Anterior Drawer

As you know, Viking's been gimping around. He's been getting pain medication and actually his leg doesn't seem to bother him. He tends to walk on it, but when he wants to go faster it's easiest for him to just pick it up and go. In order to put him on the pain medication you should test their liver and kidney function to verify that they are working properly. I always have the medication in stock due to him tweaking his leg every so often, but we've never had to keep him on it for more than 2 days, if that..which means it would more than likely not cause any problems. However, since he's been on it since Sunday night, I figured it was time to take him back into work and get some blood work done. David was so gracious to bring him in after work so I didn't have to take care of him all day at work, while trying to complete all my day to day tasks. While he was their Doc palpated (touched and manipulated) the leg to see if he could see something today. He still didn't notice any swelling but he does believe there's an anterior drawer in his left leg. So what does that mean? Of course, I know, but I'll explain to you. It could mean several things....but it has to do with his anterior cruciate ligament aka the ACL. At this point we're thinking he has A. strained it B. has a partial tear or C. has actually torn it. So what do we do now? Research has shown that 3/4 of dogs that are under 20 pounds will heal on their own in approximately 8 weeks. Basically what would happen is arthritis starts to form, which then binds the knee together and tightens it. Of course in that case the knee won't ever be "right" but even if you do surgery, it wouldn't ever be perfectly "right" either. So at this point it's a wait and see. He's going to stay on pain medication and he's now being started on a glucosamine supplement. After 2 months we'll re-evaluate the sitauation and see where we need to go. ACL surgery is a bear, whether you're a human or an animal, so I hope that's not where we end up. We've been keeping him quiet but according to Doc we can let him do his usual thing. If he wants to run, we'll let him. (Like he wouldn't want to run! That's what he thrives on. You will tire before he ever does, trust me.) He'll know his limit. Lily will also be started on the glucosamine due to her luxating patellas she battles with while on longer walks.

This whole situation with Viking has given me a ton of anxiety. After today I do have a bit more peace of mind, even if we're not sure what's going to happen. I can understand what moms go through when their child goes through trauma. You just ache and want to help, and will do anything to make them better. Who needs a human child when I already got 4 furry ones? All with some sort of issue. Oy. Doesn't matter though. They're worth it.