This article was submitted by Ailsa Jardine, Ayrshire
with the permission of Lorna Lazenby BVMS, MRCVS
Some animals just seem to cope in the face of adversity- and some positively thrive on a challenge. I think the same can be said for their owners!
Coco was a perfect little Pug when I first met him. A typical little roly-poly pug puppy full of energy and with such an impossibly long tongue you wondered how it all fitted in to his mouth.
When he first came in with his sister for their first vaccinations I didn’t notice anything untoward at all.
When he was five months old the owner brought him back because she was worried about the unsteadiness that seemed to be affecting Coco’s back legs. He was fine as long as he went in a straight line but as soon as he tried to turn a corner, particularly at speed – which was quite often, he seemed to lose control of his back legs.
Within a week the problem was obviously becoming more severe and a few weeks later he had lost the use of his back legs completely.
By this time we had X-rayed him and found that he had a deformed vertebral bone in his spine. As he grew the bone was becoming more and more bent and was pressing on the spinal cord. He also had a laxity of his hip joints.
No wonder the poor dog was affected. The bone was deep between the shoulder blades and, unfortunately, I knew of no treatment available.
I sent the X-rays to Glasgow University Veterinary School to be assessed by one of the orthopaedic surgeons and he confirmed that Coco was suffering from Hemiverteba (sometimes known as butterfly vertebra) that affects the spine. He had seen it in other breeds but not in a Pug. As I read around the subject I discovered that it was indeed a problem in the Pug breed but, as many of the puppies were euthanased as soon as the problem was diagnosed and there was no mention of any attempted treatment, I had no idea what the outlook would be for Coco.
The owners, however, had been doing their own research and came across an article about a Pug with this condition that had been treated by acupuncture.
The owners were adamant that they were going to at least give Coco a chance and, as he was in no discomfort from the condition I gave them my full backing. I have an interest in complimentary medicine and was more than happy to embark on a series of acupuncture sessions. Initially he had some Vit B1 tablets too. Other treatments that were considered were involving an osteopath. Had we had a veterinary physiotherapist in the district, as we do now, that would have been another possibility.
By now the problem was beginning to affect Coco’s bowel and bladder control.
But there was nothing wrong with his front end! So Coco was fitted with a harness and wheels. Once he got the hang of this there was no stopping him. He looked on the pots on the patio as his personal obstacle course and the cats had their tales run over on a regular basis if they did not move fast enough. The “wheels” gave him back his mobility and his interest in life as well as helping strengthening his muscles. There are two types of carts available – one for dogs with no use of their back legs at all and the other for dogs with limited use.
The acupuncture sessions were once a week and Coco accepted the needles quite happily, as do most animal patients.
After several sessions the owner phoned to tell me that she had been working in the kitchen and when she turned round there was a Pug standing behind her – it was Coco up on his feet.
From then on the power and the sensation seemed to return to his back legs quite rapidly and the control returned to his bowel and bladder and it was not long before his wheels were discarded.
Now he is 19. Months old and you would not know he had ever had a problem.
We have discussed taking further X-rays to see what, if anything has changed but, so far, it has not been done. My only explanation is that the pressure on the spinal cord has been relieved, presumably by the changing shape of the vertebra as Coco grew and the original pressure on the spinal cord had not caused permanent damage. I would like to think that the acupuncture helped too.
It is obviously a hereditary problem, but the genetics of it are very complex. It is not just a case of mating two dogs, which are carriers, and some of the pups will be affected.
It would appear to be a fairly common problem within the breed although it is very dificult to get information from breeders as to whether or not they have reason to believe they have ever had it in their pups. The problem needs a great deal of data and access to pedigrees for someone to try and work out what is happening. As the gene pool in pugs is so small, as with any numerically small breed, it is important to find out what is happening before carriers are too widely spread throughout the population.
Lorna Lazenby