Dog Lollies

Lola had to go to the vet yesterday so she got a nice pig ear for being a good girl.

She tore her ACL for keeps last spring and after much agonizing and debating we decided to treat her conservatively rather than go through surgery.  She'll be 13 in December and doesn't tolerate anesthesia and pain killers very well.  She had a cortisone injection into her shoulder for bicep tendonitis many years ago and I swore I'd never do that to her again.  Until I did.

She was doing really well up until the flood.  Scar tissue had formed and the joint was stabilizing.  She was at a point that she'd be at roughly 3 months after surgery if she had had it.  Then something happened and I'm not sure what.  The first night we spent with friends when we evacuated from the flood she was struggling to walk.  I put it down to their hardwood floors which she's not used to.  I'm not sure if she re-injured the knee trying to walk on the floors or if it was all the extra walking she had to do since we had to walk her every time she went out rather than just send her to the yard or whether she'd done something earlier and all of that exacerbated it or what.  In any case, after the dust cleared from the flood I noticed she wasn't tolerating walking nearly as well as she had been.  Got tired quicker, started walking funny sooner.  When I finally had the vet come last week to give her a laser treatment she told me the knee was back to square one, scar tissue was gone, joint was unstable again.  Big Le Sigh.

So I finally agreed to some experimental injections that my vet friend recommended.  This involved a much dreaded drive up to Wellington which I always think of as being near enough the Wyoming border but it's not quite and only took me about an hour 5 minutes rather than the anticipated 1 hour 20 minutes.  Anyway, I spent the morning doing breakfast and coffee and shopping in Fort Collins while poor Miss Lola endured anesthesia, pain killers and 2 injections into her knee.  I felt like a traitor when I left her but I so don't want to put her through surgery and I can't stand to let her linger as she is.  She's depressed not being able to run and only getting leash walks.  One injection was a steriod, the other some kind of joint lubricant.  If she's not better in 6 months we can try some kind of platelet injection.  Hopefully it won't come to that.

Poor girl is whiny and fussy today.  Not sure if she's in pain or she's anxious from the procedure or still coming off the meds or a combo of all 3 and I'm hoping the pig ear will cheer her up.

In other news I finally went out to the practice field to get Strummer on some contact equipment.  Our last trial was a dogwalk and weavepole disaster and this has become too much of a theme.  There was a naughty teeter or two as well and he even missed some A-frames.  You know you need to something when the judge stops judging your Standard run early on because it's already headed so far south and then asks you, during your run, how old your youngster is and you have to reply, '8 1/2 years old'.  I had to laugh because what else can you do at that point?  He was pretty good at practice today though, worked on weave poles, teeter, a short jump exercise and of course the dogwalk.  That was a bit more iffy even with the stride regulator.  I ponied up the money for a running contact DVD from Silvia Trkman and in just the first 1/2 hour there was a lot of good stuff to think about.  There was nothing like this when I started my training so there's quite a bit I had never considered.  Only trouble is she uses a thrown toy as part of the training and I hate throwing toys for the dogs to chase.  See above as to why.  It's a great way to get an ACL tear either from chronic overuse or an acute injury.  Either way I'm not sure there's a way to modify her training to avoid this.  I had used either a remote treat dispensing gizmo or a stationary toy on the ground.  I did a little bit of experimenting with throwing years later but not much, again because I think it's risky for them physically especially if you have a dog that slams on the brakes to get the toy.  Ugh, makes me cringe just thinking about it.  I shot some footage today of him just running chasing a moving toy and after 4 reps I had to stop and I was making a terrible face as I returned to the video camera to turn it off, grimacing and muttering bad words to myself.  I may do a separate post once I process the video and think about it terms of what I now know or maybe I'll spare you all.

Recycled computers and gimpy dogs all in one fell swoop

Ever regret those spur of the moment decisions?  I got an email on Thursday from an agility friend and Lola's former physical therapist that the vet office she works next to is having a big 'Recycle your hard to recycle crap and get your gimpy dog evaluated and some barbecue for free' party on Saturday.  The vet is keen on promoting green veterinary practices so he's throwing a party for the community to promote recycling.  Or something.  I've got a computer and an ancient air conditioner thingy (belonged to the previous home owner and I don't think we ever used it) and some other crap that will otherwise cost me money to recycle and Lola was hitching her rear leg up while running hard at the Rez the other week so this opportunity is too good to be true.  Somebody also noticed her lifting her rear legs slightly while walking on Sunday morning of the USDAA trial a few weeks ago.  So subtle that a normal person wouldn't notice it but she's had her share of orthopedic issues with her own big dog so she has a keen eye for the slightest of gait issues.  I've been burying my head in the sand about this, fearing a cruciate tear and not wanting to drive an  hour to Loveland to have my wallet emptied to be told to take 2 Rhymadil and rest my dog and, oh yeah, she needs surgery.  But she has 3 trials scheduled next month, a heavy schedule for her on a good day and a lot of money for me so I'm thinking that a 20 minute drive for a free evaluation by someone who knows her and did an awesome job treating her for a different injury is too good to pass up.  I'm fairly certain there's nothing seriously wrong but I'll feel terrible running her and finding out the hard way if she's truly injured.

So I go and take Strummer along as well.  He also hitches his rear leg up when he runs but he's always done that.  Probably a kneecap tracking issue but who knows, maybe I can get him evaluated too.  Plus I get to get rid of the last bit of expensive to dispose of clutter in my house for free.

Antke takes a look at Lola's gait then does a physical manipulation exam and determines that Lola has pain in her knees when she tries to extend her rear legs.  Good probability that it's a cruciate tear.  She'll need rest.  And oh, maybe surgery.  She gets the fancy pants orthopedic vet to do an exam and he comes to the same conclusion except he's even more gung ho for surgery.  I'm thinking maybe next time I need to recycle a computer I'll fork over the money to the recycling center.

I pulled Lola from the trials of course.  One of them is closed but she was only entered for 2 runs and I paid a portion in worker's coupons so I'm not out very much money.  I'm not signing her up for surgery any time soon.  She's 9 years old, I really really really don't want to do that to her.  My plan is to restrict her activity per Antke's suggestions for 2 months, do some x-rays soon to see if she does indeed have a tear then again after the 2 months to see if she's getting better or worse.  I'm only going to opt for surgery if I feel the injury is causing that knee joint to degrade to the point where she'll be in pain doing normal dog things.  The feeling is that if there is a tear it's probably small so it's good I caught it early. 

Lola can't do any off leash running so the bad news is no trips to the Rez which is about her favorite thing in the world but the good news is that she can go running on leash with me so I can at least keep her fit and she enjoys it so she won't be completely miserable.  It could be nothing of course but I'm not thinking that's likely.  The x-rays will confirm things but I'm going to wait a couple of weeks because I'm so busy with this work project and I need to work every last hour that I can.  This is hardly an emergency so it can wait and treatment is the same either way.  Even if it's not a tear I'm not going to put her in a trial if her knees are sore and I'm going to restrict her activity. 

And then there's maggot ball!  I knew maggot ball came into my life for a reason.  Antke said maggot ball would be good for her and gave me some exercise suggestions and tips.  Actually Antke was grossed out that I was calling it maggot ball but I've been saying it so much it doesn't feel right calling it anything else.  I'll also be having a physical therapy session with her when Lola goes back for her x-rays and she can check to make sure I'm doing the exercises properly and give me some more.  I found 2 issues of Clean Run that had exercises so we'll work our way through those.  I'll try to get some video up for those who might be interested in exercise ideas but it may take a couple of weeks.

After all that excitement poor Strummer never got his turn.  This is probably the best for my mental state anyway.  Perhaps we live in blissful ignorance of whatever special injuries he might be harboring for a little while longer.

At least you could have gotten me some barbecue.