Four legged tractor buddy down and out

[jenkinsph]

Hope you can get the surgery done with success and that your dog recovers well.

Dogs are my family, tractors and implements are handy. I lost my dog Joey (in my avatar) earlier this year and still haven't gotten over it. I do have a new buddy though, a Siberian Husky I found outside of Denver.

 

[kebo]

Wow, some great stories on here! I'm a dog lover too, got a 9 yr old dashie that is like my shadow. She's as sweet as 10lb bag of dixie crystal sugar! She's a house dog so she doesn't get to roam around much except when I walk her. I just recently suffered losing my other male dachsie named Hunter. He was 14yrs and 10 months old and died from complications of Cushing's disease, plus he had also been diagnosed with congestive heart failure which caused him to have some respiratory distress at times. The cardiologist vet thought he might have been having some blood clots too. He was on Lysodren for the Cushings, and Vetmedin, Lasix, and Plavix for the heart/blood issues. Last Oct. 8th I was at my parents and Hunter started having trouble breathing. Before I could get him back to the vet 60 miles away he died on my truck seat. Man, that was a long and heartbreaking trip back home with him laying in the seat motionless.

I had him cremated and he now sits in an urn on the chest of drawers right beside my bed. I also sprinkled some of his ashes in his favorite places where he liked to roam around at in the yard. I never counted up how much I spent on him the last couple years, but I am sure it was over $3000, part of which included an overnight stay in the animal hospital inside their oxygen chamber. I would do it again without a doubt.


Dogs are so faithful, and will love you no matter what. Just be kind to them and show them love and they will return it tenfold. To the original poster, I hope the vet's are able to repair your dog's knee and she regains her mobility again. Good luck!

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.”
― Will Rogers

 

[bubbacuse77]

Thanks again everyone for the words of encouragement. Even though I swallowed a bit when they estimated the cost, we really didn't even give it much thought.


Update: She had the TTA surgery done vs the TPLO because the surgeon said do to her bone and ligament structure she would be at higher risk for the TPLO and the TTA would be the better surgery.

The Vet called twice this afternoon to let us know that she is doing great.
We pick her up tomorrow and visit for an hour with the doggie physical therapist.

$3500 for 3 days care, 3 hours of surgery, multiple x-rays, and physical therapy. Really a good price when you think about all the care she received from one of the highest level facilities around. Did I mention she had the head Vet orthopedic surgeon, one resident surgeon, and a student vet surgeon operate on her. I'm sure if a human received this much care for the same surgery it would be 20-30k.

They also gave me $500 credit if we let them scope the other knee for research. It was informed that it was low risk, would possibly help the inflammation in that knee because they would flush saline through it, and we would know if the other knee is already showing signs of damage. Win-Win.

The overall purpose of the research is to gather data that supports that this injury is more do to degenerative effects than trauma (like a athlete). If they find this is the case they will start in the next year putting a substance in damaged but not ruptured knees that possibly will help the ligament heal. As of now the ligament is not capable of healing on its own.

Scoping the "good" knee not only will benefit her but will benefit dogs in the future for very little risk to her.
I can稚 say enough about how impressed I am with the competence and professionalism of the University of Wisconsin Staff.

 

[creekbend]

Good news is always welcome. I bet you can't wait to pick your companion and friend up. Hope the therapy goes smoothly and everything works out fine. Best of everything.:thumbsup:

 

[High Compression]

My dog blew out her knee and needs CCL surgery. Most places are pricing it at $4k. Anybody have any experience with this? Apprently it is the most common injury for dogs. I could have really used that money for some tractor upgrades or attachement...........Man!

My buddy had both of his dog's, Dakota, done here last year. His vet specializes in the operation and has supposedly perfected it. She only charged him $1000 per leg. It has been 4 or 5 months since her last surgery and Dakota it running and jumping just like she always did. She actually wanted to a day or two after surgery.

 

[jwnge]

Thanks again everyone for the words of encouragement. Even though I swallowed a bit when they estimated the cost, we really didn't even give it much thought.


Update: She had the TTA surgery done vs the TPLO because the surgeon said do to her bone and ligament structure she would be at higher risk for the TPLO and the TTA would be the better surgery.

The Vet called twice this afternoon to let us know that she is doing great.
We pick her up tomorrow and visit for an hour with the doggie physical therapist.

$3500 for 3 days care, 3 hours of surgery, multiple x-rays, and physical therapy. Really a good price when you think about all the care she received from one of the highest level facilities around. Did I mention she had the head Vet orthopedic surgeon, one resident surgeon, and a student vet surgeon operate on her. I'm sure if a human received this much care for the same surgery it would be 20-30k.

They also gave me $500 credit if we let them scope the other knee for research. It was informed that it was low risk, would possibly help the inflammation in that knee because they would flush saline through it, and we would know if the other knee is already showing signs of damage. Win-Win.

The overall purpose of the research is to gather data that supports that this injury is more do to degenerative effects than trauma (like a athlete). If they find this is the case they will start in the next year putting a substance in damaged but not ruptured knees that possibly will help the ligament heal. As of now the ligament is not capable of healing on its own.

Scoping the "good" knee not only will benefit her but will benefit dogs in the future for very little risk to her.
I can稚 say enough about how impressed I am with the competence and professionalism of the University of Wisconsin Staff.

We took our little guy there several years ago, they were terrific in everyway, you made a great choice.

 

[Pixguy]

:dance1: Molly was sad but is very happy now that Blue Bird is going to be back to normal soon!

 

[Depmandog]

Great news that your best buddy is on the mend. There is nothing like a dog who worships the ground you walk on. No question - you made the right decision.

We had a 12 year welsh corgi that got an inoperable tumor, lasted only a couple of months after the diagnosis. Although she wasn't 'my' dog, there is no doubt I was her master. I would have paid the money to have her made better if that was an option. She ended up passing away with me and my wife there to comfort her.

That was three years ago, and now we have two other dogs. I keep telling them they have a long way to go to replace the corgi (don't tell them, but I am pretty hooked on them both, especially the border collie.)

Nothing like a dog to improve your mood after a long day of work.

Dean

 

[Skyco]

Before I could get him back to the vet 60 miles away

One tip for everyone- I have stored in my cell the phone numbers of 24 hour emergency vets in areas away from home that I frequent.
In my case Columbia and Spartanburg SC and Asheville NC.
One never knows when help might be needed for your best buddy right away...

 

[Depmandog]

One tip for everyone- I have stored in my cell the phone numbers of 24 hour emergency vets in areas away from home that I frequent.
In my case Columbia and Spartanburg SC and Asheville NC.
One never knows when help might be needed for your best buddy right away...

That reminds me - we had a golden/ lab mix once. We had steaks for dinner. She got the bones. Later that night she started howling, crying, moaning - obviously in pain. I loaded her in the back of truck headed for a the 24 hour vet (still howling) took off down the road (still making a ruckus) down the road we went - then I realized she had quit crying. So I stop the truck, she is all happy to see me. Then I notice a big pile of dog poop in the bed. HA! She passed a bone that must have had a sharp edge.

Since I was close, went ahead to the vet. Lesson learned, that's the last bone I ever fed a dog!!

Dean