Today we spend a day with Marcus and his Frenchie, Winky, in Brooklyn, New York.

Winky has IVDD which came on suddenly and without warning. Marcus came home from work to find him laying in the bathroom shaking and whimpering and without the use of his back legs. Winky had been fine on his lunchtime walk with his dog walker only a few hours earlier.

A trip to the emergency animal hospital confirmed that Winky would need urgent surgery as feeling to his hind legs was rapidly declining. Despite not haing insurance they went ahead with the surgery.

It’s been 2 years since Winky’s surgery and he’s slowly regained more feeling in his legs. However, complications in his recovery has meant that he has never regained his balance or movement completely. His right leg is weaker than his left. Thankfully, Winky regained full bladder control so Marcus only needed to express his bladder for the first one or two months post surgery.

Winky does seem to have weaker bowel control and they often do wake up to accidents. However, for the most part as long as he is walked to a regular routine he pees and poops outside like a fully abled dog.

Can you take us through a regular day with Winky?

It's time to meet Tobi the three year old Frenchie from Pasadena, USA.

Tobi is a 3 year old French Bulldog living with paralysis from intervertebral disc disease (IVDD). Tobi had his first episode with IVDD in November 2016, after 4 weeks of rest and medicines such as steroids, pain killers and anti inflammatories he healed up.

In April 2017 Tobi woke up one weekend morning in a lot of pain, his mom Chrissy figured he hurt his neck again so she gave him the left over medicine from the last episode and put him on crate rest waiting for Monday morning to make an appointment with the vet. Late Sunday night Tobi became paralyzed in his hind legs and he was rushed into surgery to remove a ruptured disc from his spine. The surgeon said there was a lot of bruising and blood clotting on the spinal cord and that Tobi would not regain feeling or the ability to walk again.

​Now almost a year later Tobi enjoys going to physical therapy once a week where he walks on an underwater treadmill, gets electric stimulation therapy, cold laser therapy and lots of love and rubs from all the staff at the clinic. He has regained some feeling in his legs and can stand for short periods of time outside the water. With each physical therapy session he grows stronger and stronger!

Can you tell us what a normal day is like with Tobi?