Pixie - A Dog's Story - Update.

28 months ago, I posted the story about 'our' little doggie here called Pixie and how she had basically blown a disc in her back, a common condition for miniature dachshunds, and needed surgery to give her any chance of survival.

A couple of days later, I published a follow up post to talk about her surgery which was a partial success and how she could now walk again but with a very pronounced hobble on her back legs as she hadn't got 100% movement in them - and never would.

Since then she's been a bundle of fun and joy and has adapted well to not being able to jump up on us or the furniture (a good thing anyway) and although 10 years old, seemed to have plenty of years left in her yet.

This morning when she was called to go potty, she took an age to get herself into an upright position and when she did finally slither off the side and onto the carpet, we could see that her right back leg was stiff and dragging, as if it wasn't part of her at all. She was picked up and taken outside to potty and when she was placed gently into her bed again, Deb and Dennis knew that although it had been discussed several times since the operation, a very unwanted decision was looming.

You see, the surgery and the weeks of medication and follow up vet visits back in October 2007 had cost a lot and the decision had already been made that depending on what happened, further surgeries would not be an option.

So Pixie was taken to the vet at 10:30 and I said my goodbyes to her at the house just in case.

The vet gave her a cortisone injection and some pills and we are to look for any improvement over the next couple of days but if there is none, well I'm afraid Pixie may be taking the next trip to the vet without a return ticket.

But, and this is despite supporting Leeds United for the last 40 years, I'm a glass have full type of person and will remain hopeful that we'll have our Pixie around for a while yet. She's not in pain and so any decision would be made on a 'quality of life' basis and those are never easy.

She'll stand in the middle of the room and want to turn round but although the spirit is willing, that's about all. Mr. Brain is sending "move it" signals to Mr Back Legs but those signals aren't getting beyond Mr. Butt. Oh a few still get to Mr. Left Leg but that's about it. Pixie just stands there with big bewildered eyes and wonders why she can't spin round easily to go back to her food bowl.

Watching her slowly moving in a straight line, or her attempt at a straight line, is like watching Kenneth Moore playing Douglas Bader in Reach For The Sky. It would be funny if it wasn't so heart achingly sad.

It's a bit of deja vu from 28 months ago and I'll end this post with the same thoughts as I did back then, namely that with fingers crossed, everything will turn out ok for the little girl.

Here is an optimistic photo I took of her (and Debby) just before she went to the vet this morning.