The Beginning

One week post accident:

Digby got involved in an accident with a car and thankfully he is doing okay and had no life threatening injuries. Unfortunately, he suffered radial nerve damage to his brachius plexus (I think that is how you spell it) and currently has no feeling in his front leg.  The poor thing has been hopping around and is really out of sorts and with no signs of any feeling returning in his legs 4 days post accident I thought I would start doing some research on having a dog with 3 legs.

Digby is approximately a 2 year old Bull Arab mix who we adopted from a rescue at 14 weeks. He has always been a quiet and sensitive dog but has an overwhelming zest for life. He loves to run around at the dog park, chasing his friends and his ball and jumping all over the place.  We’ve always said he is all leg as he is quite tall and very skinny weighing in at only 30kg.  Everyone believes he has a bit of greyhound in him, he was almost born to run. Nothing makes me happier to see him stretch his legs.

The day before his accident I took him to the dog park in the rain with one of his best friends, they ran around for ages having a blast. I worry that he will never be able to do this again.

He has been primarily sleeping his crate for the past week which he has adjusted to very well, for a dog that is used to sleeping on my bed from week 1.  However, he still has not regained effective control over his bladder and while he can go when he wants to while relaxing or sleeping he just lets it out.

Since day 1 he has progressed quite well and is now able to walk, or should i say hop, a fair distance without requiring rest. As he has no feeling he does drag his front leg along the ground but it is all wrapped up to prevent damage.

Has anyone else’s dog experienced this same injury? The vet has allocated a timeline of 6 weeks before making the call whether amputation is the best option for Digby. I hate this waiting I would rather deal with amputation immediately than being left unknowing. Unfortunately it is impossible to tell whether he completely severed the nerve or whether he strained and is able to return it to partial or even full function.