Cooper is Sick

Yesterday after work I came home and took Cooper to the park to go for a walk/run and to play some fetch. And after about 20 minutes of running around without any issues we came home and he had drink and then soon after had his dinner which he ate. I then had to go to dinner at Traceys house so I left home and returned 3 hours later with the boys. I unlocked the back door and after about 15 minutes I was wondering where Cooper was because he never too far away from an opportunity to 'get inside and lay on his couch'. So I went outside and his two back legs were completely lame and he was laying under our pergola. He had complete strength and control over the front half but from the hips down he is completely paralysed. I managed to get him inside and he managed to get himself on a foam mat and slept well.

(On occasion in recent weeks his back legs had been a little shaky for the first 5-10 metres that he walked after getting up of his day bed but always came good and then had no evident problems after that.)

This morning I took the kids to daycare early, rang Gordon asked him to help me get Coopy to the vets. Using an old heavy blanket Gordon and our neighbour Pete loaded him into the back of the Rio and we got him up to the vets. And that is where he is staying for the next 48 hours, to see if he comes good. This morning he was completely pain free and would let me place all my body weight on him and let me lie on him...and he was happy to see me and our young children and my friend who came around to assist me with getting him into the car to take him to the vets.

The vet rattled off a number of things: a fracture, slipped disc, spinal cancer and this one below: (I got the information from Google)

Another type of paralysis is caused by a fibrocartilaginous embolism. This is a microscopic piece of disc material that breaks off and becomes lodged in a spinal artery. Nerves served by the artery will die when deprived of blood. The German Shepherd is especially prone to developing degenerative myelopathy. This is a deterioration of nerves in the spinal cord, starting in the posterior part of the cord. Dogs so affected will become gradually weaker in the hind legs as nerves die off. Eventually their hind legs become useless. They often also exhibit fecal and urinary incontinence. As the disease progresses, the paresis and paralysis gradually move forward. This disease also affects other large breeds of dogs. It is suspected to be an autoimmune problem.

And when the vet spoke to me this afternoon to update me on his progress she said she more and more thinks it is this fibrocartilaginous embolism.

The vet has said recovery can be quite long and we are moving interstate (via Brisbane) in 10 weeks and I don't know how he would cope with flights etc... and especially currently whilst he is paralysed. Apparently he is now starting to feel pain in his legs. Which is a good sign.

Has anyone ever heard/or had their dogs suffer from this this condition?

This has come as a complete shock to me as when I left for my friends house last night he showed no signs of injury from our time at the park, he ate ALL his meal standing, and he was completely fine. As you can imagine I am quite distraught. It is so shocking that this could have happened sooo 'out of the blue'.

Now it is a waiting game..............