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,…
Tag: Conservative Management
Beginning Conservative Management – Jackson
I joined this community because my 3-year-old Lab, Jackson, was just diagnosed with a partial cruciate ligament tear. The vet receommended surgery, and said it didn’t need to be done right away, but eventually it would. After going home upset at the though of putting my poor baby under the knife, I began researching other…
Conservative Management Success – Annabelle
I cannot praise this website enough and thank you to everyone who has contributed. I feel qualified to give my 100% endorsement to using the conservative management method because I have experienced both TPLO surgery and opting out of surgery and following the CM method. There is NO WAY that I would ever recommend the…
Traditional Extracapsular Repair – Periwinkle
Hey there! It is with great pleasure that I share Periwinkle’s success with her “traditional” knee repair surgery. Winksy is a 6-ish year old pit bull terrier or mix. I am sharing this story 3 years after Winksy’s surgery because I wanted to give the repair time to succeed or fail, so to speak. My…
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…
Conservative Management – Deana
The following is a story from an owner that was derived from an email exchange: My 11-year-old miniature poodle has an ACL injury to her rear left leg from chasing a squirrel. Her vet said I should take her to an orthopedic specialist for his opinion. He felt, however, that at her age this might…
Veterinary Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine which involves inserting thin needles into specific points on the body. This technique has been used in China for thousands of years to treat a variety of illnesses and is a key component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The original theories of TCM assert that needling certain points…
Conservative Management and Tightrope – Ellie
When Ellie, our 55-pound boxer/pit bull mix, was 3, she tore both ACLs within a couple weeks of each other. Our then vet immediately told us to have TPLO as soon as possible. However, My husband and I took to the Internet to see what we could learn about the whole ordeal. We opted for…
Angus – Bilateral TPLO (or not?)
Well here it goes. Our 8-year-old black lab mix, Angus, has always been a very high energy athletic dog. A few months ago, he turned up lame on the right side, not putting his foot down, etc. We didn’t witness the event that caused this, but it was likely running through the yard doing his…
Conservative Management- Sadie
After 16 weeks, Sadie, our 9-year-old Shih Tzu, has started walking with only conservative management! We were told she would have to have surgery for a full tear to her ACL. The surgeon said to give it 8 weeks to see if she would get better. I am so glad I did not give up!!I…