#IVDD sucks | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

writinglines · 3 months

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Life has been a bit of a bitch lately. I got home Monday from my boyfriend’s house & literally get a text as I’m pulling in my driveway that said his parents had tested positive for covid. He had been feeling a little sickly Saturday. I woke up sick Monday. And then I decided to drive an hour & half home because brilliant me had not packed enough medication for my lab for us to stay any longer. My lab is newly diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer & is on a cocktail of meds to keep him comfortable. The main reason we were up there was because I wanted bf’s parents to see him while he was still feeling good & capable of travel. My dogs frequently go back & forth with me & his parents adore them. We’re talking adore as in they bought the boys dog beds & a huge toy box full of toys, & treats for when they’re up there. Anyways, we had a vet appointment scheduled for Tuesday that I had to cancel but I did have a friend swing by the clinic to pick up enough meds until i can reschedule. Just so there’s no confusion- I’m talking about a regular check up/X-ray to see where we’re at. He still scores very highly on the quality of life calculator & he’s not ready to leave us just yet. Anyways, within five minutes of being home my dachshund slipped going out the doggie door & immediately experienced back end weakness. So on top of me having covid & being responsible for palliative care for one dog, I’ve also been dealing with an IVDD episode. He’s been on strict crate rest so the three of us have been confined to the bedroom all week. Luckily I had pain meds/anti-inflammatories on hand & he’s recovered well. Looking much more stable today & has an attitude about being crated but protocol says 6-8 weeks crate rest so it’ll be a while. As if Monday didn’t already suck enough, Mum took one of the aunties to a doctors appointment only to have her immediately admitted to the hospital & diagnosed with stage 3 vaginal cancer. So they’ve been there all week doing surgeries & having her first rounds of chemo. Like what the fuck is even happening anymore??? I don’t know who’s responsible for the script this season but it is shit! In summary I’ve spent a week drowning in so much anxiety my damn watch has sent me multiple high heart rate alerts.

#this has been a shitty rant #puppy pics for taxes #the least I can do is show you how fucking adorable they are #and yes we are absolutely devastated to be losing our sweet summer child #he spontaneously broke his leg & it had to be amputated in July. No signs of cancer on X-ray or during surgery #the going theory is it was in fact caused by osteosarcoma & amputation bought us six more months #when he presented with ‘pneumonia’ that on second X-ray had been hiding lung tumors #interestingly enough the auntie also had a biopsy in November that came back negative but hey look hers is cancer now too #I’ve cried so much the past two weeks I could fill an ocean

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pawsitivevibe · 5 years

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Sleeby

Even though she basically slept all day

#my dog went from driving me up the wall to play with her at all hours to being Sleeping Beauty #so yknow .... IVDD sucks thanks #I'd give anything for her to be shoving a toy at me and spinning in circles barking

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oohande · 6 years

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Yesterday morning Doobie jumped on the bed like normal and started crying. He was shrieking and crawling and jumped on the ground and continued crawling around for another minute. I thought maybe he stepped on an earring or something and I could patch him up, but there was nothing. He let me roll him over and feel him and I didn’t feel anything. A few minutes later, he heard a cat, perked up and ran towards it. I figured he was ok to go on a walk and go potty. He did just fine and played with Jack the community cat. But when we started going back up stairs, he struggled. He was trying to use his front legs to pull up his back legs and he was whining just going up a few steps. He’d walk around the house fine, but just laying there, he was shaking and if Kitty even brushed by him the wrong way (she’s 8lbs), he cried in pain. After my car was fixed (bc when it rains, it pours), I took him to the ER. Dr. Alvarado is so kind. He told me he has a slipped disc or Intervertebral Disc Disease, which is common Dachshunds because they’re so long. He gave me the “if he doesn’t improve, prepare to spend 10k on surgery or put him down” talk. Googling IVDD was scary and also prepared me for the worst. Obviously, I’ll do anything I can for him. So I wanted to reach out ask my friends, anyone who is familiar with crate training for adult dogs, do you have any advice? I’m waiting to hear back from the dr if I can give CBD oil & this Rx, but if possible, does anywhere in Bakersfield sell CBD oil or dog treats? Friends who use CBD oil with their animals, do you have any advice? Has anyone else experienced this with their dog? He’s doing ok. He is still catching flies, eating, and going potty fine. I’m just waiting on a crate right now. He is ok getting his medicine as long as a treat follows and him just laying here isn’t too new to him bc he’s spoiled. It’ll suck not being able to cuddle him for a few weeks but I’ll do what it takes to make him better. ❤️ Please send love/light/reiki/prayers/whatever positivity you believe in. #CBD #CBDOil #Bakersfield #AnimalLover #DogMom #DogMomLife #FurBaby #Dachshund #Chiweenie

#dogmom #animallover #cbdoil #dachshund #cbd #dogmomlife #furbaby #bakersfield #chiweenie

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vannadee37 · 6 years

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There are currently seven four-legged loves of my life: four dogs – C.T., Dakota, Daisy, and Doc, and three cats – KitKat, Sonny and Cher. This post is really only about the dogs. As I write this, I’m thinking about what my husband and I have been through this past week with having to let our sweet, precious Daisy go, and the journey we are currently on to pick up a new four-legged rescue, who is really kind of rescuing us.

Top: C.T. and Dakota Bottom: Daisy and Doc

First of all, let me share with you a little bit about the first two four-legged loves of my life.

The first four-legged love of my life was C.T., a German Shepherd we rescued in the summer of 1998, shortly after we purchased our first house. After almost a year of trying to deal with C.T.’s separation anxiety, I found the next four-legged love of my life at a flea market. He was a chihuahua-pomeranian mix we named Dakota. C.T. and Dakota quickly became partners-in-life, and stayed that way until we had to let C.T. go {cancer sucks, by the way, even for animals}, which was on July 5, 2010. After we buried C.T., Dakota began to grieve himself to death. I asked our vet for advice, and she said that we had two choices: (1) put him on medication, or (2) get him a new companion. Dakota’s grief and my search for a new companion happened so fast, but I didn’t want to lose Dakota after just lost C.T.

That’s when the next four-legged love of my life came around. I found three dogs on PetFinder that I thought my husband would like, and Daisy was one of the choices. He looked at all three photos and chose Daisy, whose name at the animal shelter was actually Diana. We renamed this little beagle-poodle mix Daisy.

Daisy came into our lives just when we needed her. She brought Dakota out of his depression and they quickly became best buddies. Daisy was still a puppy when I brought her home. She was born on April 24, 2010, and we adopted her on July 10, 2010. She brought so many smiles to our faces and so much laughter into our lives over the years. There is no way to measure the happiness and love she brought into our home.

Dakota showing a young Daisy who’s the boss!

Dakota looks at us while we laugh at the mess Daisy made in the floor.

About five years ago, the fourth four-legged love of my life crossed our yard and into our lives. My husband named him Doc, after Doc Holliday from Tombstone, which I think is his favorite movie. Daisy was named after that line in the movie, “You’re a daisy if you do!” We rescued this pit bull/mountain cur/boxer mix (we think) from the mean country roads, but he really is the sweetest dog. He loved Daisy, and yet, he feared Dakota. Doc, without his Daisy, is lost.

Dakota, Daisy, and Doc – all in a state of slumber

So now that I’ve introduced you to all four of the four-legged loves of my life, let me explain what happened to our sweet Daisy, and why we had to let her go on March 20th, the first day of Spring.

This past week has been very hard on my husband and I, as well as on Doc. You see, over a month ago Daisy was diagnosed with intervertebral disc disease, which is common among long-bodied-short-legged dogs like dachshunds and beagles. She had some back problems in the past and I had taken her to the vet for check-ups. Each time they would tell me that it could be a pinched nerve or a pulled muscle. Except this past week was different, in that it wasn’t a pinched nerve or a pulled muscle. It was far worse.

Back at the beginning of February sometime, after I had already left for work, she jumped or fell off our bed and landed awkwardly. My husband jumped out of bed and gently picked up a yelping, whimpering Daisy. He told me about what happened and when we noticed that she seemed to be walking like a drunken sailor, I took her to our vet, Dr. Tara.

Dr. Tara did a physical exam, then took Daisy about 10-15 feet away from me and had her walk to me so she could observe Daisy’s drunken sailor walk. She came back into the exam room and said that she thought Daisy had IVDD. Surgery was an option, if we had $4000 or more just lying around the house, which we didn’t. Another option was to keep her crated, walk her on a leash, try some alternative therapy {acupressure and massage therapy}, and limit her running and jumping. Dr. Tara then told me that if Daisy suffered another traumatic injury, that it could be life-threatening, that she could become paralyzed. If that happened, then we had 12-24 hours to get Daisy to the Emergency Vet for surgery, otherwise, Daisy would be permanently paralyzed.

That thought shook me to my core. Daisy was my world, more so than Doc {my heart hurts admitting that, but it’s true}. When Daisy was a puppy, she would whine and cry all night. I would take her into the living room where I would lay on the couch under a blanket, with Daisy nestled on my chest, and softly sing to her…

“When I was just a young pup, I asked mommy what will I be. Will I be pretty? Will I be smart? This is what she said to me… Que sera, sera Whatever will be, will be The future’s not ours to see. Que sera, sera… What will be, will be.”

{It’s my take on the theme song that Doris Day sang for her show, The Doris Day Show.}

Daisy would drift off to sleep and then I would drift off to sleep as well. I would sing that song often to my sweet Daisy, like when she would come into the bathroom and lay beside the bathtub while I bathed, or after she had to have knee surgery and had to be crated. Anytime she started to whine or cry, I would start singing to her and she would settle down. The last time I sang that song to her was last Sunday afternoon, as I sat in the floor beside Daisy, who was laying in her crate.

You see, Daisy was improving. I was walking her on a leash; we kept her confined to the breezeway and the back deck; she was absolutely not allowed to run or jump, period. I was doing twice daily acupressure therapy on Daisy’s back and she was getting her mojo back, so much so that over the past couple of weeks, she had started dancing around on her back legs, jogging {as best as she could} around the yard while still on her leash, and jumping up and down off the furniture. I tried to catch her either before she jumped up or jumped down, but I wasn’t always fast enough.

Prime example was last Thursday, when I brought Daisy and Doc back into the house from their evening potty break after I got home from work. She was following my into my dressing room, or so I thought. I heard her jump onto the chair by the picture window, but when she jumped down, I could tell just by the sound that she landed hard and awkwardly. I rounded the corner and in four steps, I had reached her and was helping her up. She didn’t yelp or cry. She just kind of shook herself off and acted like everything was ok. Little did I know, but she was seriously injured.

Friday morning, after I had already left for work, my husband noticed her walking awkwardly and leaning/falling over to her left side. It was more noticeable on Friday evening after I got home. It was far worse on Saturday morning, and by noon, Daisy couldn’t walk at all. By Monday night, we realized that her situation was far worse than what we initially had thought. I called the vet’s office first thing Tuesday morning while on my way to work. They could see her at 9:45 a.m. My husband took her to see Dr. Will, who coincidentally did Daisy’s knee surgery, and who is married to Dr. Tara. By 10:00 a.m., my husband was telling me over the phone that we had to make a decision, but that he had already made it.

“We have to put her down, and I am having her cremated because I cannot bury another dog.”

His sobs came through the phone, and I laid my head down on my doctor’s desk and sobbed as well. That jump down from the chair had broken her neck, and within 48 hours she was a quadriplegic. She was the kind of dog that needed to run, jump, and play around almost constantly. And for the last three days of her life, she was confined to a crate, paralyzed, unable to move, jump, run, or play. She could still move her head, and her eyes were at times bright, and yet other times, they were dull and almost lifeless.

She and I spent our last night together in the living room, me on the couch and her in her crate. She would whine and cry until I leaned over to scratch her head or touch her. I got little to no sleep that night, but neither did she. When I left for work that Tuesday morning, I knelt down in front her of, planting sweet, gentle kisses on her head and nose, telling her that I loved her so much. Little did I know that that would be the last time I would shower her with kisses or stroke her head.

Daisy loved sitting on the bench, looking out the picture window.

I brought Daisy’s ashes home from the vet’s office on Friday morning. I let Doc sniff the cherry colored box and his tail set to wagging. He watched over me as I read the Certificate of Cremation, and then placed the certificate and the box in the glass cabinet under our television. I can see the box from my place on our couch, or better yet, I can see Daisy from where I sit.

Which brings me to today, Saturday, March 24th… my husband and I are traveling to North Carolina to pick up a new four-legged rescue. She is a one-year-old Australian blue heeler/Texas heeler mix named Daisy, but we are changing her name to Kate. Why Kate? Because Kate was the name of Doc Holliday’s girlfriend in the movie Tombstone. We have a theme going with our furbabies! You’ll see our newest rescue on our personal Instagram feeds {@vanessa_h_wood or @rpmgarage22}, as well as the one for our pets {@daisy_doc_kitkat_sonny_cher}.

My husband needs this rescue dog in his life as much as, if not more than, Doc. Both of the men in my life – my human and my furbaby – are lost. As much as I love and miss Daisy, I am trying to be strong for them and yet I’m balling my eyes out in private.

I like what my husband wrote in his last Instagram post about Daisy’s passing. “Please, do not pray for us. We would rather you hug an animal, treat it with kindness, maybe even let it lick your toes…one of Day’s favorite things. Maybe even ‘rescue’ one…like Daisy rescued us.”

With all my heart I believe that as much as we like to say that we rescued Daisy {or any one of our family pets}, I honestly believe that it was our rescued pets who rescued us.

Thank you for reading this very long post, and maybe even crying along with me. It may take years for my heart to heal, but I will cherish the memories I shared with Daisy.

Yours Truly, Vanessa

The Four-Legged Loves of My Life There are currently seven four-legged loves of my life: four dogs - C.T., Dakota, Daisy, and Doc, and three cats - KitKat, Sonny and Cher.

#adopt don&039;t shop #four-legged loves of my life #grieving the loss of a pet #pet adoption #rescue dogs

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pawsitivevibe · 2 years

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So I stopped flyball classes with Leia mostly because of her risk of IVDD, and because the drive sucked. But also. Flyball is boring. I thought I liked it but ... Flyball training is boring. Too much of the same thing over and over and over, and I was just watching the dogs in class, including Leia, get more and more frustrated and strung out. And they encourage the dogs to get frustrated and strung out basically. It's cool to watch and stuff, but maybe the training just isn't for me. I still think Leia could be good at it, be an awesome height dog, but ... Just not sure it's worth it. She'll also be a good agility and Hoopers and disc dog, and I like the people and the culture in those sports more.

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pawsitivevibe · 4 years

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Okay so I'm kind of used to Haley being the best trained and fastest learner in our classes, right? It was true for rally, obedience, agility, freestyle, her puppy class. She was just the star.

But in our scent detection class the other dogs are really putting us to shame lol. They're all at the same level training wise, but they've all seem to have taken to the sport so much quicker than Haley. She ... Fucking sucks at scentwork lol. WE suck, I should say. Because a lot of it is probably inconsistency on my part, and not rewarding at the right time. She enjoys it now, and has the drive to do it and get all excited about the boxes, but I still don't know if she really knows what she's searching for? I get a lot of false locks at home, and I end up just rewarding on sniff when we're in class, while the other dogs are all doing these great sustained locks.

We're gonna stick with it, and it's going to click for us eventually. But man, I've never had to work so hard at a dog sport. My dog has always been talented and forgiving. But this one doesn't come naturally, so we're REALLY having to work at it. Which is not bad! Not bad at all. Challenges are good. It's just different!

I'm also the only one in the class whose happy when my dog has a meltdown and is too excited to focus (obviously I get her focus back, but there is an initial "woo, go off girl!"). I feel like I should explain to the other people that Haley is recovering from an IVDD episode and her enthusiasm for activities was gone for a bit, so every bit of excitement is a win.

#dogs #dogblr #dog training #scent detection #scentwork

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pawsitivevibe · 4 years

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I really love rally-O, but it's pretty unlikely Haley will ever be able to compete in it again. Which sucks, because she'd just got her CKC Rally Excellent title a week before we found out she has IVDD, and I was really hoping we could have gone for Advanced Excellent and Masters. I'd also just registered her for CARO ...

She can still do rally for fun. She seems to still enjoy heelwork. Her pivoting is still A++. She just can't jump, and the position changes take her a minute, and that would probably get us faults in a trial for "hesitation/slow response." It's like, noo, she's not purposefully hesitating, she's just disabled. We'll see. If she ever is able to do snappier position changes, it might be possible to do a bit of CARO rally, provided I can convince the judges to let her do the jump exercise without having a bar on the jump. It's still a send out to a jump even if the dog doesn't go over anything... She has been improving in terms of standing from a sit or down, but I am still somewhat worried that she has permanent nerve damage and that's what's making her slow ...

But anyway, I have been doing a lot of rally foundation work with Bree. She's been picking it up pretty well, so I think she could possibly go on to compete eventually. Probably just in CARO, because I don't know that I really want to jump through all the hoops to get another mutt registered with CKC considering what an ordeal it was last time.

I'm taking Bree to a rally fun match tonight, and a skills workshop in December. I imagine my instructor and all my old classmates will be asking about Haley. They were sad to hear we couldn't come to class anymore. We'll see how Bree does. She's getting better with busy environments with lots of other dogs. There was a time in her life where she would have a meltdown being in the same room as another dog ... But I think her group agility classes a while ago helped with that a lot, and she's been pretty good at agility trials, and even goes to the dog park regularly and plays with other dogs!! So I think if we can hammer out the foundations for rally, she probably could be a great little rally dog. Training her is pretty different to training Haley though. Haley wants to please me. Bree is in it for herself. If the reward is not good enough, then she won't bother. Agility became rewarding for her by itself, she loves some of the obstacles. But rally ... Sometimes in training sessions she just decides she's had enough of my lame treats and walks away. We need to build up value in the exercises for her.

#rally #just text #trash training #bree

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