Winston's Story

Winston aka Winnie, Wiggle Butt, is a five year old pug and a light in our lives. He is super sweet, always happy and constantly wiggling his chubby butt and tail. He is loved by all who meet him and will always put a smile on your face. Recently Winston suffered a tragic accident that has left him paralyzed from the waist down. While we are hopeful that he will regain his mobility it will be a long, tedious, expensive process. We want Winston’s story to be heard in the hopes everyone can help us, help him to get his wiggle back.

On the evening of July 1, 2014, Winston was playing with the other dogs he lives with when by unfortunate chance Winnie was pounced on. Usually, such an incident is just normal rough housing, however in this case the other dog was a Great Dane. Nelly, the Great Dane, unluckily hit Winston on the lower spine causing instant paralysis. We took immediate action and brought Winston to the nearest emergency veterinary hospital. The vet confirmed our worst fears that Winston was not experiencing any deep tissue response in his rear legs. The animal doctor informed us to get Winnie to a neurologist right away for an MRI and possibly surgery.

We took Winston to another emergency animal clinic fifteen miles away with the expectation to be met by a neurologist immediately. Unfortunately this was not the case. We were told at this vet hospital they would contact the neurologist, but he would not be in until four a.m. the next day. Our only other option would be to take him up to the CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital, which was an hour and a half drive and 80 miles away. Prior to taking Winnie up there we wanted to see if they were going to be able to do anything for him. We talked to the emergency technicians who informed us the soft tissue team would perform a CT scan and surgery if need be.

With this information in hand and Winston uncomfortably positioned in his mom’s lap, we made the trek up north. Upon arrival Winston was whisked away to check his vitals and assess the situation and shortly after that Winnie was given a CT scan. It took several hours for the doctors to read the results and return with bad news. The vets informed us that they found nothing on the CT scan and surgery would not help. The prognosis was grim. At that time we were told that Winston’s chances of fully recovering and walking again were slim to none. However, the veterinarian wanted us to wait for the neurologist to come in and we could get their opinion.

Finally, the next morning an MRI was done and we met with neurologist and her amazing vet student. The results of the MRI showed Winnie had suffered a traumatic disc injury, but the doctors were hopeful. The images on the MRI showed severe swelling of the disc and spinal nerve and once the swelling reduced Winston could possibly and slowly regain feeling. The neurologist believes that with some intensive physical therapy and the temporary use of a wheelchair Winston could start to walk again. As for whether he will fully recover or remain partially paralyzed only time will tell.