happy New Year and lots of health for both of you!!!!! I never thought of how important it is to be fit!!
Kind regards
Marika
I think you could highlight the text and copy and paste it into your update section.

Thanks for the long reply. I'm so happy to hear she's doing well. I wouldn't feel to badly about not getting the surgery so long as she's recovering without it. It's rough on them. Aber was a mess after---he's the sweetest dog on earth and he bit us because he was confused and drugged and still in pain. He wailed at times, sounds like I've never heard before, whenever we tried to move him, and he had to be moved or sit in a puddle of his own waste the first few days. I think they sent him home way too soon. He came home about 24 hours after the surgery. He was distressed about going in the house, cried all night. It was a nightmare and we've been almost constantly sick because of the stress, loss of sleep, etc. The last 3 weeks have been much better, but if there was any way to avoid the surgery I would have just to spare him the agony.

He also barks a lot now---must be a common thing. He's gotten somewhat demanding from being waited on hand and foot for weeks on end :). But like Sassy, he goes out now and does his business out there. And he is really trying to walk, so I think it's just a matter of time. It's like he pretty much plateaus for a few days with very minor improvements then one day he makes a leap forward.
Hi Marika,
How is Sassy doing?
I'm hoping her recovery is going well. Token did have pretty extensive disc surgery, but is doing very well. We keep off the furniture, she doesn't go upstairs and we lift her into and out of the car. Also, we haven't let her play with other dogs. She comes to work with me most days and is my constant companion. She still isn't 100% in the back end, her right leg is still weak, but that's the only thing I notice.
Take care,
Stephanie
I have no experience with this, and unfortunately have nothing to offer, but I just wanted to say I am so sorry to hear about Sassy's injury (and yours too, my sister has a slipped disc and I know the journey you're going through has probably not been an easy one) and just want you to know that I hope for a full and quick recovery!
Are they sure that's what it is? I had a corgi with degenerative myelopathy which has the same symptoms. The only difference is it doesn't come on suddenly, but gradually. It's hard to diagnose, mainly they rule everything else out first. Pete walked like a drunken sailor, we used to say his chaise was out of alignment! I know it's heartbreaking, but they can still live wonderful lives. When Pete no longer had the use of his back legs we would carry him everywhere. We fashioned a doggie stroller, this was before you could buy one, so he could still go on walks. We always got such crazy comments! You can get dog wheelchairs (www.eddieswheels.com), but Pete was at the end of his life and it wasn't an option for us. Eventually it was cancer that stole him from us, but we will never forget our little back-end challenged boy! If it is inded a disc, I've heard of full recovery in dogs so hang in there. You both will be in my thoughts and prayers.
My sister has two corgis in carts (wheelchairs). One she raised from a puppy has DM and one she rescued about a year ago who had a slipped disc about 5 years ago and has been in a cart ever since. The one with the slipped disc gets along great; my sister even got ski attachments for the wheels on the cart. The one with DM sadly will continue to deteriorate. I hope breeders will start testing for DM show fewer dogs will have to suffer.

If you can't afford a cart Corgiaid has a loan program.
Oh I am so sorry to gear this! Poor girl =( And I can't even imagine how you're feeling. I hope she will be one of the dogs to regain her use of her legs; I have no personal experience in this but if she doesn't for some reason maybe you could look into wheels for her? I've heard they don't know much difference with them once a dog gets used to it. Just a thought, hopefully it wont come to that. Praying for her to recover and for you as well.
My family has a Pekingnese mix that has a slipped disc in his back. They don't know how it happened either, but they put him on steroids and an anti-inflammatory. They put him on the meds a few months ago, and now he is only taking half a steroid pill every other day. He has gained a considerable amount of weight, not fat, MUSCLE! haha he looks like a body builder, but he is generally happy and healthy now even though they dont allow him to jump on and off the furniture.
Our dog Gizmo slipped a disk once. Same thing...legs dragging lifeless behind him. They gave him prednesone, baby aspirin and told me to keep him as still as possible. Within a day or two he was back to his old self. He has since passed (at the ripe old age of 18) but he never had another injury of that type again. Good luck!
Wow Melinda 18 years is quite a miracle. Danke for writing me. That was a quick recovery for Gizmo. I am not even sure what she has. It is snowing here and icy and she is running, running, running so fast it is scary. Then she flops and slides. I am concerned she is doing too much, but she is loving it. I wonder if dogs know when to stop, do they stop when it hurts them? I had Sassy pretty still :-) for at least 6 weeks, I still let her move around, cause I know, if I don't move around I start hurting more :-). She was on steroids for 3 weeks and we faded them out. She is only taking those DGP vitamins. My heart goes out to everybody out there who has a injured pet. And seeing them dragging the legs lifeless is just heart breaking and makes my stomach turn.
Thanks again and have a great evening Melinda. Do you have another corgi? I really like the name 'Gizmo" My friend just got her first Cardigan corgi.
Kind regards
Marika T.
mine corgi just had the same problem....it started out dragging one leg...they put her on prednesone and a pain killer but later that night she went to dragging both of them as of lastnight(5/12/2011)...we called the vet surgeon and they said sometimes the pills can fix it but sometimes it wont...so i took her in today(5/13/2011) and the surgery went well...as long as we get thru recovery she'll b all good to go!!!

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