Finn goes under the knife (and comes out the other side)
For the past 8 weeks Finn has been hobbling. Not a painful hobble but rather a nuisance that gets worse with over exertion and remains in spite of a number of visits to the vet and the administering of countless drugs.
We first thought a tick may have become embedded in his left rear foot. After I couldn't get what I thought was the tick out of his foot, we took him to the vet. They in turn dug a whole in his paw and claimed that they had partially removed something but that the remainder would fall out in the coming days.
'If he doesn't get better, come back and see us in a week or so'. We did.
They then took x-rays and hypothesised that he was suffering from an early onset of arthrosis. Not good news for a Labrador at any age but more so for one not yet even 3 (his birthday is 23rd of August for those that are interested). He was prescribed a course of anti inflammatory drugs as well as something to ease the joint pain. We were asked to come back 3 weeks later to report on the progress.
We duly returned to inform the vet that there had been little to no improvement in his movement. Somewhat alarmed at this lack of progress, the vet informed us that he was seeking a second opinion and that we should see an orthopedic surgeon to 'rule out that he hasn't done something to his cruciate ligament'. That was just over 2 weeks ago.
On Thursday we visited the surgeon and within 40 minutes of prodding, poking and manipulating each of his 3 'healthy' joints, the moment he started on the 4th we each knew that something was not right. Ruptured cruciate ligament was the diagnosis - surgery necessary. Cost Â900! Yippee. Just what we need at this point in time let alone what a 3 year old Lab wants to hear just before his birthday!
We booked him in there and then and yesterday he had his operation. Although the surgeon declared it a success (neither of hismeniscuss were affected), the sight of our unconscious little boy lying prone on the bed with his tongue hanging limp and with dodgy shaved patches all over his body was enough to bring tears to the eye. His moaning andwhimperingg continued until the wee hours of this morning, though thankfully this morning he was considerably better. He is now house bound for 3 weeks and still after that can only be outside 4 times a day for between 5-15 minutes per time.
Here's how he looked last night - hopefully the healing process is fast and successful.
We first thought a tick may have become embedded in his left rear foot. After I couldn't get what I thought was the tick out of his foot, we took him to the vet. They in turn dug a whole in his paw and claimed that they had partially removed something but that the remainder would fall out in the coming days.
'If he doesn't get better, come back and see us in a week or so'. We did.
They then took x-rays and hypothesised that he was suffering from an early onset of arthrosis. Not good news for a Labrador at any age but more so for one not yet even 3 (his birthday is 23rd of August for those that are interested). He was prescribed a course of anti inflammatory drugs as well as something to ease the joint pain. We were asked to come back 3 weeks later to report on the progress.
We duly returned to inform the vet that there had been little to no improvement in his movement. Somewhat alarmed at this lack of progress, the vet informed us that he was seeking a second opinion and that we should see an orthopedic surgeon to 'rule out that he hasn't done something to his cruciate ligament'. That was just over 2 weeks ago.
On Thursday we visited the surgeon and within 40 minutes of prodding, poking and manipulating each of his 3 'healthy' joints, the moment he started on the 4th we each knew that something was not right. Ruptured cruciate ligament was the diagnosis - surgery necessary. Cost Â900! Yippee. Just what we need at this point in time let alone what a 3 year old Lab wants to hear just before his birthday!
We booked him in there and then and yesterday he had his operation. Although the surgeon declared it a success (neither of hismeniscuss were affected), the sight of our unconscious little boy lying prone on the bed with his tongue hanging limp and with dodgy shaved patches all over his body was enough to bring tears to the eye. His moaning andwhimperingg continued until the wee hours of this morning, though thankfully this morning he was considerably better. He is now house bound for 3 weeks and still after that can only be outside 4 times a day for between 5-15 minutes per time.
Here's how he looked last night - hopefully the healing process is fast and successful.
posted by Andrew at
6:54 pm
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