I know that many of you know our precious son Nico, or at least have seen us post him all over our social medias. Nico has been with us since his early puppy ages and is our entire world. He will be 6 in a couple months and has brought us so much joy and happiness throughout the entire time. Our happy little snorty boy who has about 50 different funny sounds has been nothing short of the perfect pet his whole like and we always say how lucky we are to have him as our potato boy. On Sunday night of 6/9, we got home from the grocery store, and if you know Nico personally, you know how insanely excited he gets when we get home. Even if we’ve only been away for 30 minutes, he still jumps up for hugs and acts as if he hasn’t seen us in days. As I was setting the groceries on the counter, we heard a huge bang. I turned around and Nico was rolling himself up off the hardwood floor near the bottom of the aluminum part of the oven. We didn’t see it but heard it, as it was extremely loud. We think he was jumping up for loving and slipped on the hardwood and landed into the oven, but not sure how he landed. He seemed to just be sore that night and just needed rest. The following day he slept most of the day with very little activity. The next day on Tuesday afternoon is when the nightmare started. He screeched out in a painful yelp and cried out like we’ve never heard before. It was traumatizing to hear him in this type of pain. We immediately rushed him to our vet who got us in as an emergency. They examined him and sensed that it was intervertebral disk disease (IVDD) and that it was targeting in his neck and spine. A condition that French Bulldogs are more often susceptible to. They sent us home with pain meds and inflammation steroids and said they expect him to make a full recovery. Fast forward 4 days on medication and he seems to be getting much better and in the right direction to being back to him normal self. We get through the weekend and through Tuesday and Nico is doing great. Wednesday night Nico has another episode and goes back to the screaming yelps and excruciating cry outs. He has the same symptoms: holding the head low, arching the back, crying out, not wanting to lift the head, ears back, panting excessively, neck and muscle spasm, wabbly or unstable walk. After quickly giving him pain meds and talking him down with love and support he was able to get through the night till we take him back to the vet in the morning. The second vet visit they say he will probably need surgery with a Specialty Neurologist Vet (Blue Pearl), but we can try to do a second round of medication to see if it was just a flare up. We opted to go another round of it in hopes we wouldn’t need to put him through the stress and fatal risks of anesthesia and spinal surgery. From Thursday to today, we have only seen a progressive decline in his health. More meds needed to keep him pain free, not eating, barely drinking, more pain episodes. When Blue Pearl finally opened on Monday (7/24) morning we called for an emergency surgery. Luckily, they could get us in that day for the initial exam but unfortunately couldn’t fit us in for x-rays, MRI, and surgery until hopefully Tuesday, possibly Wednesday. So far vet bills have been $1,100 before bringing him to Blue Pearl. His first visit at the Neurologist cost $700 which only included the examination, blood work, and meds. They quote us the tests and surgery will be $9,000-$11,000, depending on variable factors with Nico. This has been a devastating blow to our little family. Hannah and I have had to take off work to make sure Nico has had someone home with him 24/7 and will have to continue doing so during his recovery of 6-8 weeks. We’re both not one’s to make one of these but honestly anything will help take the stress off us and Nico. Thank you so much to anyone who even takes the time to read this, that donates, or even shares this post!
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