Domino Update - Not A Good Prognosis
Posted in The Dog by CujoMarch 14th, 2006 - 11:14 AM
I just received a call from Jes for the update on Domino’s visit to the vet (which I mentioned in the previous entry).
Here’s the quick rundown. He has an extra testicle (we went to get that checked as well) that the doctor will remove for free. He said that in his 12 years he’s never seen anything like that with another dog which makes Domino all that more crazy I guess. Now we’ll switch over to the bad news.
Domino has a torn ACL.
We’re unsure how he did it but the doc thinks he either got it stuck and tried pulling his leg out of somewhere or he twisted his knee in a bad direction or something. Either way the ACL is torn, it is either partially torn or completely torn and we’re hoping for partially. The doc gave us some pills that he has to have for two weeks which are supposed to help the ACL rebuild itself. After the two weeks if he’s still limping quite a bit it looks like we’ll need to have surgery. There’s a surgery we can get done at the vet which will cost around $500-$700 US which should give him almost complete functionality back. There is also a major surgery that we’d have to take him to Southern Ontario for where they’ll put a metal plate into the knee and he’d be 100% but this surgery costs about $3300 CDN.
For the next two weeks we have to try to keep Dom off the leg as much as possible. No walks, no running, no jumping, no playing fetch, no stairs, no training. It’ll be tough as he loves to be active and now he can’t. I’m hoping he’ll get better quickly.
For information on location of the ACL and and treatment etc in humans I found this page on a Google search, I think it’s similar in dogs.
My information above was relayed to me by Jes on the phone and I might be a bit off but I think it’s mostly accurate. She’ll come along to correct I’m sure.
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March 14th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
You’re pretty much right. I posted on my blog too. The testicle discussion with the Doc is there, pretty funny.
I think Dom will make a full recovery!
March 14th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
My brother had his ACL replaced… they took a piece of ligament from the front of his knee and put it in the back… very interesting… Poor Dom
March 14th, 2006 at 11:03 pm
I think with Dom’s they will just add a piece of something beside the broken ligament to trick the knee into thinking it has a new ligament. At least that’s what I read online. The other option was removing the bone and putting in plastic.
March 14th, 2006 at 11:12 pm
Poor Dom for sure.
After having a torn ligament re-attached in my ankle a year ago today, I can relate to the pain the poor doggie is suffering.
Honestly, I don’t think you will have to try very hard to get him to stay off it.
March 14th, 2006 at 11:14 pm
This is Domino we’re talking about, the super spaz flying basset hound that is able to jump over baby gates and onto 3 foot high beds. He’s CRAZY.
March 14th, 2006 at 11:24 pm
I actually AM having a hard time trying to keep him off it. He still wants to do all of his crazy puppy things. Hey look at me, play with me, watch me jump, look at me, bite bite bite.
I let him out earlier today and he stormed through the snow because it was fresh and he likes snow. He then jumped up on the fence to look over it at the plow in the parking lot behind the house. He’s brought his toys to everyone to try to get them to play fetch with him — we usually always do but now we can’t. It’s tough for the little guy.
Not sure how long we’ll have to keep him off of it either. Right now it’s two weeks till next appointment then we find out if he needs surgery. I’m pretty sure they don’t do the surgery same day so let’s say we wait a week (best case) then he has to recover for a week (once again best case) that’s now four weeks in the best case scenario of poor hyper Dom not being able to play fetch, go for walks or just get up and down like he likes doing.
March 15th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
That’s too funny. I can just see his ears flopping madly as he spazzes out.
When Sigel, my wolfhound, was down with 172 stitches in his side, my vet said he wouldn’t do anything that was very painful and not to worry too much about it. The vet was right. It was really a tough job to help my 180 pound dog up and down the four stairs into our house. I think he was milking it, though. He thought he was a lap dog.
Dogs make the best companions!
March 15th, 2006 at 3:20 pm
And to continue the spaziness today at lunch when I went home he chewed all the fluff out of the comforter my aunt or mom let him sleep on because they felt bad for him. He also ate my parents mouse pad which had one of those gel wrist things and also more of the kitchen chair was demolished. So my cleanup consisted of fluff from a comforter stuck to sticky gel from a mouse pad, mouse pad bits and foam chair padding all over the kitchen and dining room. Good thing he has a torn ACL though because I think it’s slowing him down
March 16th, 2006 at 10:16 am
This is definitely going to drop Domino a few places in the NFL Draft. Maybe if he recuperates fully, he can be voted Comback Player of the Year.
March 16th, 2006 at 10:30 am
Poor poor doggie.
Isn’t that frustrating though? When you’re all ‘oh, poor doggy is sick, we should make him feel comfortable’ and all the dog can do is look at you and think ‘what is wrong with you moronic humans?’…. my dog has a GI infection right now, and I called and made a panicky appt. with the vet - I’m all ‘She’s very very sick! ‘ I get her there, and she’s jumping on the vet techs, bouncing around, playing, barking….. made me look like an idiot.