On December 1st 2024, Gracie suffered a freak accident and became paralysed in her back legs. She was taken to the local vets who reported that they suspected a blown disc in her back and recommended an MRI that had to be done at a referral vets. Both Edinburgh and Livingston were full and couldn’t see her so Glasgow Small Animal Hospital was contacted and agreed to see her that day. Gracie’s MRI showed that her T12 disc had blown which had damaged the spinal cord and caused a bleed into the cord cavity. This had caused a stroke on her right side. The prognosis was very poor, my heart was broken.

After much thought, discussion and soul searching I decided that neither of us was ready to give up just yet so took her home to care for her. I was approached by a vet who specialised in acupuncture and so our journey to recovery began. Gracie received 10 weekly sessions of acupuncture (as much as her insurance would allow) but to carry on after this was not financially viable so reluctantly this was stopped and I purchased a vibration plate and cold laser light to treat her with. My take on physio continued and she soon took her first wobbly steps.

After saying I wouldn’t consider wheels for Gracie, I could see that she was struggling and seemed to be dragging more, and was starting to look defeated. I agreed to get a doggy wheelchair to “just try”, but Gracie had other ideas!! She absolutely loves it, she is the happiest I have seen her in a long time and is even moving her back legs in the walking motion so hoping that this will strengthen her muscles and give them some tone.

As you can imagine this has been a very expensive time for me so paying for a more robust wheelchair for her is out of my reach. Although she is insured, due to her age, I have had to pay out nearly £4000 on top of what they would pay and this has now used my savings.

I would love to be able to take her on walks in the woods and anywhere for her to have new experiences but she needs to be safe. This is the reason that I am setting up this page, for Gracie to have a better wheelchair that will give her some independence and for her to be safe and happy and maybe a little bit for some Hydrotherapy too.