Thursday, October 22, 2009

pain in the neck

Tiny chumley awoke this morning and probably wondered what it was he had done wrong, the way his mom and dad were still looking at him and carrying him all over the place. With Baxter's condition stable but tail still kinda tucked, I am sure he heaved a sigh of relief when we finally turned George on to a constant low heat, and let him sleep most of the day while we waited for the vet to arrive for Baxter's already-had-been-scheduled weeks ago three o'clock appointment.

By two in the afternoon, our roasted pup left George in search of sun, and wandered about with his tail hanging freely. Holding it, at times, just upright enough in the air, so that I could tell where he was as he navigated past fabric piles on the floor.

Although I was glad to see Baxter's symptoms fading, I was also concerned that the root of the problem might elude us with only minutes to spare from Baxter's appointment. Was our wiener even capable of playing us?

With the help of some range of motion tests, our vet ferreted out Baxter's neck as the source tiny chumley's very real discomfort. All dogs should be able to turn their heads practically 180 degrees on either side to essentially lick at their ribs, yet Baxter let out a giant yelp when his head was turned about 75% to the right. Considering the second dumb thing Baxter did the day before was try to do an unsuccessful half turn jump to get on his kitty perch and ended up slamming the lower ottoman with his right neck and shoulder, things sorta made sense.

And so for the next two weeks, Baxter will get a tasty rimadyl half tablet with each meal. An anti-inflammatory, that should help whether his problems are muscular or disc related. I am relieved to see that chumley is acting like himself again. If his problems come back, we'll know his issue is disc related, but I am crossing my fingers that my little buddy will have many more tail wagging days ahead of him.

13 comments:

kalyxcorn said...

hey ChloeJessica! I meant to email you and let you know a tiny package is on its way with biz cards and a treat for Chloe. I say all this cuz I can't easily find your email amongst my various email ids and I forgot to include a note in the package I sent today. Doh!

dachsiema said...

have been down the back surgery road twice and it wasn't nice. So I am so glad this will be ok. Maggie,Gracie,Abby,Dixie, Bonnie send kisses and Newman, Teddy and Houdini give the high sign. Tell Baxter to lay low for now. XOXOXO

Rowdy and Bette said...

Hey Baxter,
We're sending lots of good thoughts your way. Take it easy little man, and get some well-deserved rest. Poor little guy.

Anonymous said...

Whew, so glad Baxter will be okay.

Anonymous said...

Me and Tulip send hugs and sniffs. Poor Baxter.

Alicia said...

So relieved to read that there was an answer to Baxter's pain issue! If there was any time I wish that a dog could talk, its when they have pain. That would be so much easier than how I immediately jump to a worse case conclusion.

Feel better soon Baxter!!

old lady said...

Rhett says make sure to milk this for all it's worth!! Extra carrots and cheerios (his favorites) help in the recovery process - you know, for medicinal purposes only!!

kalyxcorn said...

thanks again everybody for all your kind wishes, thoughts, and prayers!! our little buddy has definitely figured out there are benefits to being on the road to recovery...less working for food...george on full blast...that tasty rimadyl that he doesn't even realize is medicine. he thinks he's pretty much back to his yippee skippee self but I think we'll try to keep things down to a dull roar these next couple of days. the squirrels are having a giant fiesta out back knowing that their tormentor isn't allowed to torment for a few days...even giant bunny showed up yesterday during baxter's nighttime poopies.

AmyM said...

Will keep good thoughts and fingers crossed that this is temporary and soon over. Take care little guy!

Alicia said...

Oskar chased a big bunny today on behalf of Baxter. The bunny got away, but it was temporarily exciting!

Barb said...

Oh, good...so glad to hear Baxter is going to be OK! And I so agree with Alicia about wishing they could talk.

Hauns says to try to take it easy. The bunnies and squirrels will wait for you. :)

Lorenza said...

Hi, Baxter!
Sure I hope those meds work fast for you!
Take it easy and you will be like new in no time!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

Taffy said...

Bax, so glad it was your lack of ability with ariel(?) stunts that caused some soreness in your cute neck. I have been tripping when going up stairs lately and today I tripped going down them. I tell Momma not to worry about it but I can tell she still is. They have never carried me up and down the stairs but are wondering if they need to start.
Snuggles,
Twix