Sad Puppy

Antonio's been walking around all weekend with his tail between his legs. For those of you who know him, or who know him from this blog, this behavior is very un-Antonio. He is a normally a very happy-go-lucky dog, so watching him turn into a sad and lethargic lump has not been enjoyable. At first I thought that maybe he was sad, so we spent a lot of time together this weekend, even going to the park to walk around and watch squirrels.

But nothing we did coaxed his tail from it's sad state.

Maybe I didn't want to see it, but it finally occurred to me that Antonio's behavior might be symptoms of a larger problem... or longer problem. His back. Antonio is a dachshund, and Antonio has invertebral disk disease. That's basically just a fancy phrase for a bad back. And I think we are having another episode.

So this morning I called our vet, and tomorrow morning we have an appointment for a neurological exam. We'll probably walk away with prescriptions for steroids and muscle relaxers, which reduce the swelling that is pressing on his spinal cord and make him more comfortable. I just have to keep asking myself, how long can he keep this up before permanent injury to his back?

My poor little guy.