Dudley came up lame last night...

[zakatak]

Hi All,

Scared here. Dudley came up lame last night, after playing outside. No obvious trauma but about 30 minutes after being inside, he got up and couldn't put much, if any, weight on his back right leg.

He's quiet. It's worse when he first gets up from lying, severe limp, but progresses to a smaller limp after a few minutes of walking.

I'm calling the vet this morning and hopefully will have some answers later today. I am praying it's not his ACL. This has been a very stressful year for me and my family and I'm not sure we're stable enough to survive such a recovery right now.

Any prayers, good thoughts, advice, ideas or :tequila: would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Jager's Mom]

My prayers are with you... Hoping for the best.

Just know others (including me) have been there...it's a tough road (and expensive), but it's do-able. Hang in there...and keep us posted.

 

[ElvisTheNewf]

Oh I sure hope it's not his ACL! Hopefully it's just a bad mucle pull. Elvis has done both and acted similar with each. Let us know how it goes, please.

 

[zakatak]

Thank you!

Dudley is sedated at the vet office now where they'll be doing x-rays and the drawer test to check his ACL.

I'll update when I hear some news.

 

[Leonard and his bud Snuffles]

I think ACL they tend to hold the leg up and never really gets better walking. Hopefully it is just a soft tissue injury. Maybe a course of some anti inflammatory and rest will fix him right up. I know in the past a few days of Deramaxx has helped Snuffles a bunch. Anyway hoping for the best.

 

[jane]

Hopefully it is just a strain/sprain...Sending lot's of good thoughts...

 

[DAWNMERIE]

Sounds kinda like Myra...she has a hard get up and then walks it off. We are just in the process of figuring it all out. We believe that she has a partial tear Hope Dudley is just a sprain.

 

[Jeannie]

My Samantha did that and it was a bucket tear in the meniscus of her knee. after surgery she was fine the rest of her life.

 

[ElvisTheNewf]

I think ACL they tend to hold the leg up and never really gets better walking. Hopefully it is just a soft tissue injury. Maybe a course of some anti inflammatory and rest will fix him right up. I know in the past a few days of Deramaxx has helped Snuffles a bunch. Anyway hoping for the best.

Not always. When Elvis tore his he limped in the morning, then was fine the rest of the day. It progressively got worse over the next few weeks until he was limping all the time. He had a partial tear that became a complete one during his xrays.

 

[zakatak]

No real results yet. Dudley is home sleeping off his sedation. Dr. said both knees were very loose. She didn't seem very happy with this - kind of mentioned it might be problematic for him later in life. She did say that since both were very loose, she couldn't determine if a tear took place.

She will have the x-rays back tomorrow so hopefully hear something then.

Otherwise, we wait and see. If he doesn't respond to meds & rest, then it is likely a tear.

 

[Bojie]

No real results yet. Dudley is home sleeping off his sedation. Dr. said both knees were very loose. She didn't seem very happy with this - kind of mentioned it might be problematic for him later in life. She did say that since both were very loose, she couldn't determine if a tear took place.

She will have the x-rays back tomorrow so hopefully hear something then.

Otherwise, we wait and see. If he doesn't respond to meds & rest, then it is likely a tear.

xrays wont show a tear. A positive drawer test will, and that does not require sedation. It's a quick 2second exam. If she can't determine it on that, you might want to think about taking him somewhere else for a second opinion. Either way, a second opinion is what I always do regardless how much I trust my vet. (I've been known to get 3

 

[jane]

xrays wont show a tear. A positive drawer test will, and that does not require sedation. It's a quick 2second exam. If she can't determine it on that, you might want to think about taking him somewhere else for a second opinion. Either way, a second opinion is what I always do regardless how much I trust my vet. (I've been known to get 3

I'm with Megan....Xrays don't show tears....I'm surprised she did them. I would definitely want a second opinion.

 

[ElvisTheNewf]

Yup. Elvis only had X-rays because they were checking his hips. She has to do the drawer test, but doing it under sedation won't work properly. We're all a bit floppy when sedated!

 

[zakatak]

Thanks, everyone! I finally heard back from the vet today - the xrays show some fluid in his knee, which could be indicative of a tear. Or not. So, $500 later and we still know nothing.

He is walking much better, but he is on Prevacox. He's slightly toe touching when he walks and he is not doing things he likes to do actively (like jumping on the bed at night). This tells me that he knows it would hurt (or he knows he can't do it). That worries me lots.

They have him on some ligament pill (??) and the Prevacox for now. Follow up on Friday. I will see how he does once off the Prevacox and determine if a 2nd opinion is in order right now. I don't want to rush into something that might heal on it's own, if given time. However, I don't want to sleep on something that could get worse, if given time.

Tough choices... opinions?

 

[ElvisTheNewf]

Is he not on strict rest? When we were ruling out Elvis' tear he was on very strict rest - like only outside on a leash and just to do his business. No walks, no playing, certainly no jumping. Regardless, ligaments never "heal" but with the right combination of conservative management you may be able to avoid surgery.

When we were going through this with Elvis we decided to get him to OSU for the TPLO surgery. He was only 4, and while no time is ever guaranteed with these guys, we thought we owed it to him to fix what we could in order to allow him to be a dog and do what he wants. This is a very personal decision, but for us it was what we wanted to do.

I've never heard of a ligament pill so I'm not sure what you're referring to. Elvis was on two kinds of pain medications but Prevacox wasn't one of them so I'm not familiar with that either.

 

[NewfieMama]

Zuzu had a partial tear that mostly healed when she was 1 but because she had issues in both knees this has been the year from hell. So I second (third) the opinion to get more vet opinions, since this vet says both knees are "loose" - believe me you don't want to be in a situation like mine where the dog does not have a single back leg to stand on. Not saying it will happen but definitely investigate, ask TONS of questions and make sure you understand the implications of whatever you decide to do (surgery or not, assuming there is a tear or other reparable injury to the leg).

So sorry you're going through this.

 

[zakatak]

Yes, he is on strict rest. Only going outside to do his business and no playing in the house.

I will get a second opinion - definitely won't hurt!

Thanks, again.

 

[Pam G]

Im sorry to hear his. Poor Dudley. Usually if a knee is loose, it means it is unstable because of a ligament tear. I would take him to an orthopedist to find out for sure. Sometimes vets like to do ex rays...not to see the ligament but to see if there is any change in the joint surface from any instability. Bruce's vet suggested ex rays because he couldn't get a drawer movement but I decided to rest him for a few weeks and then when he didn't get better, we went to see a specialist instead. The ortho vet did get a drawer movement, but he only had a 60 percent tear. He had TTA surgery. Good luck.