Oh My What a Night!!

On Sunday afternoon I started getting worried about Mr. B. He just wasn't acting "right" and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. He was very tired and didn't even get excited when I got back from Costco. Now everyone knows he runs to the door, jumps up on me and gives me lots and lots of kisses. Nothing, nada, no way. I finally decided to take him to the local ER for animals. Of course this was the weekend. No animal or kid ever gets sick during office hours!! What fun that was!! Three hours of waiting and I finally left before being seen. There was no telling how much longer it would be and I really couldn't tell them what was wrong, just that I KNEW there was something wrong. I decided just to go home, watch him and wait for the morning and take him to his normal vet.

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I watched him the rest of the evening and he didn't seem to get any worse but I made him sleep with me so I could keep a eye on him. Needless to say I got no sleep at all!! Around 2 am I was watching him and thought he was moving, or not moving, "funny". He was trying to get comfortable but was only moving his top half of his body and not the rear end. I thought he might want a drink so I got up and tried to get him to come with me but he just laid there. I picked him up and carried him to the kitchen and when I sat him down in front of the bowl he just flopped! The rear end couldn't stand up at all!! I put him back into bed, and went and got dressed. I woke Paul up and told him to give Beardsley a kiss as most likely he wouldn't be home again..... Paul thought I was over reacting until I showed him what was happening and then he understood how serious it was!

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I headed back down to the Pet ER and got there around 3:30 am. not knowing what could be happening that would change a active little dog to a paperweight so quickly. I thought for sure he was a goner.

When the doc came in she told me it most likely was a ruptured disc in his back!!! They did Xrays which didn't really tell anything. This type of thing really needs a MRI or CatScan. (for a dog no less!!)

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They pumped him full of prednisone which seemed to help some. Then at 9:30 I took him over to his normal doctor and she examined him again. She agreed with the first that most likely it was a disc problem even though he was a little young for this to happen. She drew a blood panel to rule out other things like Addison's Disease. Then she sent him home with me with a bunch of meds!!

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He has to stay crated at all times except for potty breaks for TWO WEEKS. Now won't that be fun!! If he has any more problems we have to take him in right off as time makes a huge difference in if he recovers or not or at least if he can recover and still move. She gave me a name of office in Ventura that is open 24 hours and that can do surgery if he needs it. That is what might happen if the prednisone doesn't help.

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Hopefully the prednisone he had and that I am going to be giving him for the next two weeks will clear it up and he won't have any more problems but we don't know. She said he would always have a chance of this happening again and that he has to be careful the rest of his life!! No running after squirrels or jumping down stairs. (Oh, that is a story that Darcy HAS to tell about what Willow did this weekend!!)

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Through all this he doesn't seem like he is in a lot of pain. He hasn't cried out and got angry or anything. I don't know if he is just being brave and not showing the pain or if it just isn't bothering him that much. He is very, very sleeply and not at all happy. He just looks at me like make this all go away!!

When I took him out on a leash for a potty break he thought I had lost my mind!! He kept looking at me and then looking at the leash like, we are in the back yard give me a break!!!

The first thing he wanted to to when I put him down was chase a squirrel so I know I can't let him off the leash. I think he might get used to it, hopefully!!!

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So we are taking it day by day not knowing if there is a happy ending or not. Things could get a lot worse and we could lose this wonderful friend of ours. We are keeping our hopes high that he comes out of this okay.

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What they think he has is:

Intervertebral Disc Disease Located in the T-L region with Paraparesis: (Weakness of the lower extremities).

Well, I guess I will go and take him outside again for a quick potty break. I will keep everyone updated.