Earlier this week Woody saw a squirrel on the steps to our deck, took off in a blur of fur, got about halfway down and yelped like he’d been shot. And hey, around here you never know. His momentum carried him down the stairs, where he was standing on three legs, left hind leg pulled up as high as he could get it. I checked him over as well as I could and then he slowly lowered the leg and took a few careful limpy steps. I took him to the vet and it turns out he has a compressed disc in his spine that’s pinching a nerve. We had noticed that he was kind of hopping up the stairs lately and his usually smooth gait was looking a little stiff.
So now he’s on doggie ibuprofen. Apparently the problem is fairly common in “dogs his age” – well, he is seven and I guess that’s middle age for dogs.
Top five signs your dog is getting old:
5. The radio mysteriously keeps getting reset to the station that plays the golden oldies of his youth, way back in 2006.
4. Instead of actually running after the squirrels, he’s now acting as a “squirrel chasing and harassment consultant.”
3. Keeps complaining that other dogs’ butts just don’t smell as good as they used to.
2. Still does that embarrassing humping motion, but now it’s just the way he gets up the stairs.
1. The only yard signs in the neighborhood he didn’t pee on last fall: “McCain 2008.”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment