Happy the Dachshund has Neurosurgery

Dachshund Happy was referred to our Neurology team when her hind legs suddenly became paralysed.

Happy, a 6 ½ year old dachshund, was referred to Neurology Specialist Alex Forward following a sudden onset, painful and progressive non-ambulatory paraparesis (paralysis of the hind legs).

An emergency MRI was performed of her thoracolumbar spine which showed the cause of her paralysis to be a large intervertebral disc extrusion at T12-13 (mid to lower spine) severely compressing her spinal cord. 

It was decided to perform emergency surgery in the form of a left-sided hemilaminectomy, during which Alex removed the extruded degenerative disc material in order to decompress the spinal cord.

In the days following surgery, Happy was treated at our Therapy and Fitness Centre where the team performed physiotherapy as part of her rehabilitation programme. After 4 days, Happy was discharged from hospital and had already started to gain the use of her back legs once again. 

Happy continued to visit the Therapy and Fitness Centre for both physiotherapy and hydrotherapy sessions over the subsequent weeks and was soon able to walk again for herself.

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