[Dailydrool] Backs

[Jennifer Martin]

I guess I will put in my two cents worth. About 3.5 years ago we adopted a
rescue named Louise. She was the ugliest basset we have ever seen. When she
got out of the transporters car, I looked at her and thought, "wow, talk
about a back that is going to blow out!" Sometimes I wonder if I should
have paid more attention to that thought. Here is the thing, she may not
have been much to look at, but Louise had the sweetest personality of any
female basset I have ever had in my life.

Well, we had two weeks and she slipped on the ice playing with Bugsey. She
could hardly walk. We did x-rays and found out she had spondilosis of the
spine that affected 5 vertebrae. Did I mention she was 4? Anyway, she
responded very well to Metacam. crate rest and laser treatments. Two weeks
later, she jumped out of chair and broke her back. I assume it was broke.
We could see right where the break was. I rushed her to the vet. The vet
called ahead and rushed me to the ER clinic which also has the only board
certified neurosurgeon in our area. They were going to charge $6500 to do
an MRI and surgery with no prediction on success rate. I called my vet back
and gave him the news. He advised against surgery because he felt that we
would just be paying to repair all 5 disks before it was all said and done.
So, we had her put on IV pred and the next day we transferred her to my vet
where he kept her for two weeks. I had walking pneumonia and the only
antibiotic I can take causes my heart to do relly weird things when I am
also on pred, so lifting her at that point was totally out of the picture.
When I got her home, I flipped her onto her other hip so we wouldn't get
pressure sores. She came unglued with pain. It is one thing to have a
paralyzed dog not in pain. It is another to have one still in pain from the
vertebrae above the break. We sent her to the bridge with tons of tears.

Jennifer with Beauford (I was scared of Louise), Bugsey (she was a great
friend), and Browyn the Fairy Princess (I never met her)
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