I just returned from the vet and my heart hurts. Our Rottie (Jane) got sick. She's in the hospital and we're doing what we can, but the prognosis isn't good.

Jane has only been our girl for about a year. When we first found her (collapsed on the street), she had trouble walking and had some health issues due to the fact that she was seriously neglected by her last owner. The vet said that she was one of the sadder cases he had seen- he also said that her personality was amazing (especially considering the obvious abuse and neglect she had suffered). However, she flourished once we got her cleaned up and loved. She had arthritis and dysplasia, but she could run and play without too much of a problem. We knew there would eventually be problems, but didn't think it would happen so fast. She is the sweetest, easiest dog you can imagine. She's special and we bonded instantly. My BF and I loved her so much that we moved in together just so that we could keep her. We had only dated briefly and people thought we were crazy, but we felt it was worth it.

Last Sat, we played at the dogpark. She ran and had lots of fun. Sat night, she was stiff and a little withdrawn. Sunday morning, she wouldn't eat or drink and had trouble standing and walking. She was breathing had and was in obvious pain. Our vet was closed, so we took her to another vet. This vet suspected pancreatitis and gave her pain killers, antibiotics, fluids, etc. Jane could still walk, but barely. The vet also took x-rays, but couldn't see anything except scarring from years of bronchial infections. She considered hospitalizing her, but decided against it.

In the middle of the night, Jane became obviously uncomfortable and her legs stiffened up. We tried to help her calm down and keep her weight off the legs. It seemed like she was just getting stiff from being still too long- and she couldn't take her arthritis meds in case she had pancreatitis. After a bit, she went back to sleep and stayed calm. The next morning, her demeanor was back to normal and she ate and drank a little- but her lags had stopped working. Every now and then, you would be able to tell that she was in pain. We took her to our vet as soon as he opened. She has been there since yesterday morning. Despite steroid injections, antibiotics, pain meds and so on, there has been no improvement.

The vet believes she either had a ruptured disk or degenerative myelopathy. Both are bad- especially since she isn't a good candidate for surgery. We go back to the vet tomorrow morning to see if there has been any change. She's still so sweet and alert, but her body is so sad. And I'm so sad and my BF is so sad and my little chihuahua is so confused. Although there is some hope, there isn't much. I manages to stay positive for two days, but it isn't really working for me anymore. Especially since our visit today.

Thanks for listening. I know there are tons of pet people on here and I figure you would all understand... I figured I would distract myself with TE, but that didn't work, so I thought maybe I should just embrace it and post... Thanks.