Very scary

On Friday afternoon Brian called me to ask if Otto was acting normal that morning. I was immediatley alarmed as I knew he wouldn't be calling unless something was really off. He told me that Otto couldn't stand up, wouldn't walk, and when tempted with peperoni showed interest but couldn't manage to move at all to get to the treat.

He had been fine that morning and crated for 6 hours. We had no idea how he could have injured himself when he was likely sleeping all day.

By the time I got home the truck was gone, and he had taken Otto to the vet. When they came home he carried him in, and stood him on the ground where he promptly crumpled down. My usually vibrant and hyperactive dog seemed paralyzed. It was terrifying for me. All I could do was hug him. The vet couldn't find anything wrong, though she did mention that on the xray two of his vertebrae were oddly close together. She gave him a cortisone shot in his back, and a prescription for pain medication, and told us to come back if he didn't improve.



Friday evening he laid next to me on the couch and wouldn't move. By 6 pm it had been a full 12 hours since he had relieved himself. He couldn't stand enough to do so when Brian came home but I managed to coax him into going. He couldn't lift his leg, and just peed while hunched over on the ground. He slept on the couch next to me for the rest of the evening, and ate dinner on the couch. He couldn't manage to do anything more than pulling himself up with his front legs. If he tried to get up the back legs would shake and he'd fall down within 10 seconds.



The whole time I was thinking about what we would do if this was permanent. Could they fix him? What if they couldn't fix whatever it was and we had to put him down? What if he gets better and it happens again? Is it neurological? Is it just a sprain?

We gave him the pain medicine and set up a bed for him on the floor. In the morning he was gone! He had moved himself to his normal sleeping spot. I heard him shake off and he came running out from under the bed like nothing had happened. The whole thing was so bizarre, and we're really not sure what to make of it. I just hope it doesn't happen again....
He seems perfectly fine today. He was a little slow on Saturday and Sunday, but able to walk, and run, and even jump, though we were not encouraging any of that and had to take all of his toys away. If he ever does that again we'll have to find a better vet...Hopefully one that can identify the problem and treat it

Ugh. What an awful weekend.