YIPPEEE!

Good news came to us today! One day before Thanksgiving and we surely have something to be thankful for. Casey does not have a torn ligament in his left knee! We were thrilled to hear this not only does he not need surgery right now, but financially this is great news as we head into the holidays!

We saw our orthopedic vet and he was not able to manipulate Casey's knee in the office due to my big lugs high anxiety and he was stressed! Of course too there was no limping going on, but that was consistent with him from the last tear on the right leg. I remember each visit he never limped and finally I have to video tape him so they could see the limp before he was officially diagnosed! Clever and stoic he can be! My big devil! So since he was not cooperating and was stiff they decided to x-ray and manipulate the leg. The great thing was the ortho had an x-ray from about 6 months ago of both knees that he took and thus gave him something to compare to once he took the new pictures. So after sedation and manipulations our orthopedic said there was no tear. He searched high and low and couldn't find anything. Also aspirated a fatty tumor on his leg just to rule that out and that was fine as well!

Soooo, what is causing the limp??? Well the ortho thinks it must be a muscle issue. He said to rest him for one month and by then he should be back to normal. So he is attached to the leash for potty breaks, and he can walk 10-15 mins a day and he is free to use stairs. This is a cake walk compared to TPLO recovery! So that is our plan and I only pray that is will go away during this recovery and that he will be better!

We have no idea how this happened other than to say it must have been while playing with his buddies at the doggy park. We aren't sure though.

Another issue we learned of while at this office visit was that Casey's weight was up a bit. How on Earth is this happening? He is on 2 cups of kibble a day, a few pieces of boiled chicken the size of quarters, and also some canned pumpkin for added fiber for his IBD. We switched his treats to an eighth of the size he was getting and also now they are the lite formula. I am stumped, but must say I could almost care less as the IBD is under control so a bit of weight means nothing in the grand scheme of things. He was up 1.2 ounces! We joked that the larger plate he has with the 8 screws must count for some of that right? The orthopedic says he carries his weight extremely well and he says he is fine. If we chose to have him lose he said only 5 lbs were needed. We were thrilled with this.

Another great thing that resulted from today is that while Casey was out the orthopedic decided for his own curiosity to x-ray his tplo leg again just to look in on it since we are 8 months out. He said he did this for himself and he did not charge us for this picture. The great news is he said "It is beautiful!" Everything is stable, in place and his muscle looks great! He has never once limped on this leg since he has been recovered. We couldn't be happier with the results of that surgery!

So we are nursing our boy back to health again! He doesn't do well from sedation and cries a lot and gets so out of it. He has been pretty good today but I am excited to see his happy go lucky self tomorrow morning when the sedation is truly gone!

I will post again at the close of our months recovery for you all to learn more! Keep your paws crossed!

Melissa & Casey :)

Not again :(

Could it be happening again? Not another knee injury! It is like we are reliving the last 2 years. Casey began limping and of course we obsess now over his right leg since his TPLO surgery, so we immediately assumed it was his right leg. After resting the limp stopped. Once we returned to his "regular activity" the limp returned. Then I began to really observe the limp and discovered this weekend that I actually think it is the left leg! OH NO! You know how they say go with your gut? Well I am and I am all too familiar with this limp and the inconsistencies with it coming and going. My guess right now is that he has a partial tear. No idea how partial it is. So of course here we are on a holiday weekend and the chances of reaching our respected ortho are slim. I am hoping for tomorrow on Monday, but I bet the call will actually happen on Tuesday. Hoping to get him seen in a week or two.

In the mean time we have restricted his activity some what but we are still walking him a bit, but really cut back until I can get him seen. I don't want to completely eliminate his walks and have that muscle begin to get atrophy. I am hoping the knowledge of the past will be and added bonus whether it is another tear or not.

So here we sit and wait. I am unable to prescribe nsaids for pain as he has had a bad reaction in the past to them and having the IBD it may cause issues with that. I was told by the ortho before not to give them unless advised to. Plus our ortho doesn't know about the recent diagnosis of IBD.

I will be sure to update our blog. In the meantime please keep Casey in your thoughts and check back in on our big beloved boy!