arf2184
Well-known member
I have no experience with this, so any advice is appreciated. I know chins better than I do dog health so if anything sounds off, let me know. Thanks!
Matty is an 8 year old lab/shepherd/rottweiler/ridgeback mix. She was limping on her left rear leg so we went to the vet this morning...a new vet that we've never seen before, but after today, I really like her. The vet is a little stumped though.
We had a good start to our visit. Matty impressed the vet and vet assistant with her unique, shiny, soft, wavy fur. The vet was also very impressed with her weight, gums, teeth and ears (yay, I'm doing something right!). Her heart sounds, eyes, temp, etc. also checked out good.
On to the problem...the vet determined that Matty's knee is probably what is causing her to limp. Matty gave no sign of tenderness or pain as the vet checked out her leg, but the knee was the only thing she found that seemed abnormal. She manipulated it as best she could (Matty was very tense) and noticed there was a lot of movement. She checked the 'good' one too, and the same thing there, though not quite as much movement as the left/bad one.
X-Rays were the next step. They sedated her and took 5 x-rays. Both knees are somewhat abnormal. The bones looks good, but there is some minor shadowing around the edges on both knees...more so on the left one. There appears to be more fluid than normal in both joints. I can't remember the exact words the vet used, but she said in joint part of the knee there's supposed to be like a triangle (on the x-ray)...Matty has more of a heart shape on both knees.
So the vet initially thought it might be a torn ACL, now she's not sure. When Matty limps, she kind of turns her leg inward. The vet said most dogs with a torn ACL hold it outward. Because of that, she's thinking maybe she tore a different ligament, but she just isn't sure. The fact that both knees looks abnormal in the same way also just adds a bit more confusion. She said, best case scenario, Matty has weird knees and is limping because of a sprain. Rest and pain killers will take care of that. Worst case, it's a torn ACL and she may need surgery. That's what scares me. Even worse case, she possibly has bone cancer, but the vet only mentioned this before x-rays and didn't think it was likely.
She wants to send the x-rays to a radiologist(?) and see if we can get some more insight. The x-rays took longer than expected (had to redo one because Matty's tail was in the way) and by the time we were finishing up, I was running late for work and didn't really want to be rushed into a decision. The vet suggested we just put Matty on pain killers for now and I'll call and let her know what I want to do on Monday.
After thinking about it, I've decided to have the x-rays sent off for to see what they say. That will cost $75. Not too terrible, but it's what comes next that scares me.
Has anyone dealt with a torn ACL or possible torn ACL or anything like this? What did you do? How did it work out?
The vet sent me home with a weeks worth of Rimadyl. What is everyone's opinion on Rimadyl? I was not offered any other pain med options (not that I know enough about them to make an informed decision). I was told that some people don't like the possible side effects of Rimadyl and that if we were to keep her on it long term, she'd have to get a blood test to check for liver problems first.
Oh, Matty's hips were in a couple of the x-rays and the vet said they look ok. One side of the joint is a little flatter than she'd like, but not enough to worry about. She also said she didn't see any major signs of arthritis in her hip joints either, which surprised me.
Matty is an 8 year old lab/shepherd/rottweiler/ridgeback mix. She was limping on her left rear leg so we went to the vet this morning...a new vet that we've never seen before, but after today, I really like her. The vet is a little stumped though.
We had a good start to our visit. Matty impressed the vet and vet assistant with her unique, shiny, soft, wavy fur. The vet was also very impressed with her weight, gums, teeth and ears (yay, I'm doing something right!). Her heart sounds, eyes, temp, etc. also checked out good.
On to the problem...the vet determined that Matty's knee is probably what is causing her to limp. Matty gave no sign of tenderness or pain as the vet checked out her leg, but the knee was the only thing she found that seemed abnormal. She manipulated it as best she could (Matty was very tense) and noticed there was a lot of movement. She checked the 'good' one too, and the same thing there, though not quite as much movement as the left/bad one.
X-Rays were the next step. They sedated her and took 5 x-rays. Both knees are somewhat abnormal. The bones looks good, but there is some minor shadowing around the edges on both knees...more so on the left one. There appears to be more fluid than normal in both joints. I can't remember the exact words the vet used, but she said in joint part of the knee there's supposed to be like a triangle (on the x-ray)...Matty has more of a heart shape on both knees.
So the vet initially thought it might be a torn ACL, now she's not sure. When Matty limps, she kind of turns her leg inward. The vet said most dogs with a torn ACL hold it outward. Because of that, she's thinking maybe she tore a different ligament, but she just isn't sure. The fact that both knees looks abnormal in the same way also just adds a bit more confusion. She said, best case scenario, Matty has weird knees and is limping because of a sprain. Rest and pain killers will take care of that. Worst case, it's a torn ACL and she may need surgery. That's what scares me. Even worse case, she possibly has bone cancer, but the vet only mentioned this before x-rays and didn't think it was likely.
She wants to send the x-rays to a radiologist(?) and see if we can get some more insight. The x-rays took longer than expected (had to redo one because Matty's tail was in the way) and by the time we were finishing up, I was running late for work and didn't really want to be rushed into a decision. The vet suggested we just put Matty on pain killers for now and I'll call and let her know what I want to do on Monday.
After thinking about it, I've decided to have the x-rays sent off for to see what they say. That will cost $75. Not too terrible, but it's what comes next that scares me.
Has anyone dealt with a torn ACL or possible torn ACL or anything like this? What did you do? How did it work out?
The vet sent me home with a weeks worth of Rimadyl. What is everyone's opinion on Rimadyl? I was not offered any other pain med options (not that I know enough about them to make an informed decision). I was told that some people don't like the possible side effects of Rimadyl and that if we were to keep her on it long term, she'd have to get a blood test to check for liver problems first.
Oh, Matty's hips were in a couple of the x-rays and the vet said they look ok. One side of the joint is a little flatter than she'd like, but not enough to worry about. She also said she didn't see any major signs of arthritis in her hip joints either, which surprised me.
