Had a scare

[kyosa]

Tuesday morning about three o'clock Bachelor woke us up with loud and rapid panting. He was pacing around and was quite agitated. He'd walk a bit, sit for a few seconds, walk some more, lie down and roll onto his side, walk some more, etc. He was sort of stiff all over and had his head sort of 'pulled in' like a turtle retracting it's head into its shell, and trembling all over. This subsided after a while and he went back to sleep with us. About five in the evening the same symptoms returned, but for a shorter time. Our vet is a friend who lives a few miles up the road and always takes care of our animals from his home. Unfortunately, he wasn't home last night when I called. Bachelor was fine through the night, but after I took him out about six this morning he had another round of the same symptoms. Called Bill (vet) again and he was home. Wonder Woman took Bachelor after I loaded him in the car and had to head off to work. Turned out his 'back' was out of kilter and was hurting him, sort of like a slipped disc or misaligned vertebrae in a human. He got a cortisone shot and some cortisone pills we'll be giving him over the next couple of weeks. We're not to rough-house with him or let him wrestle with Pepper during that time. I've been thinking that jumping down off our bed,and of course landing front-feet-first must be hard on his back too, so I'm going to make him some carpeted steps or a ramp to eliminate that strain for him. Anyway, he's doing lots better now and is close to being his old energetic self. Little booger gave us a scare, though.

[bbird]

Oh that would be scary!! When you started out I thought maybe the dog was having seizures, but I'm glad you found out what was going on. Poor dog, can't just talk and let you know what is going on. Carpeted steps are a really good idea...I bet he would like those too!

It's amazing how we do feel when a pet is hurt. Yesterday after I took the two oldest dogs out skijorning I saw bloody pawprints in the snow. It was from our oldest dog and scared me really bad. Took her up to the house dripping blood like mad, thinking she lost a toenail, but somehow she sliced the side of the pad on her front paw. It's a clean cut, but really deep. Luckily she loves wearing things ( I know, weird dog!) so she wore a bootie around the rest of the day. Last night she was limping pretty bad, and it was swollen but she woke up jumping around and happy. Going to keep her inside though, except for potty breaks of course.

[kyosa]

Yes, it's a really helpless and frustrating thing to know there's something wrong, but they just can't tell you. Sometimes I think a good vet may be a notch above a 'people' doc because they have to diagnose problems with non-verbalizing patients. Ours is a very good one. One of his pastimes is to attend the running of the Iditarod race in Alaska, where he is part of a team of vets watching over the dog teams. He's in practice with two or three other vets and handles most of the exotics the practice deals with. A pretty sharp guy!

Sorry to hear about your dog's mishap and hope she gets better soon. They usually do heal up pretty fast, though. Something to do with them licking their wounds helps the healing process. I've mentioned before that Bachelor is sort of an 'In Your Face' kind of guy. In spite of hurting, he managed to tag Bill while he was checking him over. I wish he'd understand the concept that it's not a good idea to bite the guy trying to help you!

[Kathy]

Our vet told me that jumping off the couch or bed is one of the hardest things on Lucky's joints and back. I'm assuming it would be the same for all dogs.

Steps or a ramp would really save him some stress I'd think.

I hate that helpless feeling that pets in pain or distress causes-I'd rather be the one in pain than them.

Sending good thoughts that Bachelor is back to his old self & pain free very soon.

[starfire]

Don't you wish they could just talk to us when something is wrong with them.

My dog has those pet steps for the couch and a 2 pillows I don't use for the bed to help her get up. Your dog will like the steps, but it took mine a few days to get used to them.

[kyosa]

<< Your dog will like the steps, but it took mine a few days to get used to them. >>

The little snot won't use them! I built him a nice carpeted set and when he was up on the bed I set them where he usually jumps down and waited. When he wanted down he went over and checked them out, then jumped OVER them! I tried baiting him up the steps with little pieces of bread - nada! Tried baiting him Down the steps with little pieces of bread - nope! Odd, since he goes up & down household steps all day. This is gonna be a 'fun' project trying to train him on this. We've totally failed in our responsibility to train him in even the most basic stuff. I need to try doing that, I suppose, but he's very headstrong so I'm sure it'll be an exercise in frustration. I'm sure I'll be asking for advice. . .

[bbird]

Lol, you are cracking me up! Bachelor sounds like such a character!

[kyosa]

He's a little pill! Has by far the most personality of just about any dog we've had. They've all been special in different ways, but Bachelor (aka Gator) is unique in his own right. Except for the vacuum, he seems pretty much fearless with one exception. We always have a batch of wasps hatch out in our fireplace chimney in early winter and a few find their way past the damper and glass doors and get in the house. One was crawling on the family room floor and bachelor was interested. I got the fly swatter to dispatch the wasp before it could sting the dog and whacked it. Wasps are hard to kill and it was on a soft carpet, so it took quite a number of swats. Part-way through the process, I noticed Bachelor was gone. He was on the other side of the room standing with his head down and was cringing and flinching badly whenever he'd hear the sound of the flyswatter hitting the carpet. Pretty obvious that some lousy @^*#! had 'disciplined' him in this way sometime in the past. He was originally a 'street dog' when the Humane Society got him before he was adopted by Toad (daughter), so there's no telling what kind of life he had back then. The thought of someone beating on him gets me a bit fired up. I'd enjoy 'meeting' that 'person', I believe. Anyway, he hasn't had anything in the way of training during his life. We've had him way long enough to have done something about that but haven't. Guess I'll have to make the effort now. He's about four so I hope it's not too late.