Kinako the Dachshund and the Weekend She Could Not Walk

Kinako is long, loud and very determined. She is a smooth red dachshund, named after roasted soybean flour, and she wears a blue sweater for photos and escapes it within thirty seconds because Bangkok is far too hot. She tunnels under every blanket in our apartment and falls asleep there. Stairs worry her, so I carry her. The vet says no jumping off the sofa, and she ignores that.

One Saturday morning in the rainy season, she did not come running when I opened the fridge. That was the first alarm. She was lying in her bed, trembling, her back arched and her hind legs strange and weak, as though she did not feel them properly. When I picked her up, she cried out. I think my heart actually stopped for a second.

I called the emergency line of our vet in Phrom Phong, grabbed a towel and took a taxi, holding her flat against my chest with my hand supporting her back, the way I had been shown at her first check-up. The vet examined her, tested her reflexes and said it looked like a spinal problem, common in dachshunds, and that we needed rest and medication immediately. Everything depended on how severe it was, and she told me to keep things quiet and calm and to expect a few possible steps. She also did not promise anything, which I respected.

The next weeks were strict cage rest, a small crate, short toilet breaks on a towel, medicine on time and nothing else. I carried her everywhere. I watched her paws closely, every day. There was a morning on day nine when she stood on all four legs, wobbly and annoyed, and walked three steps to her water bowl. I cried in the kitchen. Our vet checked her again at two weeks and again at six, and said she was recovering very well, with a long road of gentle exercise ahead.

Now we have changed everything. A ramp by the sofa and the bed, a harness instead of a collar, no stairs unless carried, and a careful watch on her weight. The sofa-jumping has stopped, mostly, although I sometimes catch her staring at it with a look of pure longing.

If you have a dachshund, please ask your vet about their back, and keep a plan for emergencies. I am so lucky this story had a happy ending. Kinako is back to tunnelling under blankets, and, of course, ignoring half the rules.