NBR: Dog back injury-long

Tomkat8403

So we have two mini dachshunds named Luci and Ethel. Luci is 5 years old and at Christmas time was diagnosed with a lumbar back injury. Back injuries are very common in dachshunds because they are so long, but they usually happen to the ones that are overweight and not in good shape. Luci is all of 7 pounds soaking wet (VERY tiny even for a mini dachshund), and the feistiest little creature you've ever met!

So when she all of the sudden stopped playing around with us and wanting to run all over the house like a mad woman, we knew something wasn't right and took her to the vet only to discover she had a very MINOR intervertebral disk injury- meaning one of the pads between two of her vertebrae are degenerating. They told us most of the time they heal on their own with rest and anti-inflammatory drugs, but it's been almost 6 weeks now, and she seems to get better for a few days only to relapse again. Bless her heart, she tries to act normal, but it's obvious she's in a lot of pain.

We have to carry her everywhere to keep her from jumping up on things, and it's really wearing me thin right now. I try to think of it as good practice for when we have a baby!

It breaks my heart to see her like this. But I'm also really worried about getting her better before we have the baby. We won't be able to devote every waking second to making sure she doesn't further injure her back once we have an infant. I just don't know what to do! Sorry for the long NBR post, but thanks for the vent...it's just weighing very heavily on my mind today.

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sarahryandrewlo

I feel your pain. We have a 13 yr old Akita who is really going down hill. 

What are you asking- or just a vent?  On one hand, it will be hard but she still deserves the same love that she got before the baby- its not her fault- On the other hand, it will be a lot to handle at once.  I'm sorry.   Can your DH help out???

xGoingToTheChapelX

One of my parent's dogs is having a lot of arthritis recently and you can tell she just isn't herself anymore. It's hard when a pet is suffering especially because they can't tell you, you just have to try and help them the most you can. Hopefully the meds will start kicking in more and she will recover soon.

Tomkat8403

I"m not really asking anything, just sharing frustration. We've done everything "right" with our little puppy dogs--making sure they didn't get overweight or unhealthy so this wouldn't happen. Now I just feel so bad for her. I just want to see her get better.

ckmac

Is that her in your siggy? That is the cutest little face in the world! She's precious! I really hope she gets better soon. I also LOVE the names! I have a Frenchie (whose name is actually Lucy) and I've always wanted to get a little boy for her to play with and name him Desi. I was also thinking Lovie and Thurston (from Gilligan's Island).?

Anyways... I wish I had advice to share. But I would say just to keep helping her out as long as you can and disciplining her to not jump on furniture so she learns to do this herself. It's definitely not easy to re-train a pet (especially if they're stuck in their ways).?

Also - the girls on the Pets board are always full of awesome advice. I would definitely post your story there if you haven't already.

Good luck with Little Luci! ?

chyscottbaby

Hi,

I have scottish terriers (show dogs) and they are very suspetable to this type of an injury as well. I have had 2 in the last 15 years that have had this happen. The first was a female 7 yrs old and her injury was really bad, we had to have her put down because she lost all function in her rear. The other was a male 8yrs old and we decided to try massage and acupuncture.

He has fully recovered from the injury. My suggestion is to look for a vet who offers either massage therepy or accupuncture. I think you will find really good results with this.

Hope your little doggie gets better soon.

ellybell

I have a 10 year old dachshund, the most charming little man ever, and when he was about 6, he got intervertebral disk disease. He began showing signs of paresis and we took him to the emergency clinic for a $2000 surgery right away. The first vet we took him to told us to just wait and it would get better. NOT TRUE. DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS. If your dog starts showing signs of paralysis, the dog can become permanently paralyzed from the waist down if surgery is not done within a matter of days or less.

The surgery worked 100% for my dog and he is fully recovered now. Totally mobile and playful. Right after surgery though, he had to be "wheelbarrow walked" outside to pee because it took him some time to regain movement in his lower limbs. He slept on towels and had no bladder control at the beginning of the post-surgery period. We did leg exercises (he'd lie on his back and i'd pedal his back legs like he was riding a bike; and back leg massages) several times a day.

If your dog ends up in this category (i.e. needing surgery) it would probably be best to do it asap before the baby comes so that he is better by the time the baby comes. 

i really feel like this experience made my dog and i much closer and increased the trust between us. like he knew what a favor we were doing him by giving him a second chance and not putting him to sleep. it was well worth every penny and i'd do it again if i had to. 

 good luck!

ellybell

here's a link to monty's dogster page: https://www.dogster.com/dogs/423374

it has pictures of his post-surgery stitches. 

I can not recommend to you enough that you take a pro-active approach toward this and if your dog shows any signs of pain in back limbs/back you seek out surgery right away. they should be able to do an x ray or something to determine whether it's getting better or not. 

 

vanceandlori

I have 2 mini dachshunds that I love with all of my heart and I hope Luci gets better! The advice I've received from other doxie owners is to limit their jumping (which is all of impossible to do as they love to jump) and to get pet insurance in case surgery would be the next step.

 

Lots and lots of furbaby vibes going to little Luci!