Max Update

I thought I'd update you on how Max is doing. For just over a week, he has been taking steroids, muscle relaxers, and pain pills. He is better than the first couple of days. But he is not out of the woods yet. He used to be very energetic and was always running around happily. He isn't doing that right now, but he is walking around some. Of course his pain pills could be making him feel a bit lethargic, so maybe that will get better. But he has finished taking his muscle relaxers, and his steroids and he is still hurting. We are still giving him pain pills.

He will not jump up onto our couches like he used to,he just looks at it longingly. He has a very hard time going up and down stairs. He goes down them fairly well, but then going back up is very painful for him. Sometimes as he is walking, his back legs just give out and he stumbles. He is almost always shaking. As he walks around, and even when he is just laying down resting and not moving, he will occasionally yelp. When he does that, he looks back and jumps like he thinks someone or something is hurting him. It's pretty sad. I'm pretty sure he hurts probably most the time, and only yelps when he gets a sharp pain.

Hopefully Max will heal enough to have a nice quality of life. If this is as good as it gets, then I think it will not be good enough. I know that back problems can take a very long time to heal. So we are giving him more time and hopefully he will heal more.

Sad News

Here is a picture of my Maximus. This picture is a couple of years old. But it shows his active and fun personality. Yesterday we thought that Max was acting sick. He would hardly move, he wouldn't eat, he would whine and shake. It was so sad. We thought he was dying. This morning at about 1:30 am, he started yelping frantically. He was obviously in terrible pain. So we took him to the vet. There is a vet in this area that is open all night long. The vet said that Max's spine is injured somehow. They didn't do an X-ray, because they don't do xrays for this, he needed an MRI. We can't spend the $1500 for an MRI. And another $2000 or more for surgery. So the vet is guessing that Max has a bulging disc, or a broken spine. Basset hounds are prone to spine injury because of their long body. It may heal itself, or if his back is broken, it may get much worse. The vet gave us some pain medications and steroids, and told us what to watch for to know if his spine is getting worse. He has ordered Max to 10 days of bed rest. (Yeah, right). We have to try to keep Chloe (our other basset hound) off of Max. And keep our grandkids off of him too. And just pray that he heals. If he gets worse, and looses the use of his back legs or something, we will have to put him down.

I feel so bad for the sweet little guy. He is the most lovable and fun dog. He wants to be petted and loved all the time. Or he wants to play, or steal your water bottle, or just sit on your lap and get petted. He really is such a part of our family. I wish I could spend the $3000 or $4000 to try to fix him up. But I really can't do that. Please say a prayer or two for Max.