<p>Wow, Wirefox. That is awesome! I hope my little boy lives to be that old 
</p>
<p>Just talked to D. The dog has a slipped disc, probably from some sort of injury playing too roughly when they were up visiting SOās family this past week, on some acreage. The vet is telling them she has a 60-70% chance of recovering from the surgery and regaining use of her legs again. However, even after sheās recovered from surgery (and surgery would take place today), they will have to limit her jumping/playing with other animals, etc. So her life will be somewhat compromised. D and her SO need to discuss this and figure out if it would be a life worth living because she is a pretty active dog who loves to run and play. </p>
<p>I did tell her not to let issues of money impact their decision, that if they needed it, it would be there for them, and we could discuss repayment options later. </p>
<p>D just called again. They have made the decision to do the surgery. I have transferred the money; they quoted them $3800, which is less than $5000, but I realize that amount could change. Now I sit by the phone and wait for updates throughout tonight. They have to do another CAT scan and some other test before they get started. I think SO was talking to his dad at the same time D was talking to me. </p>
<p>The thing that kills me in all of this isā¦ the first dog they adopted a year ago, ended up being a more senior dog of around 9 years old, and although they initially thought they were getting a younger dog, they rallied the troops and have been excellent rescue adoptive parents. So then they adopted this one, I think, with hopes of also having a dog that would be more active, that would be more playful. This injury changes everything. Itās times like these that I hate living so far away. </p>
<p>Well, it will be sad if the dog has to scale back on its activity, but it will be around to live, love, and be loved. Thatās a great gift to give your D.</p>
<p>I forgot to add, the breed is not known for disc issues, so the vet is pretty confident this isnāt something that will continue to happen over and over again throughout her life as long as they manage her activity level.</p>
<p>teriwtt: Hopefully the dog can stay active through long walks etc. As dogs get older they are less likely to run and jump with other animals although probably a ways off since your Dās dog is only about 3.</p>
<p>kgos16: my first dog lived to be 18 and hardly ever say the vet. She was one tough little dogā¦got stuck in a swamp for 36 hours when she was 16 and sustained 3 cracked vertebrae at 16 and completely recovered to the astonishment of the vet! Like my screen nameā¦both dogs were Wire Fox Terriers. I love them!</p>
<p>What a tough cookie! I have a French Bulldog/Pug mix. The lifespan varies between the two, so I am hoping for the longer end. </p>
<p>Oh, Teri! $5K is a really low estimate for that kind of surgery. Our dog was in the same situation, although he was almost 10 when he was duagnosed with IVDD. We paid close to $8K for his surgery, and he lived for almost 3 years with almost complete recovery (was a bit wobbly and not so fast, but he was old). Our dog was a 110 lb GSD. There are not so small chances that the dog could still come out incontinent or paralyzed in hind legs after the surgery. Is she going to be able to afford to take the time off to care for the dog when he is out of surgery? It takes a good couple of weeks to get the dog somewhat back on track if the surgery is successful. We both had to take days off to care for our pooch. Towel-walking a 110 lb dog is not fun. </p>
<p>So sorry about your Dās dog! Make sure she asks the vet lots of questions. The recovery rate - is it breed specific? how many such operations the vet performed? Our dogās surgery was done by a veterinary neurosurgeon. How much care and rehab the dog would need after the surgery? Our dog stayed for a week at the hospital, and I visited him daily - he was not very nice to the techs at first, so I did a lot of care for him. When his pain subsided a bit, he became his usual friendly self. When we got him back home, we did catheters first, then towel-waked him for I think 2 weeks. Then he slowly regained his strength in the hind legs and could walk and pee on his own (we only held his tail a bit to āguideā him in the right direction ).</p>
<p>I wish them well with the surgery and the recovery. One of our friends has 3 doxies. DD was house and dog sitting when one of them suffered a slipped disc during play. Friends were in California on business, doggies were in FL. DD took doggie to emergency vet, got a diagnosis, multiple calls to friends in CA and an hour long trip to a neurosurgeon that night for surgery. I think it was about $4,500. Doggie did well, friends bought a playpen for him post op and DD helped with the physical therapy. </p>
<p>Thankfully, she and SOās schedules complement each other very well. She mostly works weekends (more on that later), and he works nights in a restaurant. The times they both need to be away from the apartment are flexible enough that they will be able to give the dog the care she needs if/when she comes home.</p>
<p>The staff hinted a few days in the hospital, and they should know in 2-3 days max whether it worked or not. </p>
<p>The biggest event of the year for her is called CommuniCon. Itās a gathering of fans, cast, etc. from across the country, of the TV comedy show Community (was cancelled this year, on NBC but Yahoo picked up the rights for a 6th season) I kind of joke that itās sort of cultish. Some of her best friends she has in LA now, are people she met from attending CommuniCon. Itās a big frigging deal for them - one friend comes in from Hawaii for it, and itās the only time she ever sees her. This weekend is, of course, CommuniCon3. So she had planned to take this weekend off many months ago, and her friends are at the hotel waiting for her. H just talked to her again. Because thereās not much she and SO can do right now, they left the hospital, and she was on her way to meet up with her friends at the hotel. SO went home with their other dog to watch the World Series (heās from northern CA) and they will decide later whether they want to go back after the surgery is over. </p>
<p>She mentioned these ālesionsā on her dogās back again to H. Weāre not quite sure what context these lesions are to what I thought they were calling a slipped disc. I did look up the facility where she is at in Glendale, and itās a pretty impressive place. I expect they couldnāt have done any better in being referred to a professional place, so I feel good about that. </p>
<p>Thankfully their dog is only around 15 lbs or so, so the worst part of towel-walking would be how much theyād have to bend over! </p>
<p>While she moved out to LA to pursue work in the entertainment industry, Iāve seen her be transformed by the two rescues they have taken in, and the volunteer work she now does. If/when she and SO get married, I suspect they will move back up to northern CA where his family is. They are a horse/animal family and D and SOās sister have talked about opening a rescue up there. This is how drawn my D has become to rescue dogs over the past year. They will likely be career-changing for her. She will have to get used to accepting that some dogs are just going to have to be euthanized, but I hate to see it happen to her own dog, so soon after sheās gotten involved in this kind of work. </p>
<p>Thanks so much for everyoneās kind words and support. While I texted H when this all started to happen this afternoon, he still has not gotten my text (and heās been home now for over an hour!), although it was a group text to him and D1, and D1 got it. But heās here now with me as we get updates throughout tonight.</p>
<p>ECmotherx2 - thanks for sharing your story. It gives me hope. As I think I mentioned, we have not had back issues with dogs before so this is new to us, but Iāve heard plenty of storiesā¦ some not so good. Glad to hear your friendās story turn out well. But how traumatizing it must have been for your D to be dog sitting when this happened! I bet she learned a LOT about how to handle dog crises that weekend.</p>
<p>Wow, Teri. Thanks for the update. It looks like the dog is in good hands. It is also good that he is relatively young and small - cheaper vet bills and faster recovery as well. Fingers crossed!!! </p>
<p>āSlipped discā is a somewhat misnomer. The correct term is IVDD:</p>
<p><a href=āIVDD (Intervertebral Disc Disease) in Dogs | PetMDā>IVDD (Intervertebral Disc Disease) in Dogs | PetMD;
<p>When you google this, you would see some blizzare stuff recommended to speed up recovery, like acupuncture and massage. Tell your D that neither is worth the extra expense - they are already in the hole. The former is not proven to actually be beneficial, and the latter can be done by the dog parents - simple rubbing of the muscles will do (I did it myself for our pooch, and he appreciated it 
).</p>
<p>Fingers crossed! </p>
<p>PS - now you know what to give her as a Chrismas gift: some cash to cover a part of the expense. </p>
<p>BB - Iām just hoping sheās still going to come home now for Christmas 
Sheās not coming for Thanksgiving; she has a ticket for Christmas, but just may change her mind now, depending on the dogās recovery. They are saying eight weeks, and that happens to coincide with when sheād be leaving to come here. </p>
<p>Thanks for the link on IVDD. H had a ruptured disc about ten years ago and had to have surgery. He still runs around and plays with me!</p>
<p>No news yet, but I do have to try to get some sleep. I have an all-day workshop to go to tomorrow. Will update everyone when I get home tomorrow night. </p>
<p>Good night, Teri! My sister the vet says it sounds like the dog has a very good chance to recover. More knocking on wood!!</p>
<p>My sweet dog has been a VERY expensive animal to maintain. Letās see we hadā¦</p>
<p>Got into some kind of mushroom in the back yard when she was a puppy. Hospitalization about 1000.</p>
<p>Consumed a pan of brownies that she somehow managed to get from the very back of the kitchen counter. That was about 1500. But the brownie mix was on sale for 99 cents so there.</p>
<p>Grabbed a teryaki skewer from the table and gulped the whole thing down before anyone could intervene. Almost needed surgery but we got lucky when she threw the stick up at the vet. Shot out of her mouth like a javelin. It still cost us about 800.</p>
<p>Latest surgery for the cancerous tumor in her salivary gland is up to about 1800 between the diagnostic testing and the surgery itself.</p>
<p>I would still do it all over again. She has brought me so much love and happiness. I would keep a closer eye on brownies and teryaki skewers though.</p>
<p>so what did they do for the brownies?
My lab chewed through a big plastic bottle of Hershey syrup. Good thing there isnāt much chocolate in it.</p>
<p>I need to find a new vet for my dog.
They were fine for my laid back elderly lab, but with my anxious young boxer mix they are inadequate.
When he had his last shot, they didnt try to calm him first and he bit my face.
The vet refuses to prescribe anything to calm him beforehand.
So for a booster, I took him to the mobile clinic which had a better muzzle that he couldnāt get off, but H still had to use all his strenght to hold onto him.
He wasnāt as panicked as the last time though.
The mobile clinic was also able to give him an exam, which the regular vet could never complete, so I am unsure why she also refused to suggest a sedative first.
Frustrating.</p>
<p>Oh those garbage eaters! When my dog was in recovery after his surgery and I was helping the techs to take care of him one night, someone brought in their very large dog. The poor thing got into the trashcan and ate the entire contents, including a good chunk of the black plastic bag! The techs took one look and laughed, āHe will be fine - he is our regular patient!ā Apparently, the garbage eater had been to the place a few times prior to that visit. (The dog did not need surgery after all!)</p>
<p>EPTR, I agree with you on not having any regrets in regards to all the money spent. Not only did mine eat many socks over the course of his life (lost count but it was probably 100) which resulted in only one surgery for $3,000 because all the others he threw up (thank heavens), he also ate sugarless gum which resulted in 2 different trips to the vet office at $1,000 each time. He also ate something that was toxic to his liver when he was 13 but after spending about $3,000 at an emergency vet clinic, he pulled out of that. Wound up with pancreatitis which was another $2,500 to pull him through. He also ate two complete Easter baskets filled with chocolate candy plus an entire bag of Halloween candy. The only time in his life that he did not eat dinner was when he consumed one pound of candy corn. He dug it out of my daughterās backpack but we didnāt realize it until we went to bed and found the empty bag. We could never trust him in the kitchenā¦he would push chairs around so he could hop up onto the table and get any food not cleared off. And some how, he never had a weight problem! </p>
<p>My lab got into all kinds of things.
Ate two chicken carcasses out of the kitchen garbage until I learned to put it directly in the outside bin.
She had to go to the emergency vet and get an IV for that, but she was fine.
She also punctured several containers of single wear contacts, but didnāt eat them.
She also ate paper towels used for draining bacon grease, and when we came home from Costco with a case of them, she thought it was Christmas!
( however, one camping trip I made tofu bacon, it smelled like bacon, but when I gave her a piece, she SPIT it out! After watching that, no one else would even try it)</p>
<p>This dog however, doesnāt even try to get up on the counter. Not even on the pullout breadboard, although as soon as he hears it being pulled out, he comes and waits patiently for me to drop something.</p>