We had agility class on Tuesday night and Chimera did great, other than a few mistakes in the weave poles, which usually mean that he's experiencing some physical discomfort. At bedtime I squatted down and invited him to jump onto my lap so that I could pick him up and carry him up to my loft bed - our usual routine. He started to jump but didn't make it. Something dinged in the back of my head but I didn't fully notice it. On the second try he climbed up onto my lap and we went to bed.
Wednesday morning, Cai was subdued. He was walking instead of running on our way to the yard and back in. I don't think he peed - he just sat by the doorway to the yard. (I was busy monitoring a boarding dog so I'm not sure.) When I gave him breakfast, he just sat and looked at me instead of chowing down like usual. Crap. I had a date with Miki to hike our dogs together. I decided to leave Cai at home and see how he was doing when I got back.
He had eaten his breakfast while I was out but was now clearly in a lot of pain. He was moving slowly, with a roached back, and shivering. He was lying down a lot. When he started to jump up, he yelped and stopped.
Our regular vet was able to get us in for 6 pm. He reacted with a hard look and snap when she felt along his spine. She said that it was most likely intervertebral disc disease. She prescribed an NSAID, a nerve pain reliever, and strict crate rest and on leash potty breaks for 2-3 weeks. If he doesn't improve, we'll go to Davis and get more testing done (such as an MRI). Most likely he will recover with conservative management.
He's being very good about spending all day in his crate. I still carefully lift him up to sleep in bed with me, since that's our only bonding time right now. He's clearly feeling better with the pain medication, but he's still moving carefully and slowly.
I'm wondering if I should retire him from agility.
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