Today is the first day of the rest of Dave's adventures with rehabilitation. He went to the surgeon and got a clean bill of health. It has been a long journey!
After several months of limping, each week getting worse and several visits to the local vet, we finally got to the real problem. Dr. Dave, our local vet, told us he had a torn ACL band and needed surgery. We were directed to an animal emergency clinic and to Dr. Coolman. What a blessing that was! Dr. Coolman gave us the sad, but good news. He could fix his leg. It was hard to leave him in the hands of someone else and let him stay there all night. He had never been away from home!
After the surgery, we were able to take him home the following day. He had to wear a cone so he didn't lick his wound. He had staples all up the front of his leg. He looked so sad. He slept most of the time the first week.
The other sad part was, he had to go on a serious diet. So, after the staples came out we put him in a strict diet program. He could only have the diet treats and we measured his food. It didn't take long for him to realize we were serious and that meant no other treats! He couldn't walk much because of the healing of the bone. That didn't help!
So, he did a lot of sleeping. We did play ball with me rolling the ball to him. We also learned a new game of hiding the ball in a plastic cup and then he had to find which cup it was under. He could only go outside to do his "business"...no walks! He missed seeing all his friends and they missed him, too.
After eight weeks of rest and diet, he got the all clear sign from the doctor today. He was very pleased with his progress and that he had lost 5 pounds. He is now ready for physical therapy. We have guidelines to go by as he goes through this phase. He will gradually take short walks to build up the leg muscle and help with the weight loss. He is a much happier dog now and uses the leg like normal! So glad to have our baby back to normal!
So glad you got good news at the doctor. Dave is so sad looking in most of those pictures. What a long period of time for both you and Dave.
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