Morti is now a near 12-year-old, 75-pound, black Lab mix. In March of 2016 he ruptured the CCL of his right leg. It seemed TPLO was the ONLY way to go. The surgeon agreed (obviously) and 3 other area vets. He was healthy enough, still hiking 5 miles and full of energy. The surgery is…
Category: Dog Knee Alternative Treatment
Conservative Management – Nadine
Nadine’s (11-year-old Aussie/Border Collie, 48 lbs) rehab began about 10 weeks ago. She came back from running after something in the dark non-weight bearing on her left hind leg. My vet and I both prayed for a break, anything but an ACL injury. Yes, I get two stars as Nadine is considered to be in…
Injury Misdiagnosis – Lucy
Our 8-year-old Goldendoodle Lucy was at our dog boarder while we were on vacation and we received an email that she had injured herself running while off leash. We picked her up a few days later and realized it was much worse than what they had described; she was trying to walk on 3 legs,…
Surgery vs. Conservative Management – Sophie
Three months ago in February, my Scottie Terrier, Sophie, tore her CCL. She is 22.5 lbs and 7 years old. She had x-rays and saw two different vets, one being an orthopedic who recommend the band surgery. He manipulated it and said it was completely torn (not sure if he can really tell?) Anyway, I…
Conservative Management with Lupus – Kaylie
My 9-year-old 64 lb Kaylie became critically ill in June 2015 and was diagnosed with canine systemic lupus (which acts very much like human lupus) but luckily I found a wonderful internal medicine vet who is very knowledgable in this area. Through immunosuppressive drugs–Prednisone and Imuran among them–she has been in remission since mid-summer 2015,…
Surgery vs. Alternative Treatment – Dhani Doberman
My dog has been favoring a back leg for months, but not been lame. He was playing, landed on my other dog, and yelped. At the time I thought it could have been a muscle strain, so I kept him on the lead for two weeks but to be fair he wasn’t lame! I took…
Moby – Conservative Management
Moby is a 2.5 yr old, neutered lab. About 6 weeks ago, he became leg-in-the-air lame on his left hind leg after an acute injury. This was diagnosed as an acute acl tear or rupture. But in retrospect, I think he was displaying a whole set of subtle symptoms that both knees were in trouble,…
Conservative Management for ACL – Madam Bijou
One morning, we noticed our Bichon Frise was limping. It was her left hind leg. The limp was noticeable and disturbing. She wasn’t whining or anything, but she wasn’t putting weight on it either. I took her to 2 different vets. Both said it was her ACL and they recommended surgery. It was this site…
Conservative Management – Koko
Koko is a 58 pound Labradoodle. She will be 9 in October. We were told she tore her right CCL in 2009, but we did not do surgery. We kept her activity down and began daily glucosamine and fish oil. Recently, she started limping again with the cold weather. We put her on Rimadyl and…
A-Trac Dynamic Brace Experience – Mookie
All I can say is I should had seen the red flag when they said ‘No Returns or Money Back’! The A-Trac Dynamic Brace did more harm then good. Our Black Lab was in so much more pain and stressed with the brace on. When our dog would sit or lie down the brace would…