More leg trouble
Two years ago Duffy damaged his left front leg resulting in a condition called RUIN and 6+ months of slow rehab back to normal exercise.
Sadly this summer he's been very lame on the right front leg. We had a referral to a vet specialist in orthopaedics and neurology. I think they x-rayed and scanned every inch of him. They tested him for Brucellosis as well as Leishmaniasis. He's got a form of elbow dysplasia.
The vet says no surgery. He's had months of no exercise just lead walks to the garden for the toilet. Now we've been given instructions to build up exercise again to find the balance where painkillers keep him comfortable without lameness. They say, with luck, he should get to around an hour. I'm so happy to be able to start taking him out again, but sad that we won't be able to take him out for full days on the hills again.
I'm looking in to dog slings in case he ever needs carrying when we're out, if anyone has experience/recommendations in that area or anything else that might be helpful we'd be grateful.
Along with the list of 'donts' came the instruction to get Duffy 'skinny'. He's not happy about that.
Here he is enjoying the puddle at the park this week.
Duffy being cute in slow-mo, Christmas eve. He melts my heart every day.
Practising our 'emergency' down. Now he can be off lead again I've started over with the easy asks and I'll build up the distractions and see if I can get him to down a bit quicker😁. But he's a very good boy ❤️
We're almost at the end of Duffy's 6 month rehab for his torn ligament. Last week I hired a walled dog garden so he could go off lead. We're working through 'Total Recall'. Lesson learnt the hard way, if you crouch down to encourage your dog to you, make sure you've got good balance 😆
Duffy saw the specialist vet this week. He went through the MRI image with me pointing out areas of radius and ulna that had suffered necrosis but reiterated that the prognosis is good. Duffy has to remain on restricted activities building slowly up to November which will be six months of healing.
Bad news is that since he first met Duffy he's been looking at and examining one of his hind legs as he had noticed something when filming him in motion and he has said he thinks the hind leg has 'cruciate trouble brewing'. 😢
I'm hoping we can manage it and prevent the ligament rupturing. 🤞
Anyway here's the boy with a muddy face from digging up a goat ear I gave him about a month ago 🤢😷
Duffy still has two more weeks of restricted activity until we see the vet again, seems to be paying off no sign of lameness for the last fortnight. Brief lead walk this morning so he can remind me where he saw a rabbit once about 6 months ago 😁
That face.
Duffy encountering the emergency barricade at the bottom of the stairs. Not a happy boy.
Sorry Duffers the vet says no stairs unless on the lead, no jumping off the furniture & definitely no activity that means sudden changes of direction..
We now have a diagnosis for his intermittent lameness, it's damage to the ligament joining the ulna & radius bones, probably caused by him racing about. Up to now we've been restricting his over all activity but for the next six weeks he's going to need more specific management but they say he doesn't need to be kept crated. Fingers crossed we see a lot of improvement in the next month or so.
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Quick update on Duffy, the xrays don't give a clear explanation of why he has been so lame. MRI scan booked for just over a week. Thank goodness for pet insurance.
We went to dog training as usual this week but kept it nice and chilled, looking for kibble in the paddling pool.
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Duffy has been displaying intermittent lameness on one of his front legs. He's had some rest a couple of visits to the vet some painkillers/anti inflammatories and yesterday some x-rays. What they have told me is he has some bone growth on his shoulder which is affecting the joint. Appointment this coming week with a specialist. Meanwhile its activities around the house and taking it easy.
