I’ve seen this topic on here for quite a while but have not read it. I knew the day would come I just didn’t think it would happen basically overnight.
We have 2 Siberian Huskies, one is 8 and the other will be 9 in May. The younger of the two is extremely fit and athletic. I’ve never seen a dog run as fast as her or have the energy that she does. She’s even been able to easily jump onto 6 foot rocks without taking a run at it.
On Saturday I had them out for their walk and she was her usual crazy self. Tons of energy and loving life in the snow. On Sunday we had another big dump of snow and at one point I looked out the window and saw her running in the deep snow and having a blast. On Sunday night I noticed that she was starting to act strange. She’d go and just sit it random places. At one point she came up and laid down next to me and I could see that even though she was laying there she seemed to be having some sort of tremor in her head and back leg area. But her mobility seemed fine. Before bed I sent her out to pee and she did that but would stop and sit every few feet.
When we got up Monday morning she was having great difficulty with her back legs and she couldn’t put much weight on them and they kept crossing over eachother as she tried to walk. We brought her into the vet first thing and they did X-rays and it appears she has a compressed vertebrae. They sent us home with pain killers and anti-imflammatory pills for the next 7-10 days to see if it helps. If it doesn’t we may be looking at back surgery at the vet college in a nearby province which sounds extremely expensive and I’m not sure what the success rate is. She seemed to get worse since we had her to the vet and now her back legs just flop around. She has absolutely no control over them. I’ve had to carry her around and she’s confined to a kennel overnight and through the day. Since she’s been a puppy she has always slept next to the bed on my side and they basically have the run of the house when we’re at work. If I help her into a sit position her legs just slide forward and she falls down. But she still has some sensation because if I tickle the fur between her back toes she’ll slowly move her legs. She also hasn’t urinated in over 24 hrs despite me carrying her outside a few times. I tried to manually get her to go by applying pressure to her bladder this morning but was only able to get a few drops out of her. It absolutely breaks our heart to see her like this, especially given how fit and athletic she’s been. She’s only on the first full day of her meds so maybe things will improve but I’m not hopeful. If not, we’re going to have a big decision to make because under the current situation she has zero quality of life and I don’t think back surgery would be feasible.
We have treated our dogs like gold and given them both a great life, they are our ‘kids’ and we don't want them to suffer. Should we have to make the decision to put her down we both know that we’ve treated them to the best of our ability and given them a great life and during their time they’ve given us so much joy.
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