Dallas |
can continue to learn what happens during this procedure and what to expect during recovery.
This all starts back in October when our chocolate labrador, Dallas, was playing at a park in our neighborhood.
He was running after a toy and hyperextended his leg. I wasn't there when it happened, my husband was, and
he didn't mention to me that anything unusual happened. When I arrived home from work Dallas was laying in
the yard and had a really hard time getting up to greet me. After most occasions at the park when he would run
hard he would have a little limp the next day. Mind you, Dallas got at least 4 walks a day, play time in the yard
and time at the park. He's a very active boy!
That night I had gone to bed and Dallas stayed on the main floor of our house. He's a bed hog and I was taking advantage
of the extra space! I woke up not long after to him whining. I went down to check on him and he was
half way up the staircase just standing there. After some coaxing, I was able to get him to finished the mountain
climb to the top of the stairs and into bed.
Dallas limped for the next 5 days. He was still using his leg, but it was noticeable that he was barring most
weight on his right side. My husband took him to the vet 7 days after the injury started. I forgot to mention
that we did not have a vet in Minneapolis yet. We moved to the Twin Cities just over a year ago and we
were able to continue with our veterinarian in Iowa when we made trips home. After suggestions from dog-friendly
websites, friends and online ratings we landed at a veterinary clinic near our home.
Dr. Mary did not impress my husband. She gave Dallas an x-ray and sort of did the drawer text. If you're
unfamiliar with the draw test you should view this page. His x-rays were shown to my husband and
Dr. Mary said she could not confirm if he had torn his ACL or not because of inflammation, but it
looked as if something was wrong. She claimed he failed the drawer test, but my husband wasn't convinced.
We called a local vet back that gave us some advice. He said that if it's not a complete tear to the ACL
it can heal if you treat the dog as if he is on crutches for 6-8 weeks. After much deliberation between
the two of us we decided to try and let it heal on its own and not jump right into surgery. Trying to keep
a 4 year old, at the time, under control was difficult. He was gradually getting better, but I also do not
think we did the best we could. He was still taking the stairs, jumping when he got excited and acting
like his leg wasn't so bad. We thought he would make a turn around. And then, one night he came to
jump into bed at a fast speed and he jumped too soon. He back leg's smacked against the side of the bed.
Poor thing recovered himself, but started to limp again.
So on January 22 we scheduled the TPLO surgery with Dr. Mary's office.....
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