 |
|
My yellow male Labrador Cuffy came back from an off leash walk in the woods slightly limping on his right rear leg and I began to worry. It was barely noticeable but he had already been diagnosed with OCD in his left rear hock so I was always on the lookout for any problems. Now he favored the right leg but there was no swelling whatsoever and given that he had been 8 months old when he had been diagnosed with the OCD and he was now a little over 2 years old, I doubted that that was the problem in the other leg. The following day the lameness subsided and so did my worries. A week later both returned despite being rested.
Being in training for his AKC Junior Hunter title and having passed two tests already, I was depressed about him missing out on working and he was sore at me for that as well. Cuffy likes to do what Cuffy likes to do and he showed me how he felt about being confined and kept from having fun by wildly jumping around when I let him out of his crate causing my heart to leap into my throat thinking whatever he did to his leg was going to be much worse.
His gait was just a little off intermittently for another few days so I brought him in to his veterinarian. He discussed hip dysplasia and a cruciate ligament tear with me and felt the leg and knee with him awake. Cuffy was placed on buffered aspirin and rest for a another week. Neither worked so we were back at the vet's. The next step was to be put under anesthesia and have x-rays and an exam of the knee. Everything was surprisingly and frustratingly normal. After another month the lameness was constant.
The trip back to my vet was to be a long discussion. The orthopedic specialist felt strongly that he had sustained a cruciate ligament tear but it was a partial tear and therefore difficult to elicit a drawer movement even under sedation. New x-rays revealed some arthritis in the knee as well. So the decision was made to perform an exploratory. Once in the surgeon discovered a small tear which he repaired using a traditional method. Nylon was used to stabilize the knee and compensate for the injured ligament which was no longer able to hold the knee in place.
Cuffy came home with a large bandage and a look on his face like What on earth did you do to me? He cried and whined that night in his crate and it was very difficult to hoist his 85 lbs body out for walks. Of course the surgery was performed in January and here in New England it gets awful cold and snowy. My husband made paths outside but of course Cuffy didnt like the idea of eliminating where I wanted him to and so our walks turned into 30 minutes or more of circling the same areas over and over and over.
|
|
 |
