Another blown knee on our 60 lb Lab--help! PLEASE!

[digitaldiva]

At the end of January (if I remember correctly), our 10 year old, 60 lb lab blew out her left knee (ACL??? ALS??) while chasing a tennis ball.

We've kept her confined, and have been very very careful...but today, she went to the bathroom on the grass outside in the back as usual, but instead of going up the ramp, she leaped up bypassing the steps and ignoring the ramp.

She yelped, just like she did when she blew out her left one, but this time, it's her right leg/knee. She is limping badly and cannot put weight on her leg, just like before. We called the vet immediately, but it was late afternoon so we are keeping her quiet and have the first appt in the morning. The vet office said they cannot do surgery on her new injury (IF it is indeed the same injury) until her rt leg is completely healed. I don't know how much longer that will be.

My concerns are how much she is in pain, and what we can do to alleviate that pain until she can get surgery to fix the other knee. How long do we have to wait? Does anyone have any advice? My heart is breaking! In all other aspects she is in good health.

Thank you for any help!

[Tambrey]

I wish I knew what to say, but I can say a prayer that she rests comfortably tonight and more will be found out tomorrow...

I remember last year when our Doxie ruptured a disc in his back...he had surgery and is no longer paralyzed....but when the disc had just slipped, the vet gave us some meds to relax him and make him feel a bit better, but he did not want to take away all of the pain, because pain is a reminder that they cannot do whatever it is that they want to do, and could end up injuring themselves worse...

As long as she is resting and not complaining, I would leave her be for the night and talk to the vet about pain control tomorrow...do you have a crate to keep her in, if she is crate trained...that would be best for tonight if you can...

best of luck and let us know what is going on...

[mamabear]

I agree with tambrey.

If she still cant bare weight on that leg and once the dr. looks at her and says what the damage is, ask him if its ok to use a towel under her hind quarters. We used this method with our Newfoundland when he had surgery on his hips. He couldnt move at all except his front legs, so we put a towel under him and walked him down the stairs(let me tell ya that a was #*&^$ because he was big and we lived 5 flights up and couldnt pick the poor pup up) once he was outside in his spot we took the towel away and just held his hips (so he wouldnt fall over) then once he was done we put it back under and walked him home.

You have to make sure it's ok with dr. first before doing this because his injury might not let you put a towel there without doing more damage.

Please let us know what happens.

[digitaldiva]

Thanks for your helpful info. We'll know more this afternoon as we just dropped her off for evaluation, etc. I'll keep you posted. :O)

[digitaldiva]

Here's the update. Yes, she does have an ALS injury on her other leg/knee. Poor thing! The vet cannot operate until July or August because of the healing that's still happening with her right ALS injury. Meanwhile, we're keeping her confined, and using a "sling" when we walk her outside to go to the bathroom.
Asking for good thoughts and healing-type prayers for our girl...thank you!

[Tambrey]

sorry to hear of her injury....poor thing....walking with a towel or sling is also what we had to do with Sammie at first...

Did the vet give you anything for pain management?

Hang in there....the end of summer is coming!

[mamabear]

How is her other leg healing? Well I hope. The wont operate at all for the other one till this one is healed completely?

[digitaldiva]

Thank again for all your good wishes.

The vet won't operate until her left leg/knee is healed. Since that left knee injury happened at the end of January, that means we have it give it until the end of July or the beginning of August to heal fully.

If we have the surgery on her right leg/knee too soon, her bearing most of her weight on her left leg could re-injure it with the same injury she had in January.

She is still on pain meds from her injury in January, so that helps a bit with the new pain from her latest injury. Poor little thing!

We re-did the ramp we built with thick carpet to give her feet more "grabbing" ability, but we are using the sling too. This helps us when we help her go outside to use the bathroom, because I cannot lift and carry her 55 lbs up and down the steps we have.

Thanks again, and please keep holding a good thought for our girl!