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Story of the
Month -
November 2008
"Rex"
We purchased
Rex as a puppy from a private party (not a puppy mill) where
at the time we were clueless to IVDD or how much Dachshunds
are so prone to IVDD. Rex was purchased for my son really
as we had lost a Yorkshire Terrier approximately 2 months earlier
after a long 14 year old life.
Up
until 8 weeks ago, Rex had a very active lifestyle, unfortunately.
We basically let him roam the house which included jumping up/down
off furniture, traversing stairs, jumping off the small bank
in our backyard and whatever else he felt like doing.
Rex was also overweight some which I'm sure contributed to his
incident.
Like
most Dachshunds, Rex is a major ball player and usually walks
around with a ball in his mouth and sleeps with a ball close
to his side. For a few weeks prior to him injuring himself
we noticed he slowed down in general but was still walking normally.
However he showed no interest in playing ball or playing in
general. It was on a Saturday when I was working in the
garage and Rex was lying on the floor close to my workbench,
half asleep. I dropped something which made a very loud
noise and it startled Rex big time. He jumped up from
lying on his side in a twist-like fashion and I immediately
noticed his tail went between his legs and his ears laid down.
Since I was unaware of exactly what happened I thought he was
just mad. He then went into the house and laid down.
Over the course of the day we knew something was wrong but wasn't
sure exactly what. Rex started walking funny and very
slowly. We went to bed and come Sunday morning my wife
woke me up crying, telling me Rex couldn't walk. We were
all devastated as we then realized he injured his back.
Ironically it was my wife's birthday that day and yet we were
all in tears and felt helpless.
It
was then I started researching the problem on the Internet and
immediately found DodgersList and a few other IVDD related websites.
I read as much as I could as fast as I could but knew surgery
wasn't going to be an option for us. Monday we took Rex
to the vet and the vet said he was 95% sure he ruptured a disc.
The vet basically said surgery needed to be done pronto if we
wanted to go that route otherwise he recommended rest and a
prescription of Predisone and Metacarbamol to see if Rex would
show any signs of improvement over the upcoming weeks.
We
took Rex home in tears wondering if it was the end of the road
for Rex. The next few weeks were very stressful as Rex
had lost control of his rear legs, bladder and bowels.
My wife made him a few belly-bands so we did those with maxi
pads and learned how to express his bladder. It was like
taking care of a baby again and it was also taking a toll on
us, especially our 10 year old son.
In
addition to the Prednisone and Metacarbamol I started giving
Rex 1000mg of Ester Vitamin C daily as I had read where many
had good results with it. Heck, I was willing to try anything
at this point.
After
2 weeks Rex regained control of his bladder! <HOORAY>.
We were so happy to see this as it meant much less work taking
care of Rex AND it was also a positive sign he was making progress.
A few weeks later Rex started regaining movement in his rear
legs, but not the paws. Still it was a sign of continued
progress and we kept hope. Around week 5 Rex started getting
control of his rear paws …and was able to stand on his
own and do his business outside.
Around
week 6 we started Rex on Acupuncture and while he is still in
a crate it does appear to be helping some. Friday September
12th will be 8 weeks of crate rest for Rex.
We are hoping to slowly wean him out of the crate and let him
try and start walking again. We plan to continue the acupuncture
as well. Right now our biggest concern is not if he will
walk again, as I think he will, but how we are going to control
him around the house to prevent him from doing things he shouldnt.
There is also the thought in the back of our minds in wondering
if he will re-injure himself however we don't go there
very often right now. It's one day at a time and compared
to where Rex was at 8 weeks ago it seems like a miracle for
him to be where hes at today. I hate to say it but 8
weeks ago I didn't have a lot of hope.
Our
sincerest thanks to the Dodgers List community. I'm not
sure Rex would be where he is today if it wasn't for the wealth
of information available on the website and forum. It
is truly amazing in how we can all educate ourselves quite easily
these days via the Internet and technology.
I
have attached a few pictures of Rex. While I'm not sure
he is unique he loves to sleep on his back. He's done
this since he was a puppy and continues to sleep this way today.
What a clown.
Regards,
-Jeff
Salem, Oregon
Have
a story you'd like to submit? Send an email to
lindox5@yahoo.com