Bing is suffering from a herniated disc.
Here is his official diagnosis:
Bing is recovering from a suspected inflammatory / compressive process involving his thoracolumbar (lower back) spine. This is most likely caused by an inflamed disk between the vertebrae. Healing from an injury such as this may take several weeks (4-6), during which you should see a gradual return of activity and function.
The problem began Wednesday 2/27/2013, by Wednesday night he very crippled and not walking.
Wednesday morning Bing was standing hunch backed on his blankets with ears at half mast, looking miserable. He took one or two steps and stopped. Tail was down.
I carried him to our living room (larger carpet better footing) to see if he could walk more easily. He took a couple halting steps, still hunched, and stopped and lay down (lay down not sunk down, it was his decision not body giving way).
He has been on prednisone for a week.
Here is the update I sent out this morning:
Bing’s back is improving, the meds and crate rest are doing the trick.
Bing is almost frisky when we take him out. We really have to pay attention or he tries to take off on a cardi fun run. He’s taking the kenneling ok. He happily hops back in after his potty breaks. He’s getting lots of goodie bones stuffed with old mother Hubbard mini treats (pretty low cal) to keep him busy. We’ve got a pad and bring him out of the kennel and sit with him in the evenings.
Starting tomorrow we begin scaling back on the prednisone. We will watch carefully for pain indicators of the disc swelling back up.
No signs of stomache upset or tarry poo from the pred, tolerating everything pretty well and definitely improving.
This morning he peed like a boy for the first time.
Scott and I have been able to come home at lunch to potty him most days.
We are cautiously optimistic…