# Have a vet appointment today



## twoisplenty (Nov 12, 2008)

I am taking in one of our girls for a pregnancy x-ray today and decided to also bring in our 6 yr old female Raven. She has had on and off limping for the past couple months in her hind leg. My guys are crazy active and rip around the yard like crazy so I just thought she pulled a muscle by slipping on the ice and decided to rest her for a couple of weeks. This seemed to help but we noticed that when she first got up she was extremely stiff but once she started to walk it out she was almost walking normal. We go for a bunch of walks in the bush and she never showed signs of slowing down. I thought its either Arthritis setting in or a really bad pulled muscle. Yesterday she was outside most of the day with the others and I saw her sitting under a tree, her back leg was positioned out to the side like it hurt to sit normal. Well CRAP. I called her in and had a good feel of both legs and manipulated them both, she doesnt show any signs of pain but her hind left leg is much thicker than the right. I am thinking scar tissue buildup from an ACL tear. So off we go to have an x-ray to see what we are dealing with.

I do know that if this is an ACL tear she will not be having corrective surgery. Raven didnt respond well the aesthetic with her C-section 3 years ago. Its also a very invasive surgery with mixed results. Instead I have been looking at leg braces but theres no point in worrying myself until I have all the info in front of me.

So wish us luck today, perhaps I am being paranoid but I doubt it, lol.


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## dustinshaw98 (Feb 22, 2012)

Aaaww... I sure hope that the dog's okay.


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## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

I hope its something minor and will fix itself with time. Good luck today! Sending good vibes your way


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## Chocx2 (Nov 16, 2009)

I got a brace for my very very active lab, I do AKC hunt test and dock jumping he had a slight tear I did a brace and rehab, took months but he is back in training and appears to be good and sound with no surgery. yeah

Good Luck:usa2:


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## twoisplenty (Nov 12, 2008)

Well we just got back and its exactly what I thought it was. An ACL tear. We have decided to place her on Rimadyl to see if that helps her and we have scheduled some physio. If that doesnt help then we will look into a brace.


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## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

Poor girl  I hope that you can help it with the physio or the brace..
Hope she feels better....


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## lovemydogsalways (Mar 4, 2012)

Oh man that is not good. Would hydrotherapy help?


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

I hope all turns out all right .....and it had better be.....too many dogs are giving me a nervous breakdown lately


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

have we gone to the vet yet? is pregnancy a positive? how is the leg?

inquiring minds need to know.


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## twoisplenty (Nov 12, 2008)

magicre said:


> have we gone to the vet yet? is pregnancy a positive? how is the leg?
> 
> inquiring minds need to know.


Raven has an ACL tear, we are going to start in home physio and are currently looking into hydrotherapy. We live about 1km from the Lake so I am thinking that when the water warms up a bit I will walk her chest deep along the shore line daily to help build muscle in the affected leg. We also got a referral to see a physio therapist and are just waiting to hear back from them.

As for Mya's PG x-ray she is completely FULL of puppies. 13-15 puppies are estimated. So today I need to rebuild her whelping box cause she is going to need a lot more room!

Here is a belly shot of the poor girl taken last night.


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## Javadoo (May 23, 2011)

twoisplenty said:


> Raven has an ACL tear, we are going to start in home physio and are currently looking into hydrotherapy. We live about 1km from the Lake so I am thinking that when the water warms up a bit I will walk her chest deep along the shore line daily to help build muscle in the affected leg. We also got a referral to see a physio therapist and are just waiting to hear back from them.
> 
> As for Mya's PG x-ray she is completely FULL of puppies. 13-15 puppies are estimated. So today I need to rebuild her whelping box cause she is going to need a lot more room!
> 
> Here is a belly shot of the poor girl taken last night.


That is a big, full belly!! She must be so uncomfortable!!

I don't understand the decision NOT to have surgery for an ACL tear in such a young, active dog.
My lab tore both ACLs at the same time when she was 1 and we had them repaired back to back...and both surgeries were a total success. She is back to being a healthy, happy ACTIVE lab.
I feel like not doing surgery is dooming Raven to a life of severe, early onset arthritis....I have seen what un-repaired ACL injuries look like in dogs. It ain't pretty.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

oh my Lord. That poor dog needs to have some puppies. Yikes. 

Can she do the hydrotherapy in the box? I would think swimming in the lake would do the same thing. I'm going to take my dogs swimming as soon as it gets a tad warmer. I think it's very good for all kinds of ailments.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i'm sorry to hear about the acl tear. hopefully, everything will work out okay. i know that for humans, hydrotherapy is awesome....

and wow. that is SOME belly. do boxers normally carry that many pups?


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## twoisplenty (Nov 12, 2008)

Javadoo said:


> That is a big, full belly!! She must be so uncomfortable!!
> 
> I don't understand the decision NOT to have surgery for an ACL tear in such a young, active dog.
> My lab tore both ACLs at the same time when she was 1 and we had them repaired back to back...and both surgeries were a total success. She is back to being a healthy, happy ACTIVE lab.
> I feel like not doing surgery is dooming Raven to a life of severe, early onset arthritis....I have seen what un-repaired ACL injuries look like in dogs. It ain't pretty.


Raven is 6 yrs old, the average life span of a boxer is 8-10 on top of that we almost lost her 3 yrs ago when she was put under for a spay. I have seen several ACL tear surgeries done on boxers and they have all had different outcomes. One was on a 10mth puppy he had a TPLO done and is recovering great with no visible limping at all. Another was a 3 year old who also had double TPLO's and she walks horribly and gets very stiff after an active walk. Running is out of the question. A friend of ours lab had TPLO and the following year got cancer in the surgery site. Another breeders 5 yr old boxer uses a custom brace and is very active in Obedience still.

At this point she still enjoys running around and is very active. She has started to build up scar tissue in the joint already so I have decided that I do not want to risk the surgery. Instead I would prefer to look into other options for her


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## twoisplenty (Nov 12, 2008)

magicre said:


> i'm sorry to hear about the acl tear. hopefully, everything will work out okay. i know that for humans, hydrotherapy is awesome....
> 
> and wow. that is SOME belly. do boxers normally carry that many pups?


This is consider huge for a boxer litter. On average they have 6-8 puppies per litter.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i am glad you made the decision you did and it was based on the dog not the condition.

not every outcome can or should be surgical.


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