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Post 12 of 22

Eleanor Roosevelt Recovering After Hit By Car - Update

Eleanor recovering, giving kisses and starting rehab soon!

Written by: Beth Mersten, President of Shelter Showcase

Update (1:45pm Eastern Time on 11/27/07):
Dr. Karen reports, "I finished moving Eleanor from the hospital over to my friend’s kennel. She’s settled in. She’s running around like a fiend if you put her back leg harness on! She’s wanting to trot all over the place and loves being outside ... She’s doing really well. She really wants to move around and she really wants to be with people. ... She’s still a little unsure with new people ... I measured her today and feel the sooner we can get her in a cart the better as she is VERY eager to go exploring and move around."

Little Eleanor Roosevelt is a tan and black mixed breed dog weighing about 35 lbs and found Thanksgiving Eve on the FDR Drive (Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive) in New York City. A compassionate NYPD lieutenant helped protect the dog from running back into the road and two Board members from Shelter Showcase in New Jersey stopped at the scene and rushed the dog to the closest emergency hospital.

Eleanor, or fondly known as "Ellie", was treated at the Animal Medical Center in New York from Wednesday night to Friday evening, and she was then moved to Dr. Karen Dashfield's care at Fredon Animal Hospital. Dr. Karen has been caring for Ellie, and Ellie is proving herself as a determined little girl with love in her heart.

The x-rays showed no spinal fracture, and her back was stable enough for Dr. Karen to remove Ellie's not-so-comfortable back splint, as well as Ellie's large e-collar (that annoying lamp shade looking contraption). Ellie is now more comfortable, and she can eat and drink more easily and give Dr. Karen kisses, which is becoming more common every day! Without the splint and e-collar, Ellie is also more encouraged to move around when her hind legs are supported.

With all this good news, we have one important piece of bad news to share with you. We are pretty certain that Ellie will never walk again using her back legs, but we also know Ellie will continue to become happier and stronger every day! Ellie will soon be fitted for a custom cart (a doggy wheelchair) from Eddie's Wheels for Pets in Massachusetts (http://www.eddieswheels.com). This will cost $400 and they will provide a 10% rescue discount and even post Ellie's picture and story on their website to help her find a home.

To strengthen Ellie's front legs to get ready for the cart, Ellie will attend physical therapy sessions at Canine Aquatics in Randolph, NJ. Canine Aquatics is NJ's Premier K-9 Swim and Fitness Center and generously donates therapy sessions to rescue animals in need. For more information on canine therapy or exercise for your pet, please visit http://www.rehabdog.com/

Ellie will need a very special home to provide all the extra care she needs. If you think you might be the right home for Ellie, or you want to learn more about her needs and maybe try fostering Ellie when she's ready, please email beth@sheltershowcase.com for more information or call 973 812 PAWS (7297).

Ellie's care is thanks to the newly created Darcy's Gift fund. Mr. Darcy was a special needs dog whose body was never strong, but his spirit was a masterpiece of light, love and tranquility. Mr. Darcy passed away just a few short weeks before we found Ellie, and the Darcy's Gift fund will continue to provide veterinary care for animals like Ellie.

Thank you everyone for your love and support for Eleanor "Ellie" Roosevelt. Your love and good wishes are helping her heal, and you are also giving me a gift ... stronger hope that we really can save them all. Please donate to the Darcy's Gift fund today at www.sheltershowcase.com or mail your donation to Shelter Showcase, PO Box 43204, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043.

Original story with additional photos: http://network.bestfriends.org/sheltershowcase/news/20767.html

Posted Nov 27 2007, 09:52 AM by beth

Comments

Posted 27 Nov 2007 11:59 AM by JAK

Thank you for everything that is being done for this sweet girl. I am sad that she will not be walking on her own, but having seen what love and patience can do. I know she can lead a long and happy life!!
God Bless all that have come to her rescue from the very beginning.

Posted 27 Nov 2007 12:41 PM by ratmom

With carts, dogs (and cats) can be quite mobile and happy. They notice their disability a lot less than we do.

Posted 28 Nov 2007 10:53 AM by kdashfield

Hi,
Ellie is definitely wanting a foster home (or preferably forever home) as soon as possible. She really does not want to be left behind in the kennel- each time I visit for her walks and feeding she clings to me and doesn't want me to go, following me to the gate as I leave. She is really craving human attention and will bond quickly with her new people.

She is starting her first therapy session today- mainly aimed at trying to maintain the muscles in her abdomen and hind end- she seems quite strong in her front legs.

Will post an update after her first therapy session...

Dr. Karen

Posted 28 Nov 2007 12:25 PM by njanmlrsq3

Karen, just want to say thank you for taking care of this wonderful dog. Kudos to the NYPD Lt. for helping protect the dog and those 2 board members for being at the right place, right time. Someone is definitley looking out for Ellie.

Posted 28 Nov 2007 4:18 PM by cattees

Thanks for the update Dr. Karen. Ellie is a sweetie for sure - even the boo boo on her head is in the shape of a heart. And for the record, I love her NOSE!

Posted 29 Nov 2007 11:31 AM by rmlamasney25

You can see from the photos she is a love. I'm sad that she probably won't regain use of her legs...but she is in the best of hands. Lots of prayers and healing energies coming to you, Ellie sweetheart.

Posted 30 Nov 2007 8:00 AM by kdashfield

Hi,
Elenore is due for her second hydrotherapy session today, she did REALLY well with her first session on Wednesday. She has no fear of the treadmill filling and emptying with water and actually walked for about 10 minutes on the treadmill and ate treats throughout. She was great with Cindy at Canine Aquatics and very tolerant of having her legs manipulated.
She is having several sessions a day of hands on therapy consisting of helping her to do "squat sits" by placing her in a normal sitting position and putting her through multiple "squats" to remind her leg muscles and nerves what they are supposed to do. Again, she seems able to resist me with her upper legs when she gets tire of doing this. We are also massaging and "bicycling" her hind legs to keep up her range of motion and her muscle tone.
As far as her medical condition goes- we have determined that she has regained a withdrawal reflex in her left leg and a very weak withdrawal in the right leg (which is a local reflex- not driven by the brain) and has some ability to resist manipulation of her upper leg. She also has feeling in her pelvic region, so her dislocated hip is uncomfortable when manipulated.
We will pursuing a surgical replacement of her dislocated hip to ensure a stable joint for whatever strength she might regain in the upper leg. This will also make the leg more comfortable.
Will work on new pictures of our girl today.

Dr. Karen

Posted 2 Dec 2007 1:47 AM by A_D2000

Donation sent. Thanks for all the updates. Dr. Karen, what is the spot on top of her head, looks shaved. Also, in simple terminolgy, why wont she walk again?

Posted 2 Dec 2007 5:55 PM by kdashfield

Hi,
Thanks for the donation!

the shaved spot on her head is where she had a superficial injury when she was hit by the car

Basically the "nerve" part of the spinal cord is in a cage composed of the boney part of the spine. When an injury occurs to the back, there is no room for swelling to occur. Her back is stable, so one of three things happened- her back may have temporarily had a shift in the bones, causing damage to her spinal cord, or a disc ruptured with tremendous force causing an injury to her spinal cord. (discs are the cushions between the bones), or one of the above occured causing a minor injury and the following swelling caused more damage to the spine. Even though the discs are liquid, when they rupture at high velocity its like hitting the spinal cord with a fire hose...

We look at certain symptoms to predict whether or not a dog will walk again

1- does the dog have the ability to voluntarily move the hind legs (Elenore does not)

2- does the dog have deep pain sensations, ie when we pinch her toes does she cry out in pain, try to bite us, or spin around and look at us to tell us that her BRAIN is getting a pain signal. (Elenore does not.... though she may be regaining a small degree of this sensation in her left leg...)

Basically the pain carrying nerves are in the middle of the spinal cord, so a loss of pain sensation tells us that the trauma was severe and affected all the functions of the spinal cord.

Only 50% of the dogs with traumatic (hit by car) paralysis get up and walk again IF THEY HAVE DEEP PAIN SENSATIONS. Her odds are very very slim with no deep pain Most vets would tell you just to put her to sleep, and in fact that is the treatment reccomended in all the textbooks... but we can see that Elenore doesn't really care if she can use her back legs... so are not going to put her to sleep when she can live a full and happy life as she is.... and there is always that very small chance that she will regain some use of her legs.

The positives that Elenore has going for her

a good attitude- she wants to get going and is not going to let a little thing like paralysis slow her down.

sensations in her pelvic region (her hip hurts) and she has anal and urinary control to a large degree. This means she may be able to regain strength in her upper legs....

a good group of people like you who aren't going to give up on her just because she was a stray.

Dr. Karen