Frequently Asked Questions about Louie

Let us know what other questions you might have about IVDD in the comments below.

The post Dog Handicapped by IVDD FAQ appeared first on The Lifestyle Of Us.

The reason I finally got a paddleboard was that there are now these kayak/paddleboard hybrids! I think I prefer sitting while out on the water. I went paddleboarding with a friend and she lent me one that I ended up loving and I bought a similar version. My board has extra connection points so that I can connect a seat to the top of the board and footrests for leverage when kayaking. If I don’t feel like sitting or want to try standing for a bit, I can remove the seat and convert my oar into a paddle.

We also picked up new floatation devices. I’m all about safety. I know how to swim but I won’t take chances. Both Justin and Louie have their own lifejackets, and I needed one of my own. It was an extremely hot summer, and we didn’t think that the traditional jacket style flotation device would really work for us. My friend recommended Mustang Survival as they have these fanny pack-type flotation devices. It goes around your waist and uses a CO2 cartridge to inflate the bladder. Once it’s inflated, you pull the top strap over your head while the other strap stays buckled around your waist.

I didn’t want to get analysis-paralysis so we made an impulse decision to go with Mustang Survival. I’m really happy with the product so far, and I am also really impressed with Mustang Survival’s customer service. I actually broke one of the safety pins when I was testing my device, and they were great to correspond and sent me a new one!

Mia has been paddleboarding before, but we’ve never taken Louie until this summer. Louie wears his own life jacket and I keep him leashed to my waist. Louie seemed to really enjoy being out on the water, and even jumped in to go after Justin. His back legs don’t work that great on land, but swimming is really good for him. We got out quite a few times this summer, but not as much as I would’ve liked. The 2021 summer was pretty rough, it was quite hot for a good chunk of it (at times reaching 49C for us) or it was too smoky to be outside for a significant amount of time. Here’s hoping for many more paddleboarding days in 2022.

The post Paddleboarding in the Okanagan appeared first on The Lifestyle Of Us.

You can read part 1 of our IVDD journey here. As I said, when we reflect on the situation, the surgery ended up being a cakewalk. I thought it was a pretty routine surgery, but it was extremely stressful because of the risks and unknowns. A lot of tears were shed. Nothing really prepared us for bringing home our dog with a shaved back, openly exposed incision, with an indwelling catheter, whose back legs don’t work anymore. Louie had strict crate rest for 2 weeks. His indwelling catheter needed to be replaced every 5-7 days. One of the hardest things to see was that he wouldn’t eat much for quite some time. Eating is a very important signal in our house, for us, and when you have dachshunds!

We set up a recovery suite in the living room. We bought a large pen, lined it with a yoga mat, towels, and bedding. He stayed in the recovery suite during the day, and in the evenings we’d take him out and put him in a dog bed closer to us in the sitting area.

Rehab

When we took him home, the surgeons gave us instructions for daily rehab. We did the exercises 3 times a day to help keep the muscles and joints moving, as well as to prevent atrophy. We brought him enrichment toys so that he could have some engagement while doing crate rest. And eventually, we started going to a vet specializing in rehab to get acupuncture, laser, and fitness.

Once Louie’s incision healed, he gets to do underwater treadmill walks. The water provides buoyancy and helps relieve some of the weight that his front legs have to bear. He gets acupuncture, cold laser, and a few other treatments. We were going twice a week for a number of months, before being transitioned down to weekly appointments. Now Louie mostly goes for fitness sessions and sees the rehab doctor every couple of months.

New Bathroom Habits

Once Louie’s in-dwelling catheter came out, we had to learn how to express his bladder. Thankfully his bladder is easy to express, otherwise he’d have to go on medication to help loosen up some things. As for pooping, we finally figured out when he needed to go. In the first couple of months, we thought we had figured out his schedule, but I think he just goes when he needs to go. We did learn how to get him to poop on demand, so that’s been a lifesaver for travel or at home and being on the bed together. It was a steep learning curve and there were a lot of accidents and we’re just thankful we have hardwood floors.

A New Normal

Truthfully, our new normal doesn’t feel much different than before. It took us some time to this new normal, so it’s hard to even remember what “before” was like. Your life just grows to accommodate new things like this. We never prompted Louie to jump on or off furniture, and he would often help himself. Now, we help him on and off. He drags himself around the house, and we carry him up and down the stairs. We take out the dogs to the bathroom one a time. And we hand-carry Louie’s assistive cart when we travel by air.

The post Our IVDD Dachshund Journey – Part 2 appeared first on The Lifestyle Of Us.

We knew Louie had some back problems, but we had no idea it would turn out like this. Last December, we learned that Louie had a couple of calcified discs. We switched to joint support food, added some supplements, and kept up our dachshund-friendly life. No stairs, and trying to reduce the amount of jumping, jumping on and off things. Louie is, after all, only 4.

That morning in December 2020, we were in Vancouver for an appointment and were heading home that day. Louie would take a couple of steps and sit down. It was super weird. I had a bad feeling about what was happening so we called our vet and made an appointment to see them that afternoon for when we got home. We had breakfast, and then we rushed home. Louie threw up on the way, I caught some of it with my hand so it wouldn’t end up on his sister’s back. When we arrived at our vet, Louie wasn’t walking and we learned that he was “deep pain negative” – and that’s not a great sign. We also learned that we had to head back to Vancouver to see a neurologist as Louie had lost the use of his back legs.

We popped home, because we live quite close to our vet, and flipped over our laundry and luggage, and headed back to Vancouver that evening. It was snowy and I hate the idea of traversing the Coquihalla in the winter. But being the type of dog-parents we are, we persevered. Luckily the weather stayed quite good, which was exactly the reason we decided to make the original trip to Vancouver for my own appointment anyway.

We had a couple of options for neurologists and opted to head to Canada West. Our vet spoke very highly of this place, and we figured that since they have large facilities, we would be in good hands. I thought hospitals did emergency surgeries at all times of the day, which is why we made the mad dash back to Vancouver.

I have since learned, just like human doctors, dog specialists have “banker’s hours”. It was really disappointing to learn that when the ER doc suggested surgery, that we couldn’t actually get it immediately that night. But now I know, just like how I have preferred hours of working where I’m on the top of my game, it’s the exact same thing with dog specialists and surgeons.

Given the rather quick progression of Louie’s rear legs paralysis, we were given a guarded prognosis. We were candidates for IVDD surgery, but Louie had only a 50% chance of regaining the use of his rear legs. We decided that we had to give Louie the chance, considering that he is only 4 years old.

In all of this, we also learned that Louie could possibly be at risk of spinal cord death. A completely different diagnosis than some blown discs pressing on the spinal cord. There is a term for it, but essentially, we could do the surgery and there was a risk that his spinal cord would not recover at all. That the spinal cord was damaged and was slowly dying. When we dropped off Louie with the emergency doctors, we truly had NO idea of the risks we were facing, and it was a really tough time coming to the realization that there was a chance we might not see him again.

We opted for surgery and our little family spent New Years’ split between a hotel and the pet hospital. Because of the pandemic, we were not allowed to visit Louie. The big upside was that they offered Facetime calls, which we took part in on a daily basis. Day after day, the neurologist would call us with updates. Gradually, the calls came later in the day, which we decided that it meant that he was out of the woods and no longer an urgent case.

Little did we know, the surgery and going home was the least difficult part of this ordeal. I had no idea that post-surgery recovery would be a process in itself. Louie was sent home with an indwelling catheter and plenty of drugs. He also had emergency intubation, so we’re sure that that must have hurt his throat. His appetite wasn’t great, which was a huge stressor for us, and his bark was abnormal for a couple of weeks. Going back to how little we knew, post-surgery recovery and rehab is where all the hard work really happens.

To be continued… don’t worry, everything ends up as OK as it can be.

The post Our IVDD Dachshund Journey – Part 1 appeared first on The Lifestyle Of Us.