Brace Yourselves

Here's the latest from the knee-front. Well, actually the knee back. Geez, I crack myself up. Anyway, Cache got his custom made knee brace this week and for the first time in about a year, he can walk without a limp. This video isn't the best because we had just gotten done with a walk and he was a bit tired of lugging the brace around, but for the most part, you can see him walking fairly limp-free. Except when he pushes off for a run. Then, he still does the little hop and avoids putting weight on the knee. But other then that, it's all very exciting.

Alternative Medicine

Yesterday, Jerod did some research and we stumbled upon this website. The custom make leg braces for animals. We looked into possible getting one of these made for Cache. It's quite a bit cheaper then the surgery route, and it doesn't require a long recovery time. After talking to the customer rep last night on the phone and annoying her by peppering her with all my questions, she was convinced that this was a viable option for Cache. She even seemed to think that after he had worn it for awhile and developed his muscle mass in his leg, that the muscles and the scar tissue would actually compensate for the missing ligaments in his leg. She's seen it happen before. This would mean, that it wouldn't be totally permanent for him. We would probably want to use it on him if we were to do any high activity, but otherwise, he could eventually go day-to-day without it. It sounds promising, huh? I'm still skeptical and I will remain that way until we discuss this with our vet.

My fear? It will just be a lovely $600.00 chew toy for the dumb goober. *sigh* Cache, I love ya, but you know you really are just a dumb goober. Remember the cast incidents?

Anyway, here's hoping!!

Here is exactly what you say to make my head explode

Me: "I just wanted to come in for a checkup on his leg because his limp just never goes away and by the end of the day he doesn't put any weight on it."

The wonderful vet whom I love dearly: "Hmm...it looks like he's torn both sutures all over again."

Me: *blink blink* "um...what?"

The wonderful vet whom I love dearly: "Wow, in 26 years of doing these, I have never seen a dog tear BOTH sutures after surgery."

Me: *trying to decide whether to cry or scream* "Please don't tell me that."

The wonderful vet who I love dearly: "I'm so sorry. After all you guys have been through, I hate to see this."

Me: *trying to think as the bells and whistles intermingle with the spinning dollar signs in my brain* "What does this mean? What can we do?"

The wonderful vet who I love dearly: "At this point I would have to recommend the TPLO surgery."

Me: *heavy sigh*

Jerod: *heavier sigh*

Me: "So what happens to him if we do nothing? No surgery. Just make him live with it."

The wonderful vet who I love dearly: "Well, you know, dogs do just fine on three legs. But, you have to realize that with all that weight on his right leg, his chances of tearing the ligaments in his other knee go up dramatically."

Me: *tearing up while looking down at my little puppy staring up adoringly at me* "Goober, don't look at me like that. You are NOT my favorite person right now."

So, here we are...back at square one. No, not even square one! We are at freakin' square negative fifty!
Here are our three options we are left with.
1) Re-do the cruciate ligament repair with the same doctor (which she VERY generously offered to do at cost for us. See? LOVE HER!) and risk him doing the same flippin' thing again and tearing it all up. But, only after a hell of a recovery where he chews up his cast again and shortens my life a little bit each day.
2) Pay for the more expensive TPLO surgery, which involves an even MORE extensive hell of a recovery and where we would be forced to sedate him for four to eight weeks to keep him from being his idiot self and hurting himself. This surgery involves an actual fracture of the bone, so the healing would have to go perfectly....but the results would be the best we could hope for.
3) Leave him to fend for himself on three legs. My three and a half year old PUPPY would be forced to be on pain medication for the rest of his life and face hip and knee arthritis while all the while making us hold our breath and hope he doesn't tear the other knee out.

It's just not fair. My little puppy that loves to run and jump and play and chase bunnies and kitties and tennis balls is left with this quality of life. I can't justify spending money on another surgery, but I also don't think I can bear to see him live a life with restrictions on what he can do just so we protect his other knee and perhaps the inevitable.


*sigh* This just sucks.

His weeks are a wee bit shorter then the rest of the world's

Ok, so remember when I was saying that Cache had to have his cast on after surgery for six weeks? Yeah, he didn't really think the vet was serious about that. After chewing it off after only two weeks, he also decided after another two weeks that the makeshift bandage also had to come off. I came home on Monday to a living room floor and backyard adorned with lovely chunks of cotton he had pulled off his leg.

I called the vet knowing exactly what they were going to say, and listened to them tell me that the only thing we can really do is just leave it off and have Cache "take it easy". Yeah. Right. Do you want to come over here and tell HIM that?

So, we are sans cast/bandage this week. But, it's not so bad. Today is the one-month mark for him having the surgery and I'm already shocked at his bounce-backability. Last night, I rolled over only to find that my bed-hog dog is now feeling up to jumping up onto the bed with me again. He just hasn't had the the power in his back legs to make the hop up into my tall pillow-top bed, so he hasn't slept with me at night in quite some time. And here I was thinking for the last six months that he just didn't like me anymore. It turns out, he DOES still like me and the doctor must have also installed a little more cuddliness in him while they were installing his new ligament. So, last night as he shook the bed with every shift of his body and every heavy puppy sigh I figured what can a girl do but roll over and wrap herself around her warm puppy and go back to sleep thinking, "Expensive surgery? Ha! Worth. Every. Cent."

Week Three

Here is Cache's timeline leading up to Week Three.

Thursday: I got my cast trimmed to expose my foot. All is happy and good. I can finally go outside in the snow without wrapping my foot in three plastic bags.

Saturday evening: I've decided I don't like this "cast" apparatus and proceed to chew on it late into the night, unbenownst to Andi who is sleeping soundly in her bed.

Sunday morning: Andi wakes up, and sees my magnificant chew job and is so happy that she yells very loudly in celebration at my genius and, I might add, very artistic work.

Monday morning: Andi skips a morning of work just so we can go on another fun car ride to the vet! Except it wasn't so fun with all that sawing and plaster dust. And just when I think my leg is free, they go and wrap my leg in five layers of cotton and then plastic. It's not great, but at least my leg is not weighed down by that heavy plaster. I can chase that bunny in my backyard much easier now. Andi must be happy about it too, because she yells very loud at me again while I do it. She's such a great cheerleader.

Tuesday morning: Andi goes off to work again this morning. I'm bored. No toys to chew. Hey, this thing on my leg is kind of chewy....

Tuesday lunchtime: Andi was SO happy how I decorated the living room with the cotton that used to be wrapped around my leg, that she takes me for a ride in the car AGAIN! And I get to go see those nice people at the vet's office again.

Wednesday: Andi must of had a bad week at work. She seems grumpy with me. Weird. She keeps spraying this nasty tasting spray all over my new cotton chew toy on my leg. It makes things very difficult when trying to decorate the living room with cotton again. Maybe tomorrow I can have some peace when she goes off to work to get some more decorating done.

Week Two

He got his cast trimmed down yesterday so his foot is exposed now. He is so cute now because he hobbles around now more then just hops around. He's enjoying the new-found freedom, I think. Little by little!! I have to keep telling myself that! In only five short weeks, the cast will be completely off. Both Cache and I can't wait.


This picture really doesn't show the wonderfully BRIGHT hunter orange color of his new wrap on his cast. All my pictures just drain the color out of it. As if this dog isn't hard enough to take a picture of! If anyone has the secret of how to take a picture of a completely black dog and not make it look like just a black blob, let me know.

By the way, the heart on his cast was not my doing. It was the sweet girls at the vet's office that came up with that one. I think it's cute, but Jerod and Cache think it's too girly.

Week One

He's a little embarrassed about showing his shaved bare bottom, but I told him no one would care. Plus, it's cute.

Could you get this big purple thing off my leg....please? Someone?

I had to throw this one in just because....well, let's face it. We're pretty cute together.

I'm fine. Really. Can we go for a walk now?

For the past several months, I've noticed that when Cache runs or plays to hard, he has a limp for a couple days. This typically happens when he would go to my parents' house and have a hard weekend of playing ball and chasing kitties. But, then he would come back home, sleep for a week, and the limp would go away. However, since Honey has been in the house, there really isn't any time for him to re-coup after he develops the limp. In the past week, the limp got worse and he wouldn't let anyone go near his leg. He also has put on about 10 pounds since November (which doesn't sound that abnormal. I mean, come on, we've ALL put on 10 pounds since November, right?). But, that is not normal for non-stop Cache. He's never had a weight problem as he often forgets to eat because there is just too many important things to smell or chase. So, on Friday, I decided to bite the bullet and take him to the vet. I was thinking it was a re-occurring sprain or at the worst, a small fracture. Althought the vet seemed to have an inclination right away what it was, he kept him there for the afternoon so he could sedate him to take x-rays and access the knee without Cache taking off his hand. I came back after work to get the prognosis and write a big fat check to the vet for x-rays that I didn't even get to keep as a momento. So, it turns out my Cache has torn his ACL....that precious little ligament in the knee that holds the top of the leg and the bottom of the leg together. It's not completely severed, but enough for the vet to predict that he will probably need surgery.

So, the vet told me to keep Cache off his feet for at least two weeks. No walks. No hikes. No wrestling. Nothing. I kind of just stood there and wanted to laugh in his face. I mean, sure, as he was telling me, Cache was still under sedation and konked out on the floor drooling on my shoe. But, THAT is not Cache. Cache is the typical three year old Lab that loves life and loves to run and jump and chase. No walks or hikes for him is like taking a birthday away from a kid.

But...I'm trying. For the sake of my puppy's knee, and for the sake of avoiding a thousand dollar surgery on a DOG, I'm trying. Honey is particularily confused because she is no longer allowed to wrestle or take Cache down. I do allow them to chew on each others faces, but that's as far as I can let it go. Poor little goobers. How do I explain this to them?

On the gooey sentimental side of things, I got a glimpse into what kind of father and support my future husband is going to be. He went with me to the vet's office for the prognosis and held my hand as the vet told me. He carried a drooling sedated Cache out to the car and put his hand on my shoulder as I fought back tears to see my baby that way. He didn't even hesitate about spending money on a dog's knee surgery. Money that we've saved up for a wedding and honeymoon. He knows Cache is my baby and he has adopted him as his own too. How lucky can a girl get?

So, since we were stuck in the house this afternoon, I took a few pictures of the stir-crazy dogs. Ugh, the next two weeks are going to be murder....

The couch is off limits now (since he can't jump or climb on things), so he has a bed on the floor now that would make anyone jealous.

An example of the aforementioned face-chewing.

Guard dog. "How dare those little kids walk by my house!"

"Please please PLEASE can we go outside??"

"Seriously. Someone has got to teach those kids a lesson."