Any ideas would be amazing

[riarepurlewd1982]

Hello dog lovers,

I have a 9 y/o border collie named Spock. Or Mr. Spock, as I call him. Spock is a good boy. The goodest boy in all the land. Always loves playing with the kiddos and absolutely loves his ball. He's my best friend. Unfortunately, one day he was walking funny. By the end of that day he would go to his nap spot at the bottom of the stairs and he couldn't get up. I actually had to carry him up the stairs a few times until I had to block off the staircase. Each day he got progressively worse so I took him in. At the Vet he was still able to stand and walk with a limp in his hind legs. We already knew he had back pain but it never slowed him down. This was very different however. They gave some meds and said to rest. It appears to be a slipped disk, which means he is confined to a kennel. This is where I ask for suggestions as to bring up his spirits. He is use to being outside so much and now he's in prison. I've tried to give him chew toys, hide sticks, even made him a little patio outside his kennel with baby gates so he wasn't stuck in the same spot all the time. Nothing has been working. I'll give him love and sometimes his tail will do a single wag. Overall he is miserable and I don't know how to cheer him up. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[aleon]

@riarepurlewd1982 This is heartbreaking, poor Spock.

Can you try playing with him, some game that stimulates his sense of smell? For example hiding a treat under one out of three cups or something.

Can you give him his food in a puzzle feeder, or a snuffle mat?

Don't want to think the unthinkable, but is he going to get better? Will he ever have quality of life again? If he's still eating there's hope!

Good luck my friend.

 

[tsheehan]

@riarepurlewd1982 So sorry to hear about this. I was recently looking up something about this type of problem (hind leg weakness) because our boys rear legs seem to be a bit wobbly. The things I found are getting a sling to help carry the back weight and a wheelchair type thing, something like this one: https://k9carts.com/hind-leg-weakness-in-dogs/

I've got no idea where the issue is on the spine or if this is helpful at all.

 

[andinimagic]

@riarepurlewd1982 Brain games are going to be your best friend here. Snuffle mats, puzzle feeders, frozen lick mats, etc. things that can spread his feeding out over as much time as possible for distraction