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Laurie,

The local neurologist sent me an adorable bloodhound puppy (about 4 months old now) who is suspected of having Neospora infection that caused severe muscle contractions of his rear legs. The right leg is completely straight and seems beyond help other than hip extension and no knuckling support. I am able to get a small amount of stifle flexion in the left leg and can manually hold the tarsal joint and foot in normal position but the tarsal joint is very unstable and it reverts to hyperextension when you let go. I want to help this leg have as normal conformation and mobility as possible but am unsure what to do. Would a tarsal wrap give enough support? Since he is growing rapidly, whatever I come up with needs to change frequently also. Do you think there is something I could make?

Therapy wise, I have the owners draping him over a fitness peanut to help keep his spine straight (he had quite the c-curve to it when he first came), supporting him when he is walking, working on hip stretches, and trying to work on ROM of all of the left rear joints.

I would love any suggestions you might have. There seems to be very little in the literature about rehabbing these guys. I found the straight leg german shepherd facebook page but it doesn't seem very active anymore. Thanks in advance!

JM

Here's the video of how he moves: https://youtu.be/UQFCGBxcjh4
PS (cut and paste URL into your browser bar to watch).

Hi Janet,

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you!

Okay, so I have treated just two of these. One was a patient on and off throughout her life. The other was just an assessment as a puppy and I don’t know what became of it.

The dog I treated had residual neurologic issue forever. She wasn’t straight like this - just very wobbly in the rear. She walked with a wide based gait to compensate.
In the early days, she did UWT to strengthen. I treated compensations in the spine and soft tissues for the rest of her life on a semi regular basis.

As for your little guy. Neuro is a bit of a guessing game. As best you could, I would work on function versus splinting or passive therapies. I think splinting (in this case) will give you non-functional rear legs.
So, you are looking more at neuro rehab techniques:
Find the key points of control to reduce the extensor rigidity… likely thumb into foot pad / pinching the toes. (I am hoping that the extension is extensor spasm versus reduced quads extensibility at this point).
Flexor withdrawal activity - in standing, in lying, or in order to sit.
As best you can work on sit to stand with guided assistance (i.e. as owner asks puppy to sit, you are using key points of control and manual guidance to help it happen.
Try e-stim under the foot pad (one electrode under foot and one on his back) - attempting to get flexor withdrawal and a stepping reaction.
Try the same but with an ice cube
If in side lying can you do a PNF pattern (walk run motion) with either rear leg (one at a time), again using toe pinches and flexor withdrawal to mimic how it should flex and move forwards.
Essentially, flexor withdrawal will be your best hope / best rehab friend in all of this!!! Use it in functional positions and functional ways.

Additionally, I don’t think you have anything to lose by lasering the spine - to stimulate healing in whatever capacity you can.

PS I read the reply on the VetRehab group… and I think that acupuncture and herbs/homeopathy is perhaps way too simplistic and optimistic… however, that being said, perhaps from a herbal /homeopathy thought processing… they can detox the system. I’m not sure that the scientific side of my brain can fully buy into that (for this case) but stranger things have happened! So maybe it’s not crazy!

I’m going to put this up on the FourLeg Forum as well… who knows, maybe others will have ideas - especially with the video that you sent.

Cheers,

Laurie