On Thursday I brought my 3-year-old Pepper to the vet for her annual
rabies shot, and she had a very bad reaction.  Within a few minutes
she started vomiting and went into anaphylactic shock.  The vet and
technicians brought her back to the surgical room to treat her and she
ended up staying there overnight to recover.
 
When I brought her home the next morning, she was quite a bit perkier.
But as soon as she stepped out of her travel cage my husband and I
noticed that she was dragging her right rear foot behind her with the
pad of the foot facing upward.  Even when she managed to get the foot
below her with the pad side down, the toes would be curling in.  She
didn't seem to be in any pain, but she sure looked funny hobbling
around like that.
 
We ended up bringing her to an emergency vet later that evening.  The vet
felt for broken bones but thought it all felt fine.  Given the symptoms
and what happened during treatment, the vets feel it is most likely a
neurological condition caused by compression on a nerve from sleeping in
the wrong position for too long.  The emergency vet said that this
sometimes clears up within a few days, but is sometimes permanent.
 
Has anybody dealt with this sort of compression injury before?  Did it
clear up, or was it actually permanent?  Is there any sort of physical
therapy I can do with Pepper?  Whenever I can I try to massage her foot
and leg, gently unclench her paw, and press up on her foot and leg to
try to get her to push back with them.
 
Poor little Pepper!  She's always so crazy and energetic.  I hope that
a bad hind foot won't deter her too much from her usual play.  She can
still run fine, but she has a bit of trouble climbing and probably won't
be making those superferret leaps from the dining room chair onto the
kitchen counter.
 
Thanks for listening and hugs to all the furkids,
Julie
 
P.S.  Actually, the main reason I went to the vet on Thursday was to
bring my 7-year-old Perry in for adrenal surgery.  That part went fine.
The vet removed a *huge* left adrenal gland, his spleen, and a swollen
lymph node.  His belly is still sore but he seems to be recoving just
fine.
[Posted in FML issue 4271]