Coon Paralysis

[WorkingBullandTerrier 132]

Hello all. I was wondering if any one here has had a dog come down with coon paralysis? I spoke to the friend that we get our Patterdales from and he said he's only had 3 dogs get this over a 22 year period. I'd like to hear experiences if any. Thank you.

[Tiff 36]

Unfortunately I've had 3 dogs with Coonhound Paralysis (all terriers within 18 months of eachother) and it has been a progression of learning. First one I had was my favorite dog ever, he was 10 years old, I took him to the vet (who didn't know anything about CHP and wouldn't admit it so I blame him for the dog dying). Worst f*****g way ever for that dog to die, I will never forget it and the ignorance we had then haunts me still. Afterwards I called several people who I had heard had dogs with it, a couple didn't shed any light on treatment/prevention, but a couple were more helpful. The unhelpful ones told me how to care for the dog, but didn't know prednisone would probably have saved the dogs life. There seems to be a lot of old wives tales about it, but here is what my ex and I found ... Our vet in Missouri is an old track greyhound vet and the most common sense logical awesome vet ever. All 3 dogs came down with it May-July. Once Doc told us to dosed our dogs with monthly Equimax we never had another dog have it, estimating about 50 dogs in regular contact with coon. Also any dog worked to coon is dosed after a day out. It is passed from jaw to jaw contact with the coon. The first sign of CHP IMMEDIATELY gets a decreasing dose of prednisone for 10 days. First sign of CHP was always a change in the dogs bark, hard to realize it until you look back and say "he DID sound different!". The voice change is 6-8 days after contact. 10 days after contact you notice a slight hitch in the dogs back legs, very noticable if the dog tries to go up stairs or jump onto a chair or over a fence. It progresses more severely every day to full rear leg paralysis, then front leg/chest, which is the dangerous time due to the chest/throat area. Then the paralysis hits the head, then works its way back down the dogs body. 10 days from start to finish after first seeing the legs affected. The two dogs that survived it were never the same, so prepare yourself for that. If the dog is intended to "just" be a working dog, do the dog and you a favor and just PTS now. But if its a pet, go ahead and treat, but prepare yourself for a completely different animal. Second dog took 4 months to be able to normally walk literally up the road and back (5 minutes) without trembling and collapsing, unable to get back up for 15 appx minutes, and a year before he didn't tremble and walk slow, no running almost at all. He used to go all over the place with me and it killed me to see that ultra busy dog an invalid. The third dog we caught very early, I noticed the voice change and he'd been on the pred for 4 days before the back legs looked wobbly, and all he had were the shakes. He was semi normal maybe 3-4 weeks later, but still always got winded easily. He was PTS for an unrelated issue about 18 months later, but like I said he was never 100percent. Good luck.