Yes, she is a pampered pooch - and a card to share

First thing to know - my dog loves to have her butt scratched. It's almost embarrassing at times. Yesterday, however, it appeared to also be painful for her as hubby scratched and she cried. Not normal. So I went on dog-watch duty. And found she was moving slowly, tail between her legs, not really favoring one side or the other but definitely not normal. Our assumption? She had been in the yard - which was fairly icy-ish - and she slipped and strained something.

Fast forward to bedtime. Her normal sleeping spot is on the couch in the family room but she wouldn't jump up so she curled up in the living room. I went to bed at 1 and woke up at 3 to her crying. Went to check on her and found her somewhat unwilling to get up and walk. But she did - to the family room - where we both curled up ON THE FLOOR to sleep. I'm 52. Sleeping on the floor is probably not in my hips' best interest but there I was. Eventually, I did progress to the couch where I dozed on and off till 6, listening to her moan and cry every couple minutes. It was all I could do not to take her to the emergency vet but hubby was convinced she would be ok until morning.

And she was but we were at the vet by 8:45. Diagnosis? A strain. Not precisely sure where exactly but somewhere in her backside. In addition, the vet feels she is probably starting some arthritis or hip dysplasia - common in labs. Although I was hoping it would not be until later in her life (she turned 6 in Nov). So we were back home by 9:30 with a steroid/anti-inflammatory shot and medication for 10 days, including a narcotic to help her sleep.

And she's resting comfortably.

This evening she even got up on the couch for awhile. I think the patient is feeling a bit better.

In crafty news, I have a card to share that I recently made:

Birthday card for my son-in-law. All products from Papertrey Ink.

And now I'm off to bed as that 3 hours of sleep I got last night was somehow just not enough.