one thing after another

[s91837e]

Hello, I have an 8 year old male yellow lab. On December 28th a six year old ran into him with a sled and caught him right in the ankle. It ripped apart the ligaments in his leg. We had to install three screw and wrapped with suture. About 6 weeks went by and he was doing great. Then all of a sudden a screw pulled out of his leg. Put him in sever pain! We took him in and the vet was able to remove the screws. It was badly infected. Two weeks has gone by and our buddy is doing okay, but now is limping in his opposite leg. I took him in to the vet and now he has tore his ACL. We have put over $5,000 into our best friend. He still has a solid 6-8 weeks recovery in his bad leg and now his ACL is tore. What should a person do at this point? I love my buddy but how much can I keep spending on him? Can he make a full recovery?

[Woofie]

Do you have pet insurance?

Yes, he can make a full recovery...it will just take time. The ACL tear in what was the good leg really is no surprise, given he was adjusting all of his weight to that leg while the other one was trying to heal.

Do you have and have you had this dog on a good joint supplement; these supplements help TREMENDOUSLY, sometimes in the prevention of leg injuries as well as in the recovery of joint/ligament injuries.

Look into a product called Denatured Collagen type 2 by *NOW*, give this boy 2 capsules daily; this stuff is amazing in aiding to heal ligament/joint injuries. All this stuff is is chicken cartilage, but in a much higher dose then he can get from eating chicken alone.

Also look into Phycox MAX and get him going on this too; keep this boy on both of these supplements indefinitely.

There is no reason he can't recover from these injuries with the help of these supplements, rehab, and time; he is only 8yrs old and neither injury is life-threatening.

I can understand funds all too greatly however; and many dogs recover just fine with rest, rehab, and time for the ACL tear without surgery.

[Berna]

Depending on the tear (full or partial) you can try traditional management before deciding whether to go the surgical route or not.

I have a Lab who has torn acls on both knees. We did one surgery (extracapsular) and the other knee healed with traditional management. None of these knees are bothering him 5 and 4 years after respectively.

Woofie already gave some great suggestions. Also, you don't mention anything about your dog's weight, but with all these joint issues you may want to keep him on the leaner side.

[JenC]

We did 2 TPLO's 6 months apart on our old boy when he was 4. To the tune of $6K. He lived 9 more years after that. I know 8 is older, but labs can live pretty long....and they can remain pretty active. I'd do whatever was necessary for mine.

[Woofie]

Me too...there's no way I could give up on a non life threatening condition. Weight issue, if there is one, is the WORST offender in these situations.

[s91837e]

Thanks for all the great information. We will do whatever we have to make sure that Cuda is safe and healthy. He is in a hard cast for another two weeks while his bad leg recovers. The vet says we need a good solid 6 weeks of recovery on that leg before she will do an acl surgery on the opposite leg. I just worry that he will tear the acl in his leg that is already very weak. I just don't want this to be a never ending cycle for poor cuda. He already is pretty depressed looking after 10 weeks of surgery and recovery. He will have a minimum of 12 more weeks with no clear recovery. He is a 95 pound male and is lean.

[Watsonsmom]

I feel your pain. My 4 year old boy is at the vet today. Finished surgery around noon to have TPLO on his second leg (his first was done in August), and a mast cell tumor removed. He recovered so well from the first that we knew we had to do the second surgery! The expense is tough, and the recovery is really tough too because you can't tell them! But just remember they live in the moment and once you get him past this, he we be ready to go and he won't remember it!

[POPTOP]

So sorry this is happening. Problems do seem to come in bunches. Eight years old is still young for a lab and Cuda will probably do fine. I know it's a long road but hang in there for both of your sakes.

[Sandra]

Sorry to hear what you are going through. There's lots of great advice here to help you.

[Jax's Mom]

8 does seem young provided he's an otherwise healthy lab. We began the $ at 6 months with Jax (hip dysplasia-good deep socket-just week-therapy was great). Anyhow sometimes you just gotta suck it up. He pays us back every day with those sweet smiles and wonderful kisses.