Poor Rusty. Eric called me at work on Thursday morning. I was in a team meeting when they buzzed Eric into my teacher friend's phone. Eric was crying and I couldn't understand him. He said Rusty had been paralyzed and that Rusty couldn't move his back half. I left work and we took Rusty to the vet. They confirmed it was probably a spinal injury (dachshunds spines can become injured very easily.). They told us we had to get him into surgery ASAP or he would become permanently paralyzed. With surgery comes no guarantees and the cost of the procedure is a minuscule 3,000. Well, what could we have done. Our dog is looking into our eyes and begging us to help him. We take him in for the surgery (which is at a different location). Yesterday, we went to visit him. They had shaved his whole back and he had a Frankenstein looking suture up his spine. Our poor dog. We still don't know if he will recover. They told us there are many options if he doesn't. One to put him on a cart and they can train us to manage his bladder. Some might say, hey it's just a dog..... This dog is a part of our family who has been with us longer than our children. Yes, there would have come a point financially where an attempt to save him would have not been an option. Luckily, the cost was not at that point. Now it is just a waiting game. If you read this and can say a prayer for our dog, thank you in advance.
