IVDD, dachshunds, and puppy love

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Don’t bother to read this if you’re not a pet lover.  I don’t want to hear, “It’s just a dog” or any other similar stupid things. My Buttercup is having a serious problem and I’m a wreck.  All day today she was fine, Steve came home from a gun auction (don’t even go there), I took a shower and we went out to dinner.  When we came home from dinner and a walk around the mall (don’t go there either) she wouldn’t go outside.  She walked slowly to the kitchen door, but she always walks slowly, like some grand dame in a Victorian dress, she takes her time doing everything, so that wasn’t too surprising.  What was surprising was that she wouldn’t go outside.  She just stook at the open door, looking down.  So I kind of nudged her with my foot and off she went.  Steve went out with them and I got out my fondant to make my 15 roses for class on Tuesday, and pretty soon Steve yelled at me to open the back door.  He had Buttercup in his arms and couldn’t get the handle.  She got outside, but wouldn’t go off the porch.  Just stood there looking pathetic with her head down.  Kind of reminded me of a cow actually, but that’s just my sick sense of humar, I guess.  He took her off the porch and put her in the grass and again she just stood there.  Now, dachshunds are notorious for having back problems.  As a matter of fact it was 5 years in July that we lost our first dachshund, Schanpps to IVD (intervertebral disk disease) at the age of 10.  Buttercup is only 6.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, Schapps’ problem with with his lower back and he was definitely in severe pain, he yelped every time you moved him.  He also had canine Cushing syndrome and epilepsy.  Whether or not these 2 conditions were the cause, when he got the steroids for the inflammation in his back he developed multi-system organ failure and had to be put to sleep  That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.  So of course tonight when Buttercup started acting like this I totally freaked out. 

Luckily, I belong to a great dachshund group on Yahoo (lovedachs) and they have a great website www.lovedachs.org, so when I posted about her I immediately got a response from one of the gals on the list, Laurel, who knew someone who was formerly on the list who had gone through the same thing with her doxie, Emmett.  Emmett has totally recovered – yay!  I called Emmett’s mom and she sent me some great information.  She told me that she went to a holistic vet, had chiropractic adjustments done on Emmett, and then had acupuncture for him because the cost of the surgery to repair a disk is so high and they couldn’t afford it.  It’s around $3,000, so guess who else can’t afford it?  She sent some great links to find a veterinary chiropractor in my area and a canine acupunturist.  Guess what?  There are none.  Nada.  Zip,  Zilch.  Zero.  What the hell?  The closest accupuncturist in Nebraska is in Alliance (totally all the freaking way across the state).  There may be a closer one in Iowa or even Missouri, but I didn’t see one either.  I’ll have to do more investigations.  The closest veterinary chiropractor is on the other side of Iowa.  Not even one at Ames with the Iowa State Veterinary School!  Both of these options are obviously now out of the question too, so I’m praying like mad that tomorrow when we get to the vet he’ll tell us that crate rest will be just the ticket!

I’ve already created her and given her 5 mg of prednisone, and she’s snuggling under the heating pad, so I hope we’re going to have a miracle here.  I always try to prepare myself for when this kind of thing happens because, unfortunately, our beloved pets never live for such a short time, but it’s always the pet I don’t anticipate that gets sick!  When we had Schnapps we also had a 15-year-old dachshund named Oscar.  He was truly my baby, he followed me everywhere, and showed me devotion that’s hard to describe.  He even slept with my socks!  THAT’S love!  Anyway, since Oscar was so old, dear, blind, and had a tumor on his liver we knew his days were numbered so we got Heidi, to keep Schnapps company when Oscar passed on.  Well, Schanpps went first.  So we had a brand new puppy and one very old dachshund.  So, we had to get another, and another, and another… But that’s for another time.  Buttercup is our youngest, so she was the last one I thought would have this problem.  Charlie is a medical disaster and has already far outlived our expectations and he’s still going strong!  Not that I’m complaining!  Keep going, Charlie!  More later when we go to the vet tomorrow.  Prayers would be nice though…

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