My Little BJ

 So the past week, my poor little BJ has had some major health concerns. I took him to the vet on the 6th, and they found that he has a UTI, anal infection, bladder stones (which he had surgery on last year at this time), kidney stones & a couple calcium deposits on his spine. The vet sent him home with some anti-biotic's and anti-inflammatory med's in hopes that he would start to feel better soon.

By Sunday afternoon, BJ was having a difficult time walking. He couldn't run up the stairs to go outside anymore. He couldn't even lift his little legs to pee. I was thinking that it was painful because he was trying to pass the bladder stones, so I decided to call the vet again to see if there was anything else I could do for him. They had me bring him back in for a re-check yesterday afternoon. When Dr. Webber saw him she told me that he wasn't having issues from the stones, that it was from the calcium deposits on his back causing partial paralysis in his back legs. She said he's almost lost complete control of his bowels. I couldn't believe it. My worst fears were starting to come true.

So I asked her what I could do. She told me that at this point I had a couple options. Since he was only partially paralyzed, we could start with steroid shots directly into his back & put him on muscle relaxers & keep him in the doggy "ICU", in hopes that the inflamed area would go down and he could be able to regain control of his legs & bowels. Then in a few days he could come home and be on strict bed rest, with hardly any movement. She said this works in about 2/3's of doxie's and they can live a careful life. The only problem is that the injury can be re-triggered at any time.

The next option is back surgery to remove the calcium deposits that are causing the problems. When I asked her how expensive this was, she said it was between $2,000 & $3,000. I started crying right then (and subsequently so did Baby J because his mommy was crying). There is no way I can afford that. My last option would be to put BJ to sleep to spare him from the pain. My heart is completely broken. My poor little doggy. He should not have to go through these problems on top of his epilepsy. I opted for the first option (steroid shots & bed rest) to see if that will help at all. I'm praying that it does.

I love you BJ!