The Bad News

Riley's been limping. It started September 4th after an off leash romp at Cat Rock. It think he was feeling extra good and raced around the hills like he was a puppy. After a nap that day, he woke up stiff and had a dramatic limp in his left hind leg. I assumed he over-exerted himself, gave him Rhus Tox out of the emergency homeopathy kit and let him rest. He was still able to manage the stairs and was happy to make the trip upstairs to go to bed every nite. Two days of rest and he seemed in good spirits and ready to romp again. Another off leash trip and the limp was back so I figured I had jumped the gun and his strain had not yet completely healed. Unfortunately, the weekend of the 9th we headed out to Pillsbury State Park to camp for the weekend. Riley was feeling extra spry and ran laps around the campsite with Sabrina. The limping came and went, though we began to take extra care to lift him in and out of the car. His disposition continued to be upbeat and happy. I decided upon our return home that a good few days of rest would be in order. In addition, I went to Target and purchased a large room sized rug for the kitchen floor. That rug has helped him tremendously and he knows it. While playing with Sabrina, he makes sure his feet have adequate traction on the carpet at all times.
For the next week, I discouraged Riley from running and walked him on a flexileash. Sometimes even leaving him at home for one of the walks. Sabrina continues to try and engage him in chasing and wrestling games. He does not seem to understand when I scold them to settle down.
The BMDCNV Fall Fun Day came and went on September 16th. Riley is left at home. I am beginning to feel that he really needs his rest. His leg does not seem to be improving at all.
Sunday, however, he seems to be in good spirits and we take the dogs to Cat Rock for a walk. Riley remains on leash while we entertain Sabrina with retreiving games. She is beginning to run further distances to chase the ball and has become quite good at finding the ball when it is hidden. However, she doesn't always bring the ball back to me. Instead, she brings the ball to Riley, which gets Riley quite excited and jumpy. The two of them are much easier to handle with both of us present. Upon returning to the car that day, Riley felt it un-necessary to let me help him into the car. All week I have been asking him to put his front paw up on the bumper and I would hoist his rear end into the car. This day, he took a running start and tried for the back of car. Not getting enough lift off of his hind legs, he hit both knees on the bumper. His knee was noticeably hurt as I saw him lift the entire paw off the floor for the first time. At that moment, a heavy anchor settled into my stomach, pulling my mood down. I was heartbroken at the thought of an injury on top of an injury. That night, I carried my 82 pound boy up the stairs to bed. As I gently massaged his knee, I could tell it was bruised. My touch brought a concerned and worried look from his eyes. I gave in and gave him baby aspirin. Now thinking back, I don't know why I didn't think of icing it and than putting a heat pad on it. I think I was a little in shock and disbelief that this has happened to my active, high spirited boy.
Every morning the follow week, however, Riley awakes in good spirits, wanting to go out for a walk in the woods. All walks are closely supervised on a flexi-leash now. Every trip he is lifted in and our of the car. And he is carried up the stairs at least 75% of the time. As the day goes on, however, his spirits seem to fall, until it is time for bed and he seems resigned to stay downstairs on the couch. I do not have the heart to turn the lights off on him and head up stairs without him. I cannot desert him like that. Now, even special treats cannot lure him to get off the couch and attempt the stairs. At night, I can see that his dignity has been taken from him. He understands that he cannot manage the stairs and allows me to carry him up. There is trust in his eyes, but there is sadness too. I keep telling him what a good boy he is.

The diagnosis.
Friday morning I take him to the local vet. They rule out Lyme disease and dysplasia. In some ways, that is a relief. However, I was not prepared to hear that he may have ruptured or torn his cruciate ligament. From what I learned, it seems comparable to the human ACL tears in the knee. I was still hoping and maybe had tried to convince myself that this was just soft tissue damage. Something that could be managed with anti-inflammatories, rest, and maybe a chiro adjustment. This is not the case. The vet cannot definitely diagnose the injury and suggests I make an appointment to put Riley under to diagnose it. This does not make sense to me and without another opinion and more research I am reluctant to put him under anesthesia. I have an appointment with the holistic vet on Monday. It was Sabrina's followup visit but she will have to give up her appointment for her brother. The vet sends me home with some contacts to local orthopedic specialists. They are pushing the surgery. I just don't know. Recovery from surgery with a puppy in the house seems impossible.

I have since began my research into TPLO surgeries, which is the type of surgery used to correct this type of ligament tear. Since we are still not sure whether he has rupture, partially torn, or completely torn his ligament, we are still far from making a decision whether he will recover well from surgery. I was able to get a lot of information from this site:
http://www.lauriebryce.com/tplo/index.html
A personal account of their 4 year old Berner's experience. This Berner, too, had a left cruciate tear but ended up with a right tear as well. He has recovered well. This is still a fear that hangs heavy over my heart. Riley has been overcompensating for his left leg for several weeks now. I can only imagine what damage is being caused to his right side to compensate for the weight. We may have to make a decision quickly before we add more injuries to the list.
In the meantime, I tried a new remedy, Ruta, with no real noticeable affects. Ruta is more for ligament and tendon damage whereas Rhus Tox has always helped with muscle strain in the past. Desparate to make him comfortable, we may resort back to baby aspirin until we can get him to the vet on Monday. I have also joined a new yahoogroup called orthodogs. This may be a great support group in addition to my club list and Natural Berners list. Thank goodness I at least have a support system with lots of advice to give and experience to share.

More updates later...