[Dailydrool] Bad backs and weight

[Pam McQuade]

<<My late wife had a basset in a three level town home who did have serious 
back problems, but I think they were due more to a weight problem than the 
stairs.>>

Weight problems are HUGE causers of back trouble. When Abner came to us, he 
was just IMMENSE. I called him "The Wedge," because he had absolutely no 
waist, just went from his massive shoulders back to his behind in a 
wedgelike shape. He stands only fourteen inches tall, and  with his 
barrel-shaped chest, I'm surprised he didn't drag on the ground, he was so 
round. He sure didn't have a lot of clearance.

Abs had come into rescue skinny, had been adopted out on a weight-gaining 
diet, and the humans never stopped feeding him all that food. They returned 
him to rescue when he "bit the mother-in-law." I'm certain he did that 
because he was beginning to have back trouble, and she probably hurt him 
unintentionally.

We worked hard on getting Abs down in weight, but taking weight off is a lot 
easier than putting it on. Not until Abs had his back surgery did he really 
drop the pounds. Since then he has been on Innova diet food, which has kept 
him at a good weight. Not that he isn't always hungry for more, but at least 
he's healthy again. It's up to the humans to get a hound down in weight and 
keep him there, so we don't feed him a much at each meal.

The truth is, bassets are prone to back problems, but I believe it's partly 
inheritance and partly lifestyle. My other three hounds have done stairs 
with no problem because I always kept them trim. Abner's weight probably 
kicked him over the edge into intervertabral disc disease.

Now that we have three senior dogs, one with a back problem, I have blocked 
off our stairs. The other two can go upstairs if they ask to, but arthritis 
probably keeps them from doing that often. Abner is grounded, unfortunately, 
but at least his back is safer.
Pam, food slave to the Dashing Bassets