I truly need your advice. 2 months ago my 11 year old lab started limping and toe touching on his back left leg. We went to the vet who said “early signs of displaysia and beginnings of arthritis. Put in rimadyl and told to watch for changes. He got better then got a little worse and at the 60 day mark we went to a surgeon to get reevaluated as its now very difficult for him to maneuver stairs. This is our issue, . We live on the third floor of a 4 story brownstowne. This means every bio break requires 3 flights down and 3 flights back up. He’s used to this but again, he’s 11 years old. The cost of surgery is not an issue but what will stair climbing do to set us back? He can’t be carried. He’s 90 pounds and not overweight.

What can we do?

My dog Lola tore her ACL at age 7 (still acting like a puppy now at age 9) and not overweight. I just posted on the website all my details – but we went with pain medication the first few weeks, plus Rimadyl and Glucosamine and within 4 months Lola was her old self. When she was 8 1/2 she either hurt it again jumping and spinning or it just started feeling “tricky”, making her favor that leg. We took her to a holistic medicine vet who did chiropractic adjustment and she is again just like new.

My neighbor across the street had a 9 yr. old lab who tore her ACL about the same time. She opted for non agressive care and “Bailey” recovered to normal in about 3-4 months, too. I know vets believe they are offering the best option, but there is a lot of research saying the surgeries are not the be all and end all. A friend whose dog had TPLO at age 2 had arthritis set in very quickly – he has never really been completely well since. Best wishes what ever you decide.

Another thing is that we have no stairs to practice stairs on, we have 2 out front, that I keep getting her to go up and down, but because it’s only the two, she tends to jump them rather than walk them. Any ideas?