Up Close And Personal

Several weeks ago, Scott and I came home to find Fred standing on three legs, the fourth one he was holding in the air.  We rushed him to a bedroom and examined him closely – no signs of trauma.  A short time later, I found a bee, well on its way to “the other side”.  Within a few hours, Fred was walking normally.  Therefore, I assumed he had been stung by the bee and the bee got the worst of the deal. 

A few days later, he was limping again.  After he continued with this behavior, we took him to see our very trusted Vet, Dr. G.  Fred’s littermates have also had some knee problems and I feared that he may have a luxating patella.   But, after looking him over, the Vet determined he had a  partial Criciate Ligament tear.  Apparently this is a rather common ailment for doggies and can happen just by playing around in the backyard… which happens to be exactly what Fred was doing when this happened.  A full tear or rupture would likely need surgery, but a partial tear should be able to heal itself with time and pampering (we can handle that!).  She put him on bed rest and pain meds for two weeks.

Unfortunately, after his two weeks and another visit to the Vet for additional pain meds, he was still showing lameness in his left back leg.  Therefore, this morning, we returned to the Vet for x-rays. 

I am thrilled to say that she couldn’t find anything wrong.  It appears to still be a partial tear.  So, Fred is back on two weeks of bed rest, pain meds and fish oil.  If he is still limping after this round, we may have to have a surgical consult (my wallet hurts already).  So, fingers crossed that this time it heals itself!

So… that may have been a very boring little story.  But, these copies of Fred’s x-rays are kinda cool, right!?!?!  It is a good thing Fred can’t read or he would be so embarassed (awe, ma!)