Shelby's Life and Whatnot

Poor Little Dog

I think that Scout may have hurt her back :(. Long dogs like beagles, bassets, and dachshunds are particularly prone to back problems. When we lived in Missouri Scout hurt her back once before when the snow was really high and she had to jump around to go anywhere.

Scout likes to visit us on our bed after her morning constitutional. She doesn't like to jump up when the covers are pulled up because she has a hard time getting up on the comforter, which is kind of slippery and thick, so she scratches at the bed until we pull down the covers and make room for her. It's cute, but annoying at 6 am.

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Anyway, this morning Kevin had temporarily vacated his side of the bed and I heard Scout jump up. She didn't make it and slid down the bed. I didn't think anything of it at the time as it's happened before and has not been a big deal. Once we got up, we discovered her in her crate. She's usually sleeping on the couch or on a chair in the library, but she goes into her crate when she feels sick or hurt, or when she feels particularly persecuted (like if a lot of people are over). Her crate is her safe spot. Again we didn't think much of it.

I went out to lunch with my girlfriends and when I came back Scout was rather listless, which is unusual. She came out of the crate to greet me, and then went right back in and was shaking a little, which she does when she's scared or hurt. She wandered back out and I heard a small whimper and when I looked at her she was trying to stretch but cutting it short. Then I heard a similar whimper and found that she'd just jumped onto the couch. I laid down to take a nap and she didn't join me, which is also very unusual. When I got up she was still on the couch. I went over and gently pressed on her back. She ignored it until I got to an area near the base of her tail where she looked sharply at her back when I pressed there. That happened twice.

I coaxed her off the couch for dinner, and then she didn't eat it. That's very unusual. I also noticed that she was keeping her tail tucked under her. Instead of eating she went back into her crate and was shaking again. After consulting with Kevin I decided to call the weekend emergency vet. She has an appointment at 9:45 tomorrow morning. Hopefully there's either nothing wrong or it's just a minor muscle pull.

The first time she hurt her back there was no question she was in a lot of pain. She couldn't jump anywhere and if you pressed on her back she emitted a heartwrenching yelping noise. The treatment then were some pain pills and about a month of crate rest. It was a pain because it was winter and she wasn't allowed to bound in the snow which meant that every time she needed to go out I had to take her and stamp down a path for her to walk on. Good thing there's no snow here! Also we don't have to worry about crate rest as she seems to be imposing that on herself anyway.

Poor little puppy. It's not nice to be hurt so close to Christmas. It's such a horrible feeling when your pet gets sick or hurt, because they don't understand what's going on and they are so dependent on you for everything. I'm hoping a night of rest will help her out.