Dog with Botulism

A couple of weeks ago we noticed that our dog was struggling to walk with his back legs and we went to the ER. They took an x-ray of his stomach and it appeared to be indigestion. They prescribed laxatone to release the indigestion.

However, the back legs kept losing grip and force and was struggling even more to walk and he didn’t have strength to jump as usual. We decided to took him to his Dr and he diagnosed the dog with botulism.

He continued to lose strength in front legs and even the neck. At day 3 he was 90% paralytic of all his body. He was swallowing food with difficulty but always eager to eat.

The vet took blood samples and results per day are below:

Day 1:
• White blood cell was 21.30 (6-17 range)
• Red blood cell was 7.56 (5.5-8.5 range)
• Hemoglobin was 16.9 (12-18 range)

Day 3:
• White blood cell was 29.50 (6-17 range)
• Red blood cell was 6.50 (5.5-8.5 range)
• Hemoglobin was 14.4 (12-18 range)

Day 5:
• White blood cell was 42.23 (6-17 range)
• Red blood cell was 3.16 (5.5-8.5 range)
• Hemoglobin was 6.6 (12-18 range)
Day 6:
• White blood cell was 48.50 (6-17 range)
• Red blood cell was 3.93 (5.5-8.5 range)
• Hemoglobin was 8.7 (12-18 range)
Day 7:
• White blood cell was 57.89 (6-17 range)
• Red blood cell was 3.34 (5.5-8.5 range)
• Hemoglobin was 7.7 (12-18 range)
Day 8:
• White blood cell was 49.38 (6-17 range)
• Red blood cell was 3.54 (5.5-8.5 range)
• Hemoglobin was 7.9 (12-18 range)
Day 10:
• White blood cell was 42.42 (6-17 range)
• Red blood cell was 3.76 (5.5-8.5 range)
• Hemoglobin was 8.7 (12-18 range)
Day 12:
• White blood cell was 12.50 (6-17 range)
• Red blood cell was 3.78 (5.5-8.5 range)
• Hemoglobin was 8.6 (12-18 range)

The treatment during the hospitalization was a combination of Famotidine (10mg tabs), Prednisone (5 mg tabs), Calcium gluconate, Cefazolin Sod (Keflim), Dexamethasone (4mg/ml), Flo-cillin (300,000 mL), Rimadyl (50mg/mL), Vitamin B (12.5 mg/mL), Metacam Oral Susp (1.5 mg/mL), Metroninidazole Susp (50 mg/mL) and honey.

He was released last week when the white blood cell was normalized. It has been 3 weeks since the symptoms appeared and he still without strength to move by himself.

He has front leg and neck movement but still the rear legs are weak without significant movement. I want to know if there is a special treatment to gain the movement again or if this condition is time based and will need to wait until it releases all the toxin and gain movement on a day by day basis?

He has shown progress but I don’t know if this will be a permanent situation or if he will regain full movement again. I read about acupuncture but don’t know if will really help.

He is a male Jack Russell Terrier that is 1 year and 9 months old.

What do you recommend?

Thanks, Gina