Peyton May
Peyton is a four year old Australian Shepherd Mix who was out playing with his four legged brothers and sisters one beautiful afternoon last month when he suddenly let out a scream of pain and began dragging his hind legs. His concerned owners called High Plains immediately and rushed him in without a seconds hesitation. Upon arrival Peytons prognosis was grim, he was unable to walk and had to be carried since his back legs couldn’t even support him enough to stand. He checked in not knowing what would happen next or if anything could be done to help him. The first 36 hours everyone held their breath and waited to see if there was going to be any improvement. Only hours before it looked like nothing was going to be able to help little Peyton, he started attempting to stand. One of his lame back legs was putting up a fight. After a few days of close observation from Dr McKenney and the staff at High Plains, and lots of visits full of love and encouragement from his family, Peyton started to grow stronger. He slowly but surely was standing up on his own, and even starting to try to get around. Seven days after his traumatic experience Peyton was able to go home to the loving care of his family. Dr McKenney said that his condition was most likely something called a Fibrocartilaginous Embolism (FCE). In FCE, the jelly like material from the center of the discs between the vertebrae somehow enters the arterial system and makes its way to the spinal cord. Once in the spinal cord this “jelly” causes a blood vessel obstruction, or “embolism”, which kills that section of the spine. Damage from an FCE is usually not permanent, although in some cases full recovery is never reached.
