A wretched hive of scum and villainy … wait, they were actually nice (#SFWApro)

First dog emergency!
Sunday night Plushie suddenly stood up from a nap and immediately began horrified whimpers of pain. We were, of course, quite horrified, especially as we couldn’t see a cause. So off we went to the 24-hour emergency vet service—yes, Durham has one. They seem really pleasant too, as did the other customers, though we weren’t in the mood for talking. And we were far from the most worried people in the waiting room—sick pet emergencies, need I say more?
We had to wait a while (triage—a couple of dogs came in with much worse problems), but the doctor (yes, an actual board-certified vet) informed us Plushie was suffering from a serious neck/shoulder problem. This is nothing we did (though letting him go up the stairs every day didn’t help)—it’s a condition pretty much universal to lhasa apsos, a side effect of centuries of inbreeding (TYG says they’re actually dwarf dogs and this has brought on some physical problems). Sooner or later, it was probably inevitable.
Fortunately, it’s also treatable. First move: painkillers, muscle relaxants and four to six weeks of cage rest. Which I feel horrible about, it just seems inhuman, but the vet’s very clear that keeping him from running around is in his own good.
If that does the trick, we’re good until it happens again (as it may), though we’ll never be able to let him walk upstairs again (fortunately he’s only 16 pounds, not a bad carrying weight). If not, then it’s surgery.
It’s upsetting, but I don’t regret adopting him. He’s our plush little baby, and we’ll take care of him.
Needless to say, going to bed 1:30 Sunday night and then researching pet insurance Monday morning resulted in much less work done than I’d expected. Sigh. And I lost more time because Trixie no longer spends time in the pen to keep them separated. Apparently with free run of the house she’s less bouncy and more cuddly. Sometimes when she climbed into my lap the urge to work succumbed to the cuteness. It is a tendency I must overcome. Seriously.