Welcome to my blog about Casey!
So it all began around January 2006. Casey was limping here and there with his back right leg. We know he did not have an accident, but he does love to play frisbee! That is his passion along with his "buddy" balls! We went to his vet and they said maybe he hurt himself playing or jumping to make a catch and prescribed some rest and some Aspirin for 7 days. So this is what we did and it seemed to go away. then it arose again a month or so later and again we told the vet and did the same thing. Then winter set in full force here in Massachusetts and Casey had a lot less activity between cold temperatures, snow and it being dark at 4pm! He rested well this winter and we didn't see any more noticeable limping until the late Fall of 2006.
Casey again began limping and it was more consistent now. We took him to the vet and he put him on Rimadyl. We tried that and we didn't notice it to help any. The vet then added Tramadol with the Rimadyl and that helped some. Limping was still going on though. We finally did x-rays, but vet did them of the hips. He did see mild to moderate arthritis in the hips, but nothing to explain the limping in the leg and only one side. He put him on Duramaxx and Casey seemed better a bit. We also did strict rest for 3 weeks and of course when rested Casey was fine. Then another problem arose...Casey got bored without his "play" and decided to chew up tissues and other things when we were not home. The poor boy needs exercise. Well we stuck it out for 3 weeks and once we resumed normal activity he came up lame again. Then about a week later Casey was 3 legging and completely not using his right rear leg! I was scared to death.
Well back to the vet the next morning and hours before we were due to see him for our apt I did a web search for limping in the rear leg. Got a ton of information on torn CCL's! It finally hit me that this WAS an injury and it was the KNEE not the hips! Yippe! I was excited as this was something we could fix and I was confident that this was our issue! I brought what I learned to the vet. He was in complete agreement with me and did the drawer test to confirm. Also kept him for x-rays to also confirm this.
I go back a few hours later to pick up Casey and the vet said Casey has a complete tear of his CCL. This requires surgery and he referred us to an orthepedic surgeon. I called this surgeon immediately upon getting home as I felt my boy was in pain and suffering. I got an apt the following Wednesday so just over a week away. Seemed like an eternity to wait. I had so much research to do and so many questions!
So it all began around January 2006. Casey was limping here and there with his back right leg. We know he did not have an accident, but he does love to play frisbee! That is his passion along with his "buddy" balls! We went to his vet and they said maybe he hurt himself playing or jumping to make a catch and prescribed some rest and some Aspirin for 7 days. So this is what we did and it seemed to go away. then it arose again a month or so later and again we told the vet and did the same thing. Then winter set in full force here in Massachusetts and Casey had a lot less activity between cold temperatures, snow and it being dark at 4pm! He rested well this winter and we didn't see any more noticeable limping until the late Fall of 2006.
Casey again began limping and it was more consistent now. We took him to the vet and he put him on Rimadyl. We tried that and we didn't notice it to help any. The vet then added Tramadol with the Rimadyl and that helped some. Limping was still going on though. We finally did x-rays, but vet did them of the hips. He did see mild to moderate arthritis in the hips, but nothing to explain the limping in the leg and only one side. He put him on Duramaxx and Casey seemed better a bit. We also did strict rest for 3 weeks and of course when rested Casey was fine. Then another problem arose...Casey got bored without his "play" and decided to chew up tissues and other things when we were not home. The poor boy needs exercise. Well we stuck it out for 3 weeks and once we resumed normal activity he came up lame again. Then about a week later Casey was 3 legging and completely not using his right rear leg! I was scared to death.
Well back to the vet the next morning and hours before we were due to see him for our apt I did a web search for limping in the rear leg. Got a ton of information on torn CCL's! It finally hit me that this WAS an injury and it was the KNEE not the hips! Yippe! I was excited as this was something we could fix and I was confident that this was our issue! I brought what I learned to the vet. He was in complete agreement with me and did the drawer test to confirm. Also kept him for x-rays to also confirm this.
I go back a few hours later to pick up Casey and the vet said Casey has a complete tear of his CCL. This requires surgery and he referred us to an orthepedic surgeon. I called this surgeon immediately upon getting home as I felt my boy was in pain and suffering. I got an apt the following Wednesday so just over a week away. Seemed like an eternity to wait. I had so much research to do and so many questions!
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