ACL injury *surgery* pics - diary

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Mandy
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ACL injury *surgery* pics - diary

Post by Mandy »

Hi All. I wanted to post these in case anyone else searches this site for information on an ACL injury. Look at my posts below for more information on how this occured and what we did about it. He had a torn ACL and he had surgery 3 days ago. Today has been a good day - except that he tore the quick from one of his nails on the good back foot. Go figure right? I came home to blood on the floor and thought for sure he had opened his incision. But it was the nail. It's something that will just have to heal with time.

So here are some pics of the incision and where they had to shave - and of poor chewie with the cone on his head! poor pup.

The incision is about 4 inches long and it is healing nicely. He had some swelling the first couple days but it is started to go down. He actually toe touched his paw a bunch of times when I took him out today! That is great news.

If anyone ever has questions about ACL injury, feel free to PM me!

Mandy & the injured Chewbacca

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Last edited by Mandy on Fri Jan 13, 2006 8:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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kingalls
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Post by kingalls »

Chewie looks like he's handling it well and I'm sure he's being flooded with special attention from you :D
How long will it take for the ACL to heal and Chewie can walk/run again?

Chewie looks like he's adjusting to his Elizabethian collar... :)

Karen
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Jeff&Peks
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Post by Jeff&Peks »

Poor guy, he doesn't look to happy. Its not funny but looking at him I had to laugh he has this look, what the heck is going on, I don't like this at all.

Just do a daily ACL diary of Chewie even if its nothing important that way in the future people can look up your post if needed and know what to do and what to expect, We should do that for all our Chows health problems no matter what it may be so we have some sort of health library if needed
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Mandy
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Post by Mandy »

It's about 1 week of complete rest. Then we start rehab in week 2 with 3 weeks of no activity (except to go out to potty - which we have to keep him on lead for) except for the exercises. In week 4 we can start taking him for short 5-10 minute slow walks. By week 8 we should be done with rehab but it depends on how he's moving. The Vet said it could take up to 4 months for full recovery and he may always have a little hitch in his step. He also said that very young dogs with this injury have an 80% chance of tearing the other ACL in the course of their lives. Apparently they alway favor the other leg and that can cause the injury. So the harder we work on rehab the better.

It will be difficult keeping him and Cayenne apart for a while but we have to do it. We just have to make sure we take her out on a lot of walks and get lots of energy out so when we do have them together, she is too tired to try to play with him! We'll see how that works. Ha. (she's snoring right next to me right now)
The only way to get him out the back door is going down and up 4 stairs. He can't get up them so we have to carry him. He's 63 lbs... I think I'm going to start leaving that job to my husband!

I have been giving him a lot of attention but I think that I have not been a good influence of late. He is totally different with my husband - no whining - no crying... I think my negative, sad, depressed attitude has been detrimental to him. So I have been trying to keep really positive and give him more time to rest and to pet him when he's calm and feeling good... and not when I need it. Ah well. My heart leaps everytime I hear him move.

It's a lot of work but these beautiful chows are so worth it.

Mandy
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Post by Mandy »

Great idea about the diary Jeff. I changed the name of the post and added "diary." I will do my best to keep up with it! I'm on here pretty much every day so it shouldn't be too tough huh?
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Judy Fox
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Post by Judy Fox »

Aaaw Bless him - poor little man.

But his wound looks nice and clean - he doesn't like it though does he. :( :)
Last edited by Judy Fox on Sat Jan 14, 2006 6:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by ngraham »

Poor baby. He looks so lost. Hopefully soon this will all just be a past memory for him and he will be up and RUNNING again like he was meant to be. Hi 5's from Koda!
Nancy and Tai

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Post by Mandy »

Today has been a great day. Today was the day we had to take the anesthetic patch off Chewies neck. I took off the cone and I thought he was going to cuddle and lick me to death he was so happy! He has a patch the size of a small paper plate shaved on his neck - it looks so funny. I stayed with him for about 2 hours this morning so he could keep that cone off for a while. He ate really well, drank a lot and pooped for the first time in 3 days! He cried a little when I put the cone back on but he started to try to chew on his incision so I had too. I brought Cayenne in for a little while today and she is still a little freaked by the cone. Chewie went over to lick her eyes clean and she only sat their for a minute before she backed away. They did hang out for a while just staring at each other and I gave them each some treats to chew on. I spent the day cleaning and he was fine all day. Hardly any crying just sitting nicely. I didn't even have to give him a sedative (yet.) We are moving him to a carpeted area in the basement tonight. There are more stairs to navigate to get him outside but he will be able to be with us and Cayenne more often if he is down here now that he isn't sleeping as much. He almost got away from me when I lifted the gate to let cayenne out and when she saw him bouncing she went to tackle him.... but I made it in time and grabbed her before it happened. WHEW! anyway... all in all - a great day. He touched his toes down a lot outside today so we are crossing our fingers. Its back to the vet on tuesday to start rehab.

Mandy
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Post by Mandy »

The cone came off yesterday for good. What a relief for him! He wants to play with Cay really bad but we are trying to keep it to a minimum. He went for his checkup today and the vet said everything is going perfectly! They said his incision looks great and that we can get the stich out (there is only one stitch at the top - the rest are internal) on Monday. He was pleasant as always at the vet and had several people in the waiting room oooing and ahhhing over him. He met a couple of puppies that he loved and stayed calm and collected. What a good boy. One lady had only heard bad things about chewie and by the end of the half hour that we waited, she was petting him and rubbing his tummy. We start rehab tomorrow. For now we will be doing 3 exercises: extending, contracting and rotating. All we do is extend his leg 10 times and contract it 10 times and then we rotate his hip out 10 times. We are supposed to do this 3 times a day until our next appt in 2 weeks. He is in good spirits and he and Cay are licking each others faces right now. Too cute.

That's all for now!

Mandy & the healing Chewbacca
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Post by Judy Fox »

Sounds good Mandy - bless him :)

Give him a hug and tummy rub from me please and some pk from M & M.
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Post by CenTexChows »

It's good to hear he is doing well!
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Mandy
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Post by Mandy »

We're about 2 weeks out and he is doing great. We do his physical therapy 3 times a day and he gets a little squirmish on the contractions but not too bad. He still touches down quite a bit and we can tell his leg is getting stronger. Here are some pics of his leg - it's a hug difference (it also helps that the fur is growing back.) I also wanted to put a pic up of the patch they shaved on his head. If you take your pups in for surgery find out if they can place that patch on your dog somewhere other than his or her neck! I'm so annoyed that they picked the place on him with the longest hair. It's going to take so long for it to grow back! Ugh. He's back to his old self - minus a little of the playfulness- and is back to wanting to cuddle a little and play with cayenne. I will update this diary if there are any changes!

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Post by kiwani »

Re: "If you take your pups in for surgery find out if they can place that patch on your dog somewhere other than his or her neck! I'm so annoyed that they picked the place on him with the longest hair. It's going to take so long for it to grow back!"

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I think they specifically choose that spot for the patch, to make it impossible for the patient to rip off or ingest.

The fur will grow in more quickly with the lengthening days, and will soon blend in. Wishing him a full and speedy recovery.

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Post by ngraham »

Mandy,
I am so glad that Chewie is doing so well. We're keeping our fingers crossed that everything continues on the path that is has been and that Chewie is back to his old self soon!
Nancy and Tai

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Mandy
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Post by Mandy »

They did place the patch there for that purpose... But here's the issue I had. He had to wear a cone for almost a week, which pretty much meant he couldn't get to anything. The patch was only on for 3 days. He could have had it anywhere since he couldn't get to anything! Ahh well. He loves it when I scratch that bald spot.
:D

Mandy
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Post by Judy Fox »

His leg looks good Mandy but don't worry about his neck. Turn around and he will have a full mane again. :)
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Post by kiwani »

Re: "But here's the issue I had. He had to wear a cone for almost a week, which pretty much meant he couldn't get to anything. The patch was only on for 3 days. He could have had it anywhere since he couldn't get to anything!"

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Besides using his teeth, I guess he could attempt to scratch it off using his good leg. Also, if the patch was placed on an area he'd be laying on, the trapped body heat might alter the rate of med absorption. But mostly because the patch is *so* toxic if ripped off and ingested, the safest place for it must be under the cone.

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