For once the furry crew let me sleep in late. I didn’t get up until around 7:30 AM. I got Major Tom out for the morning walk and normally I’d get Sirocco out next. But Sirocco wasn’t coming out from under the bed. He wanted to but wouldn’t since Magdalena was around.
I got Magdalena walked and put her and Major in the backyard. Sirocco was under the bed still and whining. I went to get him and he was all excited but he was having trouble walking. He was doing this weird sort of walking-to-the-side walk, but sometimes going just straight. I picked him up and took him out the front and put him on the grass. He was excited but since he couldn’t walk well he didn’t go running off. He took care of business and I brought him back in. After discussing Sirocco’s condition with the wife we decided he needed to go to the vet.
I carefully lifted him and carried him to the car, then placed him gently on the front seat. He stayed in place all the way to the vet.
The vet here does ‘first come, first serve’ so you get seen in the order you arrive. They don’t do appointments. This was good in that we got in to see the vet, but we had to wait about two hours to see her.
The vet looked him over, watched how he was walking and talked with me about Sirocco’s medical history. Ultimately her diagnosis wasn’t good.
Sirocco has a spinal injury. The vet said with strict bed rest over the next week, and meds to help handle the pain, she said it is likely that Sirocco will heal properly. It might take as much as a few months, but he should heal. She wants to see him back in one week’s time to see how he is doing.
She said if he starts dragging his hind legs or if it seems like he might be loosing feeling in his paws, we should get him to an emergency vet right away. Those are signs that he could end up paralyzed for life. That would definitely be a Bad Thing(tm).
I’m still not sure how this might have happened. The vet speculates that Magdalena might have bitten him again (most likely) or stepped on him. She said it might be he jumped off the couch or something and reinjured the spinal injury from a few months ago when Magdalena bit him.
Sirocco is going to have to spend most of the next week in his crate. This will keep him isolated from Magdalena (and to some extent Major Tom) and keep him from moving around too much. He doesn’t get walks, or to play with the other dogs. He most likely won’t be too happy about this but if it keeps him from becoming paralyzed that’s what he’ll have to do. But that’s a hard thing to explain to a dog who wants to run and play.
It’s going to be a rough week ahead, my Hordeling.
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Here’s hoping that Sirocco heals well and fully and speedily.