Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / April 2006

Hi All,

We have a beautiful pug puppy, five months old, who has, over the
course of
the past two-and-a-half months lost almost all control of her back
legs.

A while back (around a month-and-a-half ago) we had an MRI performed,
which
showed a serious spinal deformity - her spine bends down at an almost
60
degree angle around her shoulder blades - where she has three
hemi-vertebrae.

We have been told by the animal hospital that we have two choices -
either
she is operated upon or she undergoes physiotherapy, neither of which
(as
have been explained to us) have a great chance of working.  We've been
told
that if we just leave her as she is, she will probably be dead within a

couple of months, although the reasoning behind this has not been
explained
(and I have to say it sounds odd to me).  Our plan was (if we _could_
just
leave her as she is) to get her a canine cart for her back legs (her
front
legs work brilliantly, thank heaven for small wonders!).

Any thoughts?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many, many thanks.

Will.