Taking Care of our 1st Born

Believe it or not, a dog can tear his ACL... and that unfortunately is exactly what has happened to our Kodi Bear.

For a few months now, Kodi has had a limp. At first it did not worry us, because he has had a limp for a day or two before and it's always gone away. But this limp never ended... constantly we saw him keeping weight off his left back leg, hobbling to get up off the floor, not allowing me to lift his right leg when wanting to clean off his paws. The odd thing was, he continued to lay on his left side. We finally decided he was obviously being bothered by something in his left leg, and we took Kodi to the vet a couple Friday's ago.

The news was not pretty, but it was at least something we could treat for him. The vet told us he had torn his ACL and surgery would be the necessary way to go. We were told that without the ACL repair, Kodi would have increased onset of arthritis. Repairing the ACL would not keep him from having arthritis one day, but it would help with the early onset of the arthritis. In addition, they stressed that the longer Kodi went without an ACL repair, the rest of his body would be carrying the load, as he would do his best to keep pressure off the injured area.

A little dumbfounded and concerned at the price tag associated with the ACL surgery for a dog, and not knowing the surgeon the vet would refer us too, we searched for someone to give us a second opinion and quote. Thankfully our friends, The Yopp's have a great vet they were confident to suggest to us. Dr. Blackburn at the Gentle Care Animal Hospital saw Kodi on Friday (Feb. 6th) for a consultation and confirmed the he does in fact have a torn ACL. On Monday, we took him back to get some x-rays so that Dr. Blackburn could take a good look at Kodi's knees and hips prior to opening him up for surgery.

The good news is that Kodi is overall a healthy pup. I feel so much more confident about what is going on with Kodi now that we've seen Dr. Blackburn and gotten a second opinion. Kodi does have a torn ACL, a little onset of arthritis around where the injury has occurred (probably due to our delay in getting him seen sooner), but the doctor could see little to no hip dysplasia. That's a great blessing, because we worried about the hip dysplasia.

According to Wikepedia,

Hip dysplasia is an abnormal formation of the hip socket that, in its more severe form, can eventually cause crippling lameness and painful arthritis of the joints. It is a polygenic trait, that is affected by environmental factors in the production of the final phenotype. It can be found in many animals and occasionally in humans, but is most commonly associated with dogs, and is common in many dog breeds, particularly the larger breeds.

Hip dysplasia is one of the most studied veterinary conditions in dogs, and the most common single cause of arthritis of the hips.

So, we can deal with an ACL tear. We got an "easier to handle" financial quote from Dr. Blackburn, and will be able to get Kodi back to putting weight on that left leg after the surgery and three months or so of rehab. We just want our first born fur baby taken care of!!!

From the sounds of it all, the rehab and recovery time is going to be the most difficult part for us all. Kodi will spend 2 days at the vet counting the day of the surgery and a day of recovery. Then the work at home begins. We will have to keep Kodi separated from Dexter for the entire time. I do not think Kodi or Dexter will understand this. It will take lots of work. They cannot play together, Kodi cannot go up or down steps, which means we'll have to make a ramp for him to get in and out of our house to use the bathroom. He must lay low and rest for a couple months. We will have to help ensure that he does not run, jump, or anything that might reverse all the work that will be done in the surgery. All of this will have to be done, all the while spending time with both Kodi and Dexter. They're our current children... we don't want to neglect them, especially our pup that has recently gone through surgery. (Yes, I'm sure this mentality about our dogs will change once children come along. Everyone tells us that. But currently, these are our children.)

Surgery date set for Thursday, February 19th.