6 yo dachshund with bladder stones
Our sweet 6 year old female daschund, Gracie, had a cystotomy 2 weeks ago yesterday (removal of bladder stones). Her bladder was PACKED FULL of these stones. It was awful. The largest one was the size of a half-golf ball. And she is a "tweenie" --- a mix of regular and miniature daschund (she weighs 12 pounds and should probably be about 11 pounds). She did very well with the surgery and yesterday we went to have the staples removed. I held her while the vet removed them and I think when I was holding her (very tightly as she is VERY squirmy!!) perhaps it hurt her back. We went back this morning for them to do a cystocentesis (a procedure where they use ultrasound and stick a needle into her bladder to obtain as clean and uncontaminated urine specimen as possible) for a repeat urine culture (she had a urine culture done 2 weeks ago b/c she had blood in her urine---turns out that in addition to the bladder stones she also had a UTI). She did fine with the cystocentesis she had done the first time---no signs of any pain or discomfort afterwards. However, today she has definitely not been right. She is normally a very active dog, jumping on furniture, running all around, going up and down stairs. Today she won't go up or down stairs and last night she would not jump up onto the sofa (I know, I know, daschunds are very prone to back problems and should not be doing this---but she loves to jump and frankly, I think she would only not jump if her pegs were broken). I am wondering if this is just a back problem (once before years ago she had the same situation and she improved after just a couple of days) or perhaps associated with either the cystocentesis or the bladder stone surgery? She is still eating robustly, able to sleep easily while lying next to me----she is definitely my doggie!! :-)
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I'm so sorry that you have gone through all this will your Gracie....many hugs to your little girl.
Poor Gracie, I'm sorry to hear that she's gone through so much but am glad that the surgery went well. It's tough to say from your description...it could be that her back was tweaked while you were trying to hold her, or it could be residual discomfort from the surgery. Also, if she had pain or discomfort following the surgery then even if she's recovering, she might still be fearful to take certain actions like jumping if they previously caused her pain. I would give her a few more days to see if she recovers, so long as it doesn't seem like anything is getting worse, and if she's still whimpering or timid about her usual activities then perhaps you can make a follow-up appointment with the vet just to make sure everything is OK.
Well, I am back with an update on my litle Gracie and things are not looking so good right now. We did take her to the vet on Saturday morning because after she had gone out to the bathroom that morning and pooping, she came back in in great distress. It was very clear she was in a lot of pain. Vet said it did appear to be a back problem, not anything related to the surgery, and gave us an anti-inflammatory for her to take for a week. We have kept her quiet and as relaxed as possible. She was doing better and then on Monday evening and last night she jumped off the sofa (where we were sitting with her) before we could stop her. It was on Monday evening that we noticed that she was walking a little diffferently. Did not seem to be in any pain, just walking a little weird. Plus, she seemed less inclined to walk and move around. Fast forward to this morning and while I was using the bathroom, she jumped off of my bed and came halfway down the stairs. This is the first time she has done stairs since last Thursday. She was not in any pain that I could tell, looked as bright eyed as usual, but when I took her out to potty, she was most definitely not walking right----very much favoring the left back leg and that leg seemed like it could not support much, if any, weight at all. When she was done peeing, she walked back to me and then her butt just went down. I know this can be a serious warning sign of disc trouble so I took her back to the vet and have just come back. Vet says her reflexes are normal and she thinks that either she is having nerve trouble with that leg or that the back injury has been aggravated by the jumping off the bed and sofa. She also said that she feels Gracie is a grade 1 out of 5 on a scale vets use for back injuries. She extended the anti-inflammatory to 2 weeks and told us to crate rest her for 6 weeks. I am okay with all of this, but how do I know if the situation is getting worse? Just now when I brought her home I took her back out to the yard and her little leg was slipping all the time and again, a few times, she "lost her balance" and almost sat right down. It is really upsetting me and I think that I am only making the situation worse by being so frightened and anxious. Is it normal to expect the same kind of behavior for a bit until things start to heal a little? How long should I expect the "walking drunk" to continue for? The vet said that if things got worse to bring her back---but does that mean she should start instantly improving right away???? I am sorry for my frustration and anxiety---I am normally a very rational, calm, let's wait and see kind of gal, but this little pup is so sweet and very much my baby-----I am just frightened that something worse is going to happen. Many thanks to those of you who can reply and share your experiences or information/advice. It does help to talk and frankly, I don't want to go on the web and start looking at daschunds and back problems because I know it will just freak me out even more.
If you are a good dog mommy...it's only natural that you worry.....I worry about my Cleo all the time and there's rarely anything wrong with her.
You need to give the meds some time to work and be very, very careful not to allow Gracie the chance to jump up/down on anything for now.
My golden had bladder stones - she would not pee for over 24 hours - after 4 weeks treatment and 4 visits to catherize him - the medication plus special ground up food - and having the vet pull out the stones each time - she was okay
It was a nightmare
Give it some time - and I'd still call the vet - eating is always a good sign
Well, I am very relieved and happy to report that Gracie is improving. She is now able to rest weight on that left back leg without it going out form under her. She has returned to peeing her own uique way---she lifts her rear right leg and rests all her rear weight on the left leg. She started doing this consistently this morning. She shows no sign of any discomfort and is now irritated that I will not allow her to move around at all. I feel so blessed because I am sure we have dodged a bullet. Now we will have to be absolutely certain to never allow her to jump up or down or to do stairs. Boy, I can forsee the training for these new rules. Yikes! :-)
What wonderful news!!!
Well, I should have wiated to post my update---I think i may have jinxed us. :-(
I was thinking the same thing - this little dog has just been thru a lot in a short period of time.
~~joannaran~~
I hope Gracie is doing OK at this point. I just wanted to throw another thought in the mix...I have experience with luxating patellas and my oldest dog, Maya, stopped putting weight on her leg when her knee got bad enough to require surgery. She also does the "one leg in the air" style of squatting to potty since her knee without surgery mildly luxates. I only mention it because what you described sounds so familiar, and it's a common occurrence in small dogs. If it is involved, I can assure you that Maya had her surgery almost 9 years ago and
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