Back legs stopped working

Hey all, my mum's 10yr old, male Staffie (Rocky) had to go to the PDSA 2 days ago. His back legs stopped working suddenly. He still has feeling in them as he shows signs of pain if you put pressure on his legs, paws or hips. The PDSA vet did some basic checks but wouldn't give an Xray or administer any proper tests on him. They suggested that they could put him down then and there or they could give us 4 weeks of pain meds and hope he heals naturally. We chose the latter, but something isn't sitting right with me as we still dont know what's wrong with him as they didnt know themselves. I wanted a second opinion on whether I should go to another vet. I cant really afford to go to a private vet but if there's a chance to save him I will pay anything. Something about the PDSA's response just didnt sit right with me. I just wanna know if their response was the same as any vet would give or whether I should push for xrays and other checks?

Hello!  I cannot speak for your vets about your dog as I don't know the vets.  Nor can I speak for the charity you mention, except to say that they, like all payers of veterinary bills, have to work to a budget.  When the front pair of limbs is working but the hindlimbs aren't, spinal problems including disc problems, tumours etc are likely to be high on the differentials list.  However, these can be hard to see on x-ray;  the vertebral discs barely show up on x-ray at all and contrast studies, where dye is injected into the spaces in the spine to show the paths of the nerves, are highly specialist procedures, prone to difficulties in interpretation.  Such tests are being overtaken by the more reliable MRI, but of course these are outside the budgets of most private owners and charities - most vets don't have an MRI scanner.  Vets frequently resort to more affordable methods, such as looking at the symptoms /  response to treatment.  You are right in that better treatment is technically possible in the veterinary world, but just as the NHS can't pay for the gold standard care in every human case, it could be that the charity can't stretch to MRI in your dogs' case.  Perhaps, for example, they feel that the chances of the scan changing what they do are not high enough.  It is even possible that the vet treating your dog doesn't get a say in charity funding decisions; perhaps they are told what cases they can refer, either by a boss or by blanket rules.

I'm afraid that I don't know enough about Rocky, his case or the PDSAs procedures, but the sort of questions to ask in order to understand more are as follows:  1) Do some dogs in Rocky's position improve on this treatment?  If so, what are the rough per-centage chances?   2) How likely is there to be an increase in the chances, if we do further tests / go to a specialist? What might we find that you can help / cure?  If that's what it is, what overall cost is involved (not just of getting the scan, but getting any treatment eg surgery done too) 3) What would you do if Rocky was your pet? I hope that the answers to these questions will help with what is clearly an incredibly difficult decision.  Wishing you both all the best.