What sounds good?

Sewing or sleeping? Apparently, for me tonight, it was sleeping!

I had every intention of coming home from work and maybe getting on the elliptical and doing the prep work for a salad and then straightening up sewing or something. Well, Max was having a bad night and I just had to sit and hold him and that turned into an hour and a half nap. (Insert sheepish Grin and Shrug here!)

This morning, I took Max to the vet before work. That past few days, he has been grunting and moping and when I would run my hand down his back, his muscles and skin would crawl. I had been giving him children's aspirin and trying to carry him up and down the stairs and keep him from jumping up on and off of the furniture and bed. Monday and Tuesday it worked to an extent until I ran to the basement and he came down the stairs. Tuesday night was bad because he grunted anytime he moved or too a deep breath. Wednesday, when he woke up, he couldn't stretch or shake so I made an appointment with the doctor.

Now, anyone with experience with dachshunds knows that they are prone for back problems and a way to help prevent them is to not let the dog get overweight and to keep them from jumping on and off of furniture and going up and down stairs. Well, as you can see from the pictures in past posts, Max is the slimmer of him and Maisy. He is very active and runs and jumps all the time. I thought of the two, I would end up with Maisy herniating a disc or something.

I have also had plenty of experience with the back problems because the dog that I had since high school that passed on about a year and a half ago had pinched discs or herniated discs or something. Bitsy had injured her discs about a year and a half before she passed and spent the rest of her time not having full control over her back legs. She would wobble to the left and right when she walked and really looked drunk on the back half of her body. Poor little dog!

So, we go to the vet and, while Max was in terrible shape before we left, as soon as we are there, he is trembling and not grunting or anything. He was sitting on my lap and taking everything in and looking at the other dog that came in and listening to the cats in the next room meow. Finally, the doctor comes in and examines him and says that it looks to him like it is just muscular, but that we have to keep an eye on him in the future now because he can very easily re-injure the muscle and it could very easily turn into a disc problem in the future. Super. Outstanding.

We got some drugs and were sent on our way with strict instructions to keep Max's activity restricted. Restricted for 2 - 3 weeks! Seeing as how he jumps up on the couch all the time and runs around and tosses his toys for himself, I just don't know how that will work once he is feeling better!

As we were leaving, Max was exploring all of the other exam rooms that I thought were empty. Suddenly, a guy comes out of one and starts talking to Max who goes on sniffing the floor nonchalantly. I tug Max back over to the guy because it isn't often that another adult has good things to say about my two dogs. The man leans over and pets Max and then mentions the 7 fresh ones that he brought in and did Max want to see them. We went into the room and he had a tiny laundry basket with a blanket in the bottom and 7 shnauzer puppies in the blanket!! Max was so cute - I picked him up to see what was in the basket and he sniffed at them very gingerly. Now, Maisy the Brute would have torn through me to get to them and then would have been very rough with them. The guy told me that they were born on January first to his smallest female and they were surprised to have gotten 7.They still had their eyes closed! Then, he picked up the biggest one and let Max smell him and Max was still very gentle. I petted the puppy and he was wiggling around and trying to move towards our smells. They were all just so adorable and Max was so sweet with them!

So, I took Max home and deposited him to the cage for the day without the drugs. I didn't want to give him the drugs without knowing if they were going to make him sick and then leave him for the day. So I gave him the first dose tonight when I got home. And of course, I didn't come straight home.

Jen showed me a blog today with a really cool item. Sandy made these covered notebooks. They are from a special Fons and Porters magazine and once we found out which one it was, I decided that I need to have it. Jen saw that it was supposed to have been displayed until 12/31/07 and I thought that the Joann's around here may still have it out. I stopped at one and they didn't have it so I bought Cars fabric for some birthday presents for Ethan. Then, I stopped at the crappy one that is closer to my house and they had it! I got to buy it using a 40% off coupon! Woo hoo!!

Once I got home, Max got his pills and he seemed to be in worse shape tonight than he was this morning. I feel very bad for the little guy. I wish that I could jsut make the pain go away! Instead, we all took a nap together. That is about the best that I could do for him tonight.

Tomorrow, more pills and more restricted movements! Wish me luck and send well thoughts Max's way!