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 excellent weight for her size by my vet. After the exam it was decided she had injured her knee and I had two options: surgery or try the conservative management approach. I fortunately have a wonderful vet who listened and offered suggestions on what I could do to make a conservative option work and she sent me to this site to get information. We decided to try and if she showed no improvement quickly or improvement stalled then we would reevaluate.
I have to say major kudos to this and all the information on here. I have been diligently following the rehab guide and progress has been great. We are working on week 10 and she is walking with speed full weight bearing (very minimal hip dip as she is walking) unless she thinks the walk was my idea. We incorporate a lot of the exercises in on our walks, although it takes more treats to get her to
perform than I would like. She does not like to participate if she thinks it is work, so I make sure to keep her stimulated with treats for the sits, curbs, and figure 8s. I have now begun letting her trot slowly beside me and this week she trotted several steps (slight limp) when usually it was one to two steps and then she either started walking again or carried her leg and I bumped her back to a walk. Due to squirrels and other critters most of our exercise is still on leash as I don’t want to risk going backwards. I really think the key to her success so far is I have been diligent on following the awesome rehab guide and she is really good about looking after herself. I wish everyone luck in their progress.
Hi! What are the exercises and rehab guide you mentioned? Are they from this website? How is Nadine doing now?