Poor Oskar!

Oskar has been known to hurt himself jumping off of the couch to chase one of the cats, but usually gets better in a day or two if we just prevent him from too much jumping.

On Sunday or Monday he hurt himself chasing the cat after he swatted at him while Oskar was sleeping on the couch. Why they repeatedly do this is beyond me, but I swear it happens almost daily. It seemed to be different that the usual injury because he could walk on it, but avoided all bouncing or jumping/hopping. I gave it an extra day to see if he'd get any better today and planned to take him to the vet tomorrow morning if there wasn't any improvement.

When I got home from the dentist around 6:30 tonight, Oskar wasn't on the couch, on the rug, in the kitchen, or in the garage (all of his usual places). I panicked, because there weren't many other places he could be. I found him on the fireplace shaking and once I picked him up, he yelped and started whining. Not good. I wrapped him in "his" snuggie and cuddled him to see if he'd calm down. When that didn't work, I decided that we needed to go to the animal hospital immediately.

Since Oskar requires that I hold him in the car, and there was NO WAY I was going to be able to hold him and drive with the belly, I enlisted the chauffeur services of Mr. KFuj since Striker was off bowling strikes about 30-45 minutes away. The irony in this is that Mr. KFuj is the one person that Oskar cannot stand. For some unknown reason, the second that Mr. KFuj is in sight, Oskar barks his head off and refuses to let him near him. We made some progress after Mr. KFuj fed him a few treats last time, but still not enough to consider them buddies.

Tonight, we got into Mr. KFuj's car and Oskar didn't bark once...also not a good sign. We arrived at the animal hospital and found it to be empty...YAY! We were taken back right away, Oskar weighed in at a whopping 12.2 lbs and then I started signing papers approving the rapidly growing total.

Emergency Exam $65
2 x-rays $200
2 Injections $101
2 medications to take home $47.50
Hazardous Waste Disposal $4

Total Bill: $417.50

Thankfully all bones and discs were intact. The vet said it appeared to be muscle spasms (perhaps Oskar wants to be like Daddy?) and shot him up with a muscle relaxer and anti-inflammatory. By the time we got home he was able to walk normally with a little spring in his step. He's now passed out on the couch. I have to continue the muscle relaxer and anti-inflammatory pills 3 times a day and keep him on "bed rest" (maybe he wants to be like Mommy?)for the next 7-10 days. The hardest part will be preventing him from jumping off the couch and the bed...especially for me since he's sorta low to the ground and it's getting hard to bend over and pick him up/put him down. If he doesn't cooperate, he'll be banned to the floor in the bedroom, which I'm certain will NOT go well...you saw his preferred sleeping position!

This picture was taken as proof of how drugged Oskar was....he allowed Scott to hold him (twice! This was a reenactment of the first time at the animal hospital.)