With families all over welcoming new furry family members into their homes, many are unprepared for the challenges of dog ownership – not just potty training, barking, obedience, and grooming – but health concerns down the road, like intervertebral disc disease, lumbosacral syndrome, and osteoarthritis, among others.
The United States Humane Society estimates that 69 million American households have at least one dog. That’s a lot of little doggies running around.
“The best way to handle a canine back problem is to prevent one from occurring in the first place,” says Whitney Phillips, an AVCA Certified Animal Chiropractor quoted on PetMD.
And the best way to prevent something is to know about it.
Dog owners should know dogs aren’t immune to health issues. While many live happy, healthy lives without problems, some can develop conditions that, especially as they age, require treatment, medication, and even surgery. An emergency fund or pet insurance is a must for responsible pet ownership.
While I knew dachshunds, the long-backed hot-dog wiener dogs, were prone to back injuries, I was powerless against the adorable face staring back at me on the Petfinder adoption website.
That four-month-old, four-pound black and tan dachshund had possessed me to complete the adoption paperwork before my husband came home from work. Thankfully, he was equally as endeared by her big doe eyes and, after a visit from the rescue, the pup we named Penny was ours.
We bought ramps and “trained” her on them in hopes of avoiding back issues, but she seemed to use them at her whim. She would often walk up them to reach the couch or the bed but then fling herself off them to bark at the horses next door, a car that drove down the road, or some other intrigue. She was completely healthy, enjoyed zoomies, and jumped on the landscape boulders in our yard like a goat.
I didn’t realize what treatment entailed should a back injury happen, so we laughed when she soared through the air, landing on her short little legs to effortlessly trot over to wherever, lackadaisically calling out our “ramp” command, seconds too late.
Fast forward six years. After throwing a new Christmas toy, a pink rubber squeaky llama, Penny chased after it, and an odd bounce plopped off her head. She moved to react, and before we knew it, our little wiener wasn’t walking right, clearly in pain. I thought it hit her in the eye at first.
After being seen by the nearest emergency veterinarian, we learned our pup injured her back. The prescribed treatment: Crate rest and medications three times a day, and we’d have to do our best to keep her quiet – a tall order for an otherwise rambunctious dachshund.
IVDD is a degenerative spinal disease in which the discs in the back become compressed, displaced, or ruptured. This results in reduced mobility and, in some cases, paralysis. Dachshunds and other dwarf breeds, like corgis and French bulldogs, are prone to it, but it can affect any breed or mix.
The treatment is grueling, even when conservative – in most cases, a minimum of four weeks of strict rest and a round-the-clock regime of medications, with more severe cases requiring surgery and even longer rest. Setbacks can undo progress, as it takes weeks to heal the disc.
Some pets who end up paralyzed do well with a doggy wheelchair, but others suffer from so much pain that the most humane thing to do is veterinary-assisted euthanasia. It can come on quickly or gradually. If she recovered, she would never be allowed to jump off furniture (or boulders), and stairs would be an absolute no.
An x-ray with Penny’s primary vet at Hickory Creek Animal Hospital showed a narrowing on her lumbar spine, likely the cause of her condition. An MRI would’ve provided a definitive diagnosis, but the treatment at this stage would be the same. We hoped we could achieve recovery with conservative care (meaning no surgery).
So, how does one put a dog that has never been crate-trained on strict rest?
A lot of patience, some ingenuity, and zero care about looking like you’ve completely lost your sanity. You likely will come close to losing it.
Traditional crate rest wasn’t an option for us because Penny jumped and pawed at the door. We couldn’t let her roam around our open-concept home as she was used to doing. So, we chose “mobile crate rest,” which entailed purchasing the Cadillac of pet strollers and bribing Penny with cheese to get her to tolerate it until she got used to it.
The diagnosis I had feared was looming over our precious pup. I posted “pupdates” to Facebook as any Millennial would do and snapchatted the insanity that included pushing her around in a stroller.
I learned that Penny wasn’t alone.
My longtime hair stylist had to make the heartbreaking choice to euthanize her dog, Luna, a pit bull, after her pup suffered from irreparable spinal damage, and treatment wasn’t working. The sadness was evident, and I could sense her fear for our pup.
Another friend shared with me how she had to keep her doodle on strict rest before, familiar with the “back pain cocktail” Penny had been prescribed. Her doodle, Tucker, is doing okay now but still has occasional back flare-ups and has slowed down significantly due to arthritis.
Another fellow dachshund owner cautioned us to take the crate rest seriously or risk a setback as they had experienced. They, too, went the stroller route.
My brother and sister-in-law offered to lend us their pet stroller because their Frenchie had suffered a similar incident. Although ours already had been ordered, I was surprised to learn how many others had quietly purchased pet strollers and how many other dogs had back issues.
The stories of recovery gave me hope for Penny. I felt less alone in the madness of anthropomorphizing my beloved dog, tucking her into a stroller with little soft blankies that bore images of bones instead of baby rattles.
Days blended into weeks as I pushed her around the house, taking her out for bathroom breaks and feeding time. Soon, she was spending less time sleeping and more time stomping her little paw at me because she wanted to play, but she was still on strict rest.
I hope that by the time this article is published, Penny will be fully released from rest, facing a new normal with less leaping and more loving and, hopefully, in a position to play with a new puppy sibling. We’ve already made significant adjustments, such as my husband building a ramp over the stairs to our fenced-in dog run for her.
The good news is that there’s no shame in the stroller game. Pet owners should know they aren’t alone when tragedy strikes and having a solid plan for emergency care is a must.
After all, dogs have our backs in more ways than one. We should have theirs, too.
Stephanie Irvine is a freelance reporter.
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