Last Wednesday, I ended up taking Samson to the vet. There was something wrong and it was definitely scary.
It started early in the morning when he went to jump on our bed, but did not make it. He kept trying and missing, and I just laughed and called him a fatty. Yeah, I am a jerk. But then a little later, he could not jump up on the couch. He was definitely acting strange. I let him outside at one point, and he would not come inside. He just laid at the door and I had to pick him up and carry him inside. At this point we started wondering what was wrong.
Lindsey went to work, Samson came down to the basement with me while I did a few things. He could not make it up the steps. I called the vet, and she asked me about the color of his gums. I said “uhh, mauve? Normal colored???” She asked if I could bring him up later. I said sure. She then said “if his gums turn white, bring him in immediately.” Ummmm, what???
I never did find out about the white gums. I guess that could be a sign of internal bleeding? It turns out that Samson did something to his lower back. He was in pain when trying to jump. The vet prescribed prednisone (seriously, prednisone fixes everything), and gabapentin (to help relieve the pain). The steroid helped almost immediately, he was jumping and being happy, but then as it wore off, he must have been sore and unable to jump again.
He is a dog, he cannot understand that he needs to take it easy. The pain went away, so he started jumping and doing his normal stuff. It has been a few days now, and he does seem to be a good bit better. It was definitely a scary moment.
Our pup Rae had white gums when she was two. Turned out she’d had a reaction to a vaccine (probably all the microchips and Biden DNA in it), and her immune system was destroying all her red blood cells. She wound up in hospital for a week, almost dying from a seizure when she rejected blood from a transfusion. Super scary.
Glad to hear Samson is on the mend!