In January 2025, our four-year-old rescue pup, Ozzie, became paralyzed in just seconds.
Over the past two months, my family has struggled with adjusting to Ozzie’s new normal, where hopes of recovery have gone down and up, and we take everything day by day.
This is only the beginning of our story, and we have a long road to recovery ahead. I’ll be posting updates mostly on Ozzie’s Instagram, but I wanted a place to share how Ozzie came to be paralyzed, and to share his motivating journey to recover.
Because that’s what this story is: hopeful and inspiring.
It is my hope that this story reaches another family who could use the encouragement and example from Ozzie for their little four-legged friend. The lessons I have learned are not just for our pets though. I have found so much hope for my healing in watching our pup attempt the impossible with a wagging tail and goofy grin.
My Squeaking Meatball
In the midst of the pandemic in 2020, my little dog Meatball passed away. During his last few years, he was completely blind. By the time he passed, he had turned senile, and it was difficult to watch him struggle.
Through it all, Meatball taught me a lot about adaptability. We learn so much from animals. Let me tell you, Meatball was a resilient teeny tiny fella.
He LOVED rubber duckies. A dear friend gifted him a little rubber ducky; it was love at first sight for Meatball. He loved how the duck would squeak, carrying it around in his mouth.
He did this even while blind. As a Boston Terrier, his nose didn’t stick out farther than his eyeballs. His eyes were big, bulgy, and stood out. So, when he first went blind, he kept injuring his eyeballs when he would walk into things!
Originally, I thought I would need to get him some sort of cone to help protect him from injury. But he devised his own solution and started carrying the rubber ducky in his mouth everywhere he went, as a bumper.
Whenever he would walk into things, he the rubber ducky would hit first and squawk, letting him know he needed to redirect his path. We would hear him walking around the house bonk-squeaking safely to his bed, his food bowl, or a sun ray.
It was endearing, but also brilliant. Animals are these amazing creatures that are here to teach us to much about love, resilience, and adaptability. And Meatball was just that.
Meeting Ozzie
When Meatball passed, I had a really hard time. I told myself I wouldn’t get another dog for a while, as I was also going through life changes, including separation, moving houses, and all that comes with those things.
Kiddo was six years old at the time, and I was trying my best to help him adapt to the changes. Meanwhile, a pandemic was still raging.
But as it happens with many pet owners, the moment I was ready for a new dog just suddenly clicked. While scrolling on an adoption site, I saw a picture of this cute, scruffy dog complete with a little beard from a rescue called Bone Voyage, which helps homeless dogs from Mexico find homes in Seattle and Vancouver.
I casually liked the post with Ozzie’s photo and afterwards realized that through that action I had submitted myself as interested. The next thing you know, I was in love with this little cutie, so I applied to adopt him.
As a very young puppy, Ozzie was found on the side of the road between two towns where nobody lived, apparently abandoned. A passerby saw him and pulled over. He was covered in mites, scabies, and fleas, and the poor puppy was starving.
At the rescue, they treated him and gave him lots of love. Immediately, he blossomed into this funny, loving little dog.
After he was old enough for his shots and had been neutered, they transported him to Canada. On August 6th, 2021, Ozzie was ready for me to pick up.
When they handed him to me, he put his little paws around my neck and clung to me. And since that day, we’ve always been together.
Ozzie Adapts to Canada
Since I work from home, I take Ozzie with me everywhere I go. When I first got him, I already had a camping trip booked. Ozzie quickly found himself in the Canadian woods…and he wasn’t so sure about that.
It took him a lot of time to adjust to living in Canada. And I totally get why! After flying on a plane and being transported in many cars to many locations, he was pretty dozy in those first few days.
Over the next three weeks, he got into plenty of mischief and learned the rules, including living with Magic the Cat. Once he felt settled, I really saw him build that trust with me and kiddo.
He became the friendliest therapy dog. Ozzie has such a big heart and gets along with everyone. He’s not skittish or jumpy; he just loves every dog and human he sees. When people come over, especially those who are going through something, he will walk right over and sit on your foot.
Without saying anything, Ozzie tells me when others are upset. If I see him sit on someone’s foot, I’ll ask, “Are you okay?” and sure enough, they could use a hug and a friend.
My best friend calls Ozzie a heart dog because he’s so loving he just burrows right into your heart.
Ozzie’s Paralysis
At the beginning of 2025, I went on a trip out of the country. While I was away, Ozzie was staying at a friend’s house with their family and their dog. In a bout of excitement, the other dog jumped on his back. There was a snap and a yelp at that time and the kids reported that Ozzie started walking a bit funny. He went to his bed and didn’t get up again.
The Surgery Option
Once Ozzie went to the emergency vet hospital, they confirmed that he had a herniated disk that was causing the paralysis. There was a lot of back and forth on whether surgery would be right for him. At the time, he was diagnosed with stage 4 paralysis, meaning he had feeling in his feet and tail, but he couldn’t use his legs, bowel, or bladder.
According to the vet, he had a good chance of recovering with surgery, but he also had a 60% chance of recovering the use of his legs with rest and medication.
Unfortunately, Ozzie went into stage 5 paralysis overnight. He lost all feeling in his legs and tail. Now, his chance of recovering the use of his legs, bladder, and bowels went down to 10% with medication and rest, and a 50% chance with surgery.
We were quoted for $12,000 to have the surgery. Having already spent $5,000 on his evaluation and treatment, this was crushing news.
After weighing the options overnight, we decided to go for the surgery but had to wait a week to see if he would develop myelomalacia. This is a condition that can occur after a spinal cord injury, impairing the blood supply and ultimately killing the spinal cord. This is extremely painful for the dog, and fatal.
The Road to Recovery
And while we waited out the week, we ended up getting some good news: Ozzie had regained some minor feeling in his feet and tail! It was a straight up miracle.
Now that he was getting feeling back, the treatment options changed. We would postpone the surgery and keep up with medication, rest, and rehabilitation over the next 4-6 weeks.
Since then, Ozzie has been doing constant rehabilitation. In the first month, he required round-the-clock care, as he couldn’t walk or pee on his own and had no control over his bowels. We had to manually express his bladder and carry him everywhere. He was very medicated, and clearly confused and worried about what was happening.
And he is heavy. With my disability, Ozzie is far too heavy for me to carry. While he may not look like it, he surprises everyone with his solid chunky body. He feels more like a big dog when you carry him around!
We got him a special harness called the Help Me Up Harness, and along with his booties, we get him outside as much as possible. But it’s an extreme amount of work on my already aching body and for my family too.
We have been doing what we can at home to help him regain sensation. We do bicycles with his legs, massage them with a toothbrush, and bounce him on his feet a little bit using the harness so he can start to regain feeling.
Support Ozzie Dog
If you want to support Ozzie, you can do so by supporting my fundraiser here.
And if you’d like more information and to follow along with Ozzie’s journey, I made him his own account where you can stay up to date with his progress.
More Dog-Friendly Posts
