Fenyx's story

Owner: Lisa Higham E-mail: pudroe@earthlink.net Date posted: November 6, 2000 My 4 year old Dobe had barely started across the grass in a slow jog when she wouldn't place her left rear foot. She had let out a yelp so I thought she stepped on something. My first vet said rest her a day or two and we x-rayed to rule out fracture. We treated her for 2 months thinking we had a basic muscle tear. After 4 weeks of total rest, then two more of very gradual exercise she would use it even at a run but was never totally sound. I returned to my vet to recheck for missed fracture -- although she never swelled or complained. His son, an ortho specialist, happened to be there on a visit from Washington and diagnosed medial cruciate tear with scarring. We used Southern California Surgical Group, whose Dr. Vogul came highly recommended by my fellow Berner owners and he did the surgery the next day. I felt terrible as I was letting her use the leg not realizing how bad that injury was. He said the scarring wouldn't affect the surgery, but it allowed some arthritis to creep in. We are on week 2 and the staples come out tomorrow. She had a huge splint bandage the last two weeks to stabilize the knee while it healed. He also highly recommends Innova Senior dog food as it is low in fat but very high in Vitamin E, plus has the supplements necessary. She also takes Nupro Joint Recovery formula as it has MSM, Glucos/Chondroitin, and Ester-C. So far so good but she really is getting fast now. His exercise regimen is much more conservative than a lot of the others I've been reading about. Will keep you updated as we progress, just counting the days and hope the other knee doesn't blow anytime soon. Cost: $1,850.00