Ernie was referred to SASH Adelaide for a CT scan after he spontaneously developed neck pain and weakness on his left side.
The SASH team performed an MRI and a CT and discovered that Ernie had fractured his C1 vertebrae in 3 places and had narrowing of his spinal cord. Dr Marina quickly fashioned a neck brace out of a cast and bandages to stabilize his neck and prevent further damage to his spinal cord.
With his neck now stable, Ernie regained full movement again. He remained in the cast for 6 weeks but it was evident that the fracture wasn’t going to be able to heal on its own. Dr Marina jumped into action and contacted vets both interstate and internationally to get advice on how to stabilise it, even reading through human medical journals to see how it is done for people.
The best solution for Ernie was going to be surgery with a titanium plate placed over the fracture. This procedure had never been performed in dogs before. Dr Marina sent his CT scan to a company in England that used it to print a 3D model of Ernie’s neck. They then made a titanium plate to fit Ernie’s spine perfectly.
In February 2025 we walked Ernie into the clinic for his surgery and had a very long nervous wait. Dr Penny and Dr Marina were in surgery for a number of hours and while the operation went very well, his recovery was complicated. Due to the large amount of swelling, Ernie lost movement in all legs. He stayed in the SASH hospital for 2 weeks with one week being in ICU. He needed an IDC, repositioning regularly for his pressure area care and he had to be positioned correctly with pillows and rugs so he could eat and drink without choking.
While we were terrified that he would not recover, the vets and vet nurses never gave up on him. The vet physio Eugenie was incredible. She saw him every day to do his physio including leg stretches, brushing, exercise ball activities and heat packs. The team used a lifter to take Ernie outside to get him to start using his legs and with a large cheer squad he started to make small improvements.
Once Ernie was able to hold himself in the sphynx position, we took him home and continued his physio there. 10 months later Ernie has full movement back in all legs. He is a happy border collie, running around barking at birds and bicycles, doing all of the things he loves doing. He is a one of a kind dog with a one of a kind titanium neck. He wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Dr Marina, Dr Penny, Eugenie and all of the staff at SASH Adelaide and we couldn’t be more grateful.
– Adelaide SA
