JFC, Poppy was walking funny outside yesterday. Arching her back weird and gait was off. So I took a video and sent it to the vet. They told us to go straight to the high end place. They think she has a disk issue in her neck. She sees the specialist next week. Could explain a lot of her behavior. She is not showing it on exam but apparently the video we took is pretty classic.
So she is in her bed on anti-inflammatory and pain meds for at least two weeks.
Could explain a lot of her behavior of late. It might have been missed on exam again without the video. She pretty much goes into still mode at the vet. They called her “stoic” yesterday.
So hard cause she does everything with gusto. Seeing her afraid, likely in pain and just not herself is awful.
Tired of being the drama doggy daddy. Just want our two healthy pooches begging for treats and walks back.
Poppy neurology appt this AM. Super anxious. Would appreciate some good thoughts. There are some back treatments we would pursue but if she needs something like a spinal fusion surgery I think we would draw the line. Will not ask a dog to live in pain.
Seeing a dog that normally walks around with the Rocky theme playing in her head blocked in the bathroom on total bed rest is rough.
Thanks. And she just won’t say “my back hurts”. We’ve been chasing behaviors and eyesight and muscle pulls. Three different vets have poked and prodded her but without the video we took I don’t think we’d have gotten closer to the answer. She just goes into submit mode once she is there. Dogs and babies, why can’t they talk?
Good news. Since she has responded well to the anti-inflammatory, pain med, and bed rest then more of the same. Estimated 4 weeks. Likely an inflamed disk. No MRI unless she declines. it resolves on its own.
So I’ve opened up the rest of the house to Ivy and Keanu. They area little reticent about me approaching them, but have no problems approaching me, Keanu more so than Ivy. I’ll get a bag of treats out and they’ll jump on my recliner. Ivy sits at the end, but Keanu will crawl on me to get a snack. He also tolerates a little petting while Ivy keeps her distance.
Keanu has been laying down by my legs when I go to bed and now Ivy is joining him.
Awesome. Fall asleep on the couch. You will wake up with feels like a 50 pound weight on each leg.
That and leaving some better on a TV tray ingratiated me with the then gf’s dogs. Said dogs went on to run my life eventually.
In other news Poppy made a dash out of the bathroom bed rest to snag some time up on the bed. She really isn’t supposed to jump down so I Stacked some pillows to soften the landing. She just launched herself 3 feet to avoid the pillows. She is feeling better but she really needs to not put any shock stress of landing.
My dogs haven’t been alone for more than a few hours for a year. Olive hasn’t slept without me longer than that. I feel like an asshole, but I can’t wait to see them Friday.
Apparently she slept on my couch last night and kept looking for me
So we bought this little 3 step foam stairs thing and are trying to encourage Poppy to use this vs jumping up on our bed for evening cuddle time outside of kennel bed rest for her back.
Good news- she feels well enough to jump up and down without pain or fear
Bad news- foam stairs LOL you stupid humans. Long term she needs to minimize the jolts on her back, especially landing.
it resolves on its own.
