Its been a few intense days, we got information yesterday from the vet that enables us to manage the situation

Sheba has Intervertebral Disc Disease (IVDD for short)

It is, I am learning quickly, a degenerative condition that impacts her lower spine, the section that is most affected by impact of walking up/down stairs, jumping into/out of higher/lower places

There is no way to cure this, she’s pretty far along in her journey with this, Sheba is 9 and a half years old at this point

Thinking back, we had signs of her having this condition years ago, Thanksgiving Eve morning yelps, no longer wanting to jump into the back of the car, rejecting the ramp we got her to walk up and into the back of the car

The vet in VA we saw about this intermittent pain events didn’t identify it for us, nor did the local vet until I brought video of her from the last few days to show

The course of treatment includes medication to relieve her of pain, reduce inflammation, so she is getting her own daily pill box just like her daddy!

For the next 2 weeks, she needs to rest, so no rough play with other dogs, no hikes or long walks

TCP breaks in and out of the house should be her only trips up and down steps

Luckily, we found and developed a good relationship with a local vet less than a mile from the house

They also recommend dog physical therapy…..which, conceptionally has me scratching my head on exactly what that will look like

Anyway, that’s the latest

Now that feeding and medicating Sheba is even more complex…..its even more challenging to manage Matt around this. He still wants to help, but he’s not able to master the requirements as much as he might want to, think he can, so that is really hard sometimes to see

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