Several months ago, Gracie began favoring her left rear leg. Long walks, too many extra ball throws at the park and the like would cause her to limp around for a few hours. Always, though, she would walk it off in a couple of hours and be back to her usual self. In March, I had the vet do some checking. On the Lab Retriever's Chat Board I had been reading about several dogs with knee injuries. Coincidentally, or not, several of my subscription dog magazines and newsletters sported articles about ACL repair in the knee. The vet found no ligament tears but some mild arthritis in her left rear knee. We amped up the glucosamine intake. And the weeks past with nary a limp from her. We continued with our long walks and trips to the dog park.
Until Saturday evening at the dog park. She dropped the ball and I grabbed it. I made her wait for me to throw it. She did. Then she took off at top speed. Three or four steps into her run she let out a loud yelp and then yelped for another few seconds. I've never heard her cry out like this. I dropped the chuck it and ran to her. She held her left rear leg up and looked at me with worried eyes.
She laid down for a few minutes to catch her breath. I was hoping for a sticker or burr in her paw. No such luck. She limped a few steps and laid back down. We struggled along like this for what seemed like forever until we got back to the car.
Once home, she refused to put any weight on her leg. I went through the pet lover's conundrum- emergency vet or wait? We waited. It was a long night. She was clearly uncomfortable. About 3 a.m. I moved to the couch in the living room to be closer to her. I would hear her whine, almost a mutter, shift her weight and try to reposition herself on the floor. At 3:30, I helped her to her kennel in the garage. She curled up on her bed and fell asleep. Back in my bedroom, I did the same.
At 6:30 a.m. I got dressed and struggled to get her in the back of the Escape. We got to the emergency vet. I should've gone the night before. Oh, those "should've, could've, would've" moments.
Dr. Fischer pronounced my worse concern...positive Drawer's sign - probable rupture of the ACL. He gave her some pain meds and we limped back to the Escape to head home. We'll see our vet first thing in the morning for xrays and discussions about treatment.
So it looks like our visits to Minto will be severely curtailed in the coming weeks and months. But Gracie is still Gracie. When the emergency vet came in to examine her, she looked up at him with a twinkle in her eye and wagged her tail at him. Restricting activity will be our new normal for now.
to bee -- or not to bee
1 year ago
3 comments:
We're so sorry to hear about Gracie. Hopefully, she'll be back at the park in no time.
Oh, drat, and just as summer is approaching!
You've done your reading so you know where you're headed; the good news is that the various repairs available all have very good results.
Darwin, our beloved chow/retriever mix, blew out his ACL in 2002. He had extracapsular stabilization; they used wire "thread" to create something akin to the ligament. Our vet scared the bejezus out of us before doing it by stressing the importance of proper recovery procedures, and as a result his recovery was (relatively) fast and complete.
He didn't mind having to be in the crate in the living room all the time -- we waited on him like he was a king! This suited him just fine. He understood what we needed and he kept himself on the down-low for the most part. He was always such a good-natured dog. I'm missing him something fierce this spring; we lost him to cancer just a year ago.
This picture is so thoroughly HIM: http://tinyurl.com/c84cqv
Cynthia & Mike - thanks for the well wishes. Gracie has a good spirit. My problem will be keeping her sedate while she recovers.
Lavachickie - Yes, I've been reading up. All articles also related dire consequences for failure to follow proper recovery steps. She's already being treated like a princess. She's had breakfast in bed twice now. Darwin had a great smile. I bet he made you laugh every day.
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