I don’t even know.
On Saturday Buddy and Buster were rough housing, playing around. Up and down the concrete patio, sliding, rolling, nips and bites and soft growls in good fun. We are happy our dogs, both in their 12th year, are so healthy. (We spend a fortune on their dog food every month, so they better be.) But they aren’t invincible, or puppies, and all it took was for Buddy to step wrong and twist, turn, howl…there went his ACL ligament. Torn to bits, like a letter from an ex-lover.
We took Buddy to the vet on Monday, and he says surgery is recommended, but not necessary. As he heals, he’ll probably develop arthritis, which he does not have now. In fact, the vet couldn’t believe how strong and healthy Buddy’s joints are, and how healthy he is overall for his age.
The surgery is $2,000. We don’t have $2,000.
I’ve read on a few websites that the surgery is far from necessary, and that recovery really only begins after a minimum of 8-12 weeks of restricted activity. We need to give Buddy time to see if he stabilizes the joint on his own. Does this sound right?
We dropped the boys off with my mom so we could do some Christmas errands and found a lizard under her tree.
She said, “Why under the tree?”
I said, “Really? Why at all?”
I still don’t know what we are getting my father in-law for Christmas.
I may be in and out for the next couple of weeks. I’m working out what I want to do for the next year. You know how I love my assignments! Some ideas I’m considering, and will run by you for approval, include a book club and some intense William Morrising.
I’m going to go to the mall, throw darts in the air, and buy whatever it is they land on. Then I’m going to wrap it up and give it to my father in-law. I think I’ll use the same procedure on a gift for my dad.
Such a handsome fellow! Although, he really quite reminds me of this . . .
http://youtu.be/DD0XuAcE0g4
I was just getting ready to go grocery shopping for Christmas dinner. I’ve already been out once; so this will be round two. I was just getting ready to step out the door when I thought, I know what I’ll do . . . I’ll check Facebook! Which led to your blog post . . . which led to “there goes Bill” . . . which led to a look up on YouTube. Naturally.
Speaking of plans for next year, perhaps I’ll start a segment on time management . . . :)
Haha! A lizard with a ladder in a tree! Awesome.
Good luck with the Christmas shopping and best recovery wishes to Buddy! You may not be officially running it by us for comment yet, but I, for one, love the idea of a book club…assuming it’s open to those of us who don’t live in California. :) I always enjoy getting reading suggestions from people whose taste I respect.
Yay! Glad to hear it. We’ve been brainstorming over on my facebook page what kind of books we should read. Lots of votes for young adult so far.
Get both fathers EXPERIENCE presents…movie tickets, a netflix subscriptions, theater tickets, a boat ride that serves dinner, etc. They will love it. :) And fast to buy and easy to wrap.
Great ideas! My husband might really like the NetFlix subscription, actually.
Hello blog crush. :)
SO much awesome here — the lizard (YES, WHY?), the darts in the air — ahh aren’t the holidays just AMAZING??
I’m loving how for me, PMS has timed itself perfectly to Christmas week. TMI? No. PMS!!!
:)~Melissa
Never TMI! :)
While I love the lizard, I have to comment on the canine ACL.
We had to give up a long anticipated (and long saved for) vacation when our dog tore her ACL. It was clear to both vets (including the one with no skin in the game, ie, would not do any surgery on her) that this would not stabilize on her own. When I asked what they did before the miracle surgery, the answers were unappealing: let the leg dangle and hope it doesn’t get infected; amputate; or put the dog down. With those as the other choices, we became the People I Never Thought We Were and went ahead with the surgery.
Caveats: our dog was younger (6 or 7–pound dog, so we’re not sure) and the other options were untenable (she couldn’t go up and down steps, and we are in a split level). I will tell you that our dog was PO’ed for a LONG time after surgery and was not afraid to show it.
But, four years later, she’s still a delight and it was totally worth it. Other than sticking out that leg in a weird way when lying down, there’s no way to tell it ever happened, which is a huge blessing. May your Buddy (and your wallets) have better luck than ours!
Thanks, Memegrl. I like hearing everyone’s perspective. :)
I agree with Wende, dudes love Netflix!
On the ACL front, restrict his every move, for a least two weeks straight. The vet should have offered some pain killers to help keep him immobile (drugged up) for a while and for the pain. I know, it’s like having a baby on your hip, but it does help. Keep a drag line (leash) on him if he tends to get rowdy in the house. Tie him down if necessary. An exercise pen (like a baby play pen, for dogs) could be helpful. Take him out on leash for potty breaks or get a ten-twenty foot cable and tie him off when you let him out the door. This may not work because he may want to run off with your other dog. Only give him enough cable to go do his business.
My monster, Juno, is living with this as we speak. When it happened, over a year ago, our vet said it was not torn – yet. We did leash duty for two weeks and it did help. A month would of probably taken care of the situation, but we about lost our sanity! She is very high strung and sixty-five pounds of pure muscle. I couldn’t afford the surgery either and started researching. I found this website to be helpful: http://dogkneeinjury.com/
As you will see, there are many Non-Surgical Techniques and LOTS of different opinions. Here is what helped my dog go from hobbling around on three legs to fully using the “torn” one. NuviFlex. http://www.olympusbrands.com/ It is worth every penny! Sometimes they have 20-30% off, get the big bottle. After four days on NuviFlex, she was using her leg again. You start out giving a higher dose for two to four weeks for the “Initial Loading Period”. Then lower the dose. She does have set-backs and goes to hobbling, after running full-speed out the back door. It doesn’t help that we have a huge back yard for her to get her momentum up either. Her ACL isn’t done for just yet. She can still catch rabbits – she is very fast! We really need to do another leash duty to make her rest. She did really well for many months, until I took her to the vet two weeks ago. He checked her knee out (digging his fingers in there) and she’s limping around again.
I hope this helps.
Camby
This is awesome, thank you. I’m going to check out the meds and that link, too.
Cody tore his ACL a couple of months ago, and I didn’t have the money either. He’s been taking it easy and his leg is no worse. In fact, I’d say it’s gotten much, much better. So don’t feel bad. Let the guy rest, and I’m sure it’ll get better.
They say 8-12 weeks for just the intense recovery period. Then, after that, we can expect slow but steady healing. Did you read Camby’s comment above? She seems to have some great tips and resources.
Your William Morris’ing is what got me hooked on your blog in the first place. So continue in that vein all you want! It inspires me to tackle my own junk drawers and other unsightly spots.
This past year (with the exception of the current month- totally fell off the wagon with one month to go) I did one task/assignment/goal a month. It was pretty great. Like your 31-days project, but looser because I wasn’t doing my “thing” every day necessarily. For example- January was “get rid of 5 things per day”. Okay, that one was an every day one but felt awesome after all the “stuff” accumulation of Christmas. One month I focused on good sleep. Another on getting off facebook. You know, important stuff.
Not trying to toot my own blog horn here. Just loved doing one thing intensely for a month, rather than loooong goals stretched out over a year.
Ooooh. I really like that! Hmmm.
oh yes please, more William Morris-ness and a not too earnest book club (I enjoyed your romantic trashy novels post). And mostly seeing where the non-sequitur-ing leads.
Years ago we re-homed a newfoundland who had cartilage surgery (the breeder paid for this) and her knee was never quite right, especially as she got older, but not walking her too far and avoiding difficult surfaces like sandy beaches helped prevent stiffness.
Sally, do you read the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog?
yes, sometimes I do; I found them via your post on romantic novels…i guess I am not really into the totally trashy but romantic and improbable is still ok with me. However, I look forward to any kind of reading inspiration you can throw at us.
I see you’ve got great info and links from Camby already; here’s another one – http://tiggerpoz.com/id3.html (even though it’s anonymous, it has good info)
My first dog had TPLO ACL surgery and with or without, it’s a long recovery. My present dog has had a major health issue and in terms of anxiety and $, I feel your pain :c(
Good luck with the project/shopping/and pupster.
Thanks for the link! I’m going to check it out. Someone below mentioned a friend who bought her dog a brace. I was wondering if they existed! I’m going to check it out.
I have a friend whose large dog tore her ACL. Friend found a brace contraption online and successfully treated her dog without the surgery.
It’s on my list for today to find a similar brace! Thanks for letting me know they even exist.
Sorry to hear about your pooch!
I agree with your vet, even if surgery is recommended, it’s not necessary, so why not give it a try without surgery first (with extremely limited movement) and see what happens?
Our 130lb great dane broke a toe this spring and our vet recommended we take her to Detroit, MI for surgery (we live in Canada)… we weren’t so sure, it was an expensive procedure, and she’d be so far away… so went to another vet, who recommended rest and limited movement. The second vet gave her some pain meds and an anti-inflamatory, and the pup was as good as new within about 2 months :)
So funny to hear about the lizzard, and good idea on the netflix… we have it and my hubby LOVES it!
Good luck with your project, if you’re seriously considering a book club, I’d rather not read young adult books, but something with a little more meat to them… just my opinion!
Signed – a long time reader, that pretty much never comments!
I’m not entirely sold on YA myself, and for the same reasons. But, I’ve only read 1 or 2 YA books, so it’s completely possible I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’ll put it to a vote and see what happens.
So sorry about your doggie! We have two large dogs – Ricky and Lucy. :) Lucy has hip dysplasia and we really have wanted to avoid surgery. For years we had her on an anti-inflammatory but it really wasn’t sorking that well. I contacted a local vet who is trained in both eastern and western verterinary practice, as well as acupuncture (which is effective at relieving the pain). She stopped the med we had been using and put lucy on a regimen of glucosamine, fish oil, two baby aspirin a day, and the most awful-smelling black powdered Oriental medicinal concoction. It’s been miraculous – Lucy still has some stiffness and some reluctance to to get up (she may use the leg as an excuse) but is SO much better. If you have anyone like that in your area it might be worth a visit.
Lizards I’m OK with – one year I found a snakeskin in our real tree and was sure that whole season the snake was in the house somewhere. Went artificiial the next year. Good luck with everything and happy holidays!
If I found a snakeskin I would move!
I’m so glad to hear all the good results from naturally treating injuries and diseases!
Oh – and William Morris-ing is what brought me here also, so I’d love more of that. I just left my real-life book club after 10 years (the membersip was changing and I felt less and less connected) so I’m definitely inetrested! I will (at least try to) read pretty much anything.
I SAY I like to read anything and everything, but I admit that only this year have I really branched out and tried new things (YA, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, etc.). I think book club would be good for me.
Sorry about your doggie! I got a lot of good information on the same website that Alisa linked to. My dog tore her ACL about 2 years ago; I was pregnant and in the middle of a kitchen renovation and spending $2000 on surgery was not an option. We restricted her movement for about 10 weeks, saw a marked improvement after the first month, but she would want to run (and we would let her because her limp was gone and she was driving us crazy) and then re-injure it. Every now and then after she’s played too hard she’ll come in with a limp, but that’s rare and it only lasts for a few minutes. She was young when it happened, not quite 2, so I do expect her to develop arthritis as she gets older.
I’m pretty sure our vet gave us Rimadyl (sp?) for the first few days to help with inflamation. That’s the only drug I remember giving her though. He recommended glucosamine down the road if the stiffness reappears. Good luck! And good luck keeping Buddy’s movements restricted; not quite sure how that will work with two dogs….
Yes, our vet put Buddy on glucosamine immediately. Good to know your doggie did better, too!
Not for nothing, but I would be moving out if I found a lizard in my house. Just sayin’.
+200 points.
” Torn to bits, like a letter from an ex-lover.” Fabulous writing! This one is going in my quotebook….
Glad you liked it! :)
Totally up for some serious William Morrising – could use some more inspiration and focus in that area and I think you are just the one to provide it! :)
Oh, Jules! So sad about Buddy – I know you’ll do the research.
I’m totally, utterly behind on Christmas (and everything else). Whatever. Everyone will survive. I may try your darts tactic.
So sorry to hear about your doggie! We have a 140 lb. Chocolate Lab/Mastiff mix named Ace and the exact same thing happened to him a few years ago (he was 7 or 8). Our vet told us the same thing. We purchased a large (very large) kennel which set us back a few hundred bucks, but was way more cost effective than the $3,000 surgery. We moved our furniture around so that Ace’s kennel could be in the living room near a window and was visible to all of the comings and goings and this helped him to be less anxious about being in there all the time. We let him out twice a day, long enough to do his business and sniff around a little. And we spent as much extra time talking to him and opening up the kennel door and petting him as we could (at first I think he thought we was in trouble because he had never been kenneled before). We kept this up for two months while giving him daily vitamins and prescription pain meds. After two months we started leaving the kennel door open for a few minutes at a time and let him stretch his leg little by little. After three months we started leaving the kennel door open all of the time and left it in the living room. He would still spend almost all of his time in there anyways. It became his den and he loved it. His is 11 now and his limp has been gone for a while. When his arthritis acts up we give him un-coated aspirin. He is doing great. Good luck with everything and keep us updated on his progress!