Leben (in wheelchair) and Erde, Nov 2012

Erde and Leben (in wheelchair). Leben walked on his own just fine into the vet hospital for his July 17th disc rupture surgery. He was recovering very slowly from the surgery, but then after several weeks of less than his normal activity he  lost his ability to get up or walk. He is now paralyzed. (We were 2200 miles from home in Thunder Bay, Ontario, when this happened.) So the operation was at best totally unsuccessful or at worst botched. So much for my ever subjecting one of my dogs to this kind of surgery again. At least in Montag’s and Sonntag’s cases, they were unable to walk at the time of their disc rupture surgeries. While there was a chance that Leben might have become paralyzed over the next several years without the surgery, the surgery hastened it for him. In retrospect, I now realize that Leben was not a good candidate for this operation. But we will deal with this just as I did with Sonntag. Leben will tell me when he has crossed the finish line no matter what it takes to get there. When people see Leben and say “poor dog,” I tell them not to feel sorry for him but for the paralyzed dogs that are put down because their guardians cannot or will not manage them.