Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara logo

My Poor Dog

Speck hurt his back, which is a constant fear for any dachshund owner.  He’s laying on a heating pad, he’ll see the vet this afternoon but I’m not being very optimistic.  I’m spending lots of effort trying to stop crying!

We can’t pick him up, he’ll hardly walk at all, he’ll hardly eat at all. He doesn’t come into the breakfast room and beg for food when we’re eating.  He isn’t trying to get into the dishwasher when I’m trying to load it.  This is real serious!

Since Speck sleeps with us and we can’t pick him up to get him in bed, Vince bought a blow up bed so I can sleep on the floor with him.  He bought the nicest blow up bed that Wal-Mart had.  He came home and blew it up for me.

But, oh, my gosh!  It’s way too high.  Speck can’t get up on it now and we can’t pick him up so we had to deflate it, take it back to Wal-Mart and get a flatter (probably less comfortable) blow up bed and Speck’s able to get up on it.  In fact, I think he thinks it’s specifically for him . . which I guess it kinda is but when he’s better, the blow up bed is not staying in my living room.

I’ll keep you posted.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Oh poor Speck. It’s so heart breaking to see your pet hurting. I was so crushed after losing our dog and then our cat (they lived long happy lives) I just couldn’t bring myself to get another pet. Although there are probably pet spiders and dust bunnies running around here.
    I hope he’ll be ok soon.

  3. Don’t give up hope! It could just be a pulled muscle.

    Max has 2 discs with issues and he still plays and runs and jumps off the bed when he is impatient and doesn’t want to wait for me to get him off the bed. I don’t think the discs are slipped, but they space that should be between them is very minimal now. He has some bad days when his back hurts him a lot, but they are pretty spaced out now. I have a muscle relaxer to give him when it gets really bad and other than that, he gets an 84mg aspirin when his pain is minimal. And the aspirin are flavored and chewable so I don’t have to force him to take him.

    I will be thinking of you and Speck this afternoon. Please keep me posted!!!

  4. I feel for you, Speck’s eyes really tug at the heartstrings. I just had to put my 15 year old dog to sleep at Thanksgiving. It is one of the hardest things you have to do in this life. Maybe it won’t come to that for you, there are a lot of modern advances in the medical world. It could be that all he needs is some pain meds and a lot of rest . You can tell how much you love him and he is fortunate that you are giving him a good life. I just said a prayer for his recovery.
    Please keep us posted.

  6. Rusty and Dixie are sending doxie hugs to Speck. Hope he feels better soon, if not I can give you a girl’s name on facebook that rehabs dachshunds with bad backs and has lots of good info.

  7. I’ve been happy because no “bad” Speck stories lately. Sure hope he gets better and maybe after that you can get a pet step thing to get him up on the bed. My two old cats use one.

  8. Almost nothing worse than worrying about our 4-legged family members. I’ll be thinking about you & Speck today. Keep us posted.
    Karen

  9. I’m so sorry!! I am hoping that it is just a pulled muscle and he will be back to begging soon!!! Keeping my fingers crossed for you both!

  10. Six weeks ago our little 14-yo Cairn terrier fell down the stairs and could hardly walk, however, we knew nothing was broken after checking him over. We gave him Rimadyl for four days, carried him up and down the stairs and had to pick him up very carefully. I also cried for his pain, laid on the floor with him and wouldn’t leave the house for a week. We determined he was very bruised and sore, as we would have been if we had fallen down the stairs and we do keep Rimadyl on hand for his aches and pain. It is a miracle drug for dogs. I sure hope Speck gets better and believe me, I can feel your pain.

  16. Remember when Daisy hurt hers? They put her on steroids to reduce the swelling and she did well enough to delay surgery for another year. And the surgery wasn’t so bad and she was good as new afterwards. So stay calm. There might be an easy fix. I’ll be worrying for you and saying prayers!

  17. We’ve had two doxies so I know what you are going thru. Will keep fingers crossed that steroids will get him on the road to recovery.

  18. I will have my fingers crossed for you – we had out first dogs last year and I now know how they become such an important part of our lives. They ask for very little. basically food and love and in return they give you love back 10 times over.

  19. My Maxine hurt her back, leaping from a step to chase a bird. She had surgery to relieve her pain, but with no guarantee that she’d walk again. The vet showed us how to massage her legs, and how to do exercises to keep the muscles strong.
    My younger son did most of the therapy, and once the pain was relieved, she was back to her spunky self. At first, she just dragged her back legs, but eventually she learned to walk again, and was able to go up stairs as well. The bed was still an issue, as she couldn’t jump that high, but didn’t mind getting assistance.
    She lived another 9 years – a happy daschund!
    Hope Speck has a similar result.

  20. Titus had to spend six weeks in a kennel–that was tough for him and us. It was so hard to look at him in that cage!! That was two years ago now and he has been fine since. I will say a prayer for Speck. Hopefully in a couple of weeks he will be as good as new!!

  21. speck is very lucky to have a mom and dad that care so much about him. no matter what, he knows you’ll do what’s best for him.

  24. I’m so sorry to hear about this! I hope Speck recovers!!

    Marvin, our Blue Merle, has back troubles when he was 3 or 4-years old–one day he was suddenly paralyzed. We opted for the surgery. A disc was removed. We questioned our decision at the time. His was a success story. He walked again rather well. He is now almost 17 years old. We are facing other issues now because of his age, but he’s had a long life with us.

  25. Poor Speck! And poor Judy!! I know you are so worried about him. I sure hope he’ll be ok, and the vet can get him all fixed up. Holler if you need me!

  26. oh I hope it’s just a pulled muscle and not something serious! My sister in law had a Doxy and she had to have surgery when she injured her back 🙁 I am hoping for a speedy recovery for Speck and no surgery! ::crossing fingers::

  27. Poor Speck. Vince sounds like my husband. Taking care of your and Speck. Toasty hurt his back pretty badly once. Heat and meds cleared his problem. However, we now carry him up and down steps, lift him onto the sofa etc. Maybe heat and meds will make him feel better. I am saying a little prayer for him.

  31. Sweet Speck, get well soon. I love you even though I’ve never met you in person. You have a good mom and dad and big brother Chad. They will take care of you. Don’t be sad, it will be OK.

  32. I hope Speck recovers quickly. It is so hard when they feel bad. My poodle ate a bag of chocolate and had to sleep in the laundry room (she usually slept in our bed). I put up a baby gate and slept on the other side of the gate on the floor. She was not a happy camper for a while but she did survive. I am hoping that you get good news at the vet.

  33. Oh I hope he will be okay……maybe just some rest and taking it easy is all that is necessary………..

  34. I’m so sorry to hear about Speck. Our little Bootsy hurt her back several times during the course of her life. One vet over reacted and had us scared to death and wanted a very expensive surgery performed on her. Another vet gave her pain medications and anti inflammatory meds. and after a few weeks of gentle care she recovered fully. I’ve had several friends with dachys that have back problems and they recovered nicely with a conservative approach of confinement, meds and rest. Please keep us posted. And my prayers to all of you for Specks recovery.

  35. Oh, poor Speck. I feel like I know him from all your Speck stories and I hate to think of him in pain. Hope the vet can help him out & that he’ll soon be his old self again.

  37. I hope Speck has a speedy recovery. (Blow up bed is a good idea, wish I’d thought of that when I was on the floor with my dog)
    Chris x

  39. I hope Speck will have a good recovery. I know how heartbreaking it was when our dog had a medical crisis and was unable to move and screamed if we went to pick him up……but luckily, he was able to be doctored back from that issue. When we did lose him a couple of years later, it was a heartbreaking time, but we knew he’d had a long, good life and we know that HE knew we had done as much for him as could be done. I’m hoping your next post will have good news about Speck!

  40. Praying for Speck! You have definitely got a unique hubby. Mike would never think of buying a mattress (inflatable or otherwise) special for one of my babies. He loves them, but to him, they are just pets 🙁

  41. I’m going to echo what Amy just said. You are so fortunate to have Vince be so caring.

    I am such an animal lover that I’m crying as I read your post and everyone else’s replies. We do just have cats though. I had to send my best friend kitty in the world to the Rainbow Bridge on October 12th. Life will never be quite the same without Dweezil. He did live a wonderful long life, 16+ years.

    I will pray for Speck and for you and your family. It is amazing what vets can do for our beloved companions, especially when God is on their side.

  42. Hi, Judy – We have a dachsund mix. He is about 5 years old. He has breathing problems because of his breeding; no back problems visible yet. We have a foam wedge to help him as a ramp into the bed. Downstairs we have some of those cardboard steps covered with fuzzy fabric for animals. It helps him a lot. Hope your dog gets better.

  43. I’m so sorry to hear about Speck’s back. Don’t lose hope though. A friend of ours has a dachshund that hurt her back and they did Xrays and discovered that her hips were actually disintegrating. Like you, she slept downstairs with her pup and they were worried they’d have to put her down. They tried muscle relaxants and some other meds as one last shot and they worked! It took a while, but right now Peanut is pretty much back to normal, so you never know. Speck is such a sweetie. I hope it turns around for him. We have 2 dachsies and I will be devastated when we lose them. They are such big parts of our family (I think sometimes that our life revolves around them…they are pretty demanding but so darn sweet and cute!). Huge hugs to you and gentle cuddles to Speck

  44. We had a doxie with back problems when I was a little girl. It was heart-breaking when she got “down in the back” and had to drag her hind legs behind her to get around. She had a short life. She was a sweet little dog. I can sympathize. When our dog had back problems, we used to check her into a kennel to keep her quiet. I’m not sure why we didn’t just put her in a kennel at home, which would have been far less traumatizing, but that’s just what my parents did. In any case, she was usually better in about a week, and went about her doggie ways as if nothing had happened. I’m not offering this up as advice, just the experience we had with a different dog. Keeping her penned up and essentially immobilized seemed to help. On the other hand, she might have gotten better on her own. It was just hard to keep her quiet when she was at home. She wanted to be a part of everything. You have my sympathy. It’s hard to see a good friend suffering.

Discover more from Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading