Pet of the Month: Romeo - January

The first featured pet is Romeo or known as @thefrenchromeo on Instagram. He also has IVDD like me and went through a lot of rehab treatments to help him get better. Read his story below written by Romeo's aunt.

In June 2013 Romeo was hiking in the Sierra's near Lake Tahoe, CA when he slipped down a steep trail and fell about 3 ft landing upside on his back on the hard granite rock. The fall didn’t seem to phase him. We seemed a lot more concerned than he did and he just got up and kept going. Two days later we took him to the vet because he was acting very strange and had a very difficult time moving his hind legs. They thought he may have had a head injury but soon figured out that he had actually blown a disc in his back and before long he became fully paralyzed. 

We live in the East Bay so we were able to drive him up to UC Davis where he had emergency spinal surgery. After surgery we found out that he had IVDD and just the slightest injury, jump off the bed or anything else could have paralyzed him. He spent 2 weeks in the hospital at UC Davis. We brought him home under the impression from the doctors that he probably wouldn’t walk again but we started him in therapy as soon as we could. We weren’t giving up that easy, nor was he, and he began his journey of recovery. We took him to therapy 3 days a week where he had cold laser treatment, hydrotherapy, chiropractor adjustments and acupuncture with and without electrical stimulation. We modified his life style at home by giving him a lot of crate rest. 

Stitches after the surgery.

Acupuncture with electrical stimulation.

In May 2014 he woke up one morning acting strange and was having trouble walking again. He was put on strict crate rest and after a follow up a couple of weeks later at UC Davis was given a clean bill of health. The next morning he woke up screaming in pain. We knew something was wrong and within hours, he was paralyzed in his hind legs again. We rushed him up to UC Davis and they recommended another spinal surgery. We were told the surgery could reverse the paralysis or do more damage but their recommendation was surgery. It was a difficult decision but in the end we went ahead with it. It turned out he had ruptured another disc. They were able to fix the disc and decompress the rest of his spine without any complications. This time he came home a few days later and we resumed therapy as soon as we could. It turned out the second surgery was just what he needed. Romeo came back even stronger and harder than he had from the first surgery. He just graduated from weekly therapy but will still have chiropractic appointments every month or so. 

Hydrotherapy.

Romeo is our little miracle! Although he can’t go on any big hikes or walks anymore he is the happiest little pooch in town. He runs around in the backyard on squirrel patrol and walks to pick up mail at the mailbox. We are forever grateful for all the love and support we found in the Instagram community. We had no idea what IVDD was and how common it was until we looked it up on Instagram. It's been incredible to find so many other families in our situation. We're all about IVDD awareness now.

Check out this link to find out how your pet can be featured as the Pet of the Month.