| Mercedes' story | ||||||||
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Owner: Susan Kowitz E-mail: asksck@olypen.com Date posted: July 8, 2000
Our local veterinarian diagnosed her with a cruciate ligament problem and had us keep her quiet for a week. On re-check she was no better, so he referred us to a veterinary surgeon, telling us that if surgery was necessary it should be done soon (within a week or two after the injury). 1/22/98 -- Mercedes had a procedure in which fascial tissue from her own thigh was used to create a new ligament through her knee joint. The strength of this method was described to us as being that no foreign material would be introduced into her leg. The vet wanted to keep her overnight, but as there would be no staff at the clinic and my husband, a doctor, would be able to check her sutures in the morning, I insisted on bringing her home at the close of the work day. She came home in a Robert Jones bandage with instructions to "keep her quiet for a while." We kept her in an ex-pen. There were no rehab instructions, though we had asked for some. We took her out to potty on leash and that was it.
2/12/98 -- Chewed splint replaced with a new splint. 3/10/98 -- New chewed splint removed and leg was left open. Mercedes cried in obvious pain this day -- so far she had not made a peep. Soon after, we got her spayed. This initial repair never looked really good and finally she just wasn't putting weight on this leg anymore. We sought out a veterinary orthopedist, Dr. Mark Engen, whom we have grown to trust implicitly, in Kirkland, WA, about 2 1/2 -3 hours from our house. He saw Mercedes on 6/19/98 and was booked for surgery until 7/1/98, when he did a TPLO on her right knee. He noted that at the time of this surgery there were already some arthritic changes in the knee, but that the procedure had gone well. He also told us that because the knee had been operated on twice, there would be an increased risk of arthritis developing and recommended that we put her on glucosamine and chondroitin supplements. He also told us, as all other vets had, that there is usually a 50 -60% chance that the ACL in the other knee would rupture within a year or two.
This process was slow, but successful. It was good to see the hair fill back in on her leg. She had looked like a patch work quilt after operation #2. The incision sites were in two different places and the stitches and scars were so hard to look at. By that fall she looked really good and it felt like she was a real dog again. (I had so missed tripping over her in the kitchen!)
This whole process took about a year and a half of her now 4 year life and it has been hard to write about. I always wondered if I had done anything differently .... This is an injury which can occur in any breed and happens when a dog makes a stop, turn movement with the leg. Some of the articles this Web site links to do a nice job of describing gravity and the canine knee. Today Mercedes is well and active. The right knee, which was worked on twice, is still a bit stiff when she walks, but she is a high energy girl. She walks, runs, jumps, jack-rabbits through the water, and positively flies down the beach. We are so grateful. But it ain't over yet! .... Once she was all better, we got her a kid brother, Bentley. As a young pup of 3 1/2 months he was busy chasing one of the cats around the house and guess what he did? Sprained his knee. Rested it for a month on Dr. Engen's advice and got better. Then resprained it playing with a friend's dog just before his first birthday. He's now 14 months old and we're keeping him quiet, though we just about always have, poor guy. No torn curciate yet, but you bet we're concerned. We'll keep you posted and welcome e-mail from anyone going through this ordeal.
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