Kane is hurt! Vet appt. made

[gritsar]

By the way, forgot to post this a couple weeks ago.
It's getting harder to tell who is the big brother around here:

*Note, this pic was altered to save Jax from an internet obscenity charge.

 

[redhen]

OMG! He is getting huge!!!!!!

I love the way they look together.. Handsome boys ya got there, Gritty!

 

[Brindlebtch]

Quote:
Jax's face has such a mature expression!

Evidently other bits, too.

If you can, at least temporarily, put up a hotwire, I think that would train Jax not to jump and solve future problems. I don't think a 6 ft fence will even slow Jax down. Even a double level hotwire so it extends up further.

 

[cmjust0]

The animal has to be touching the ground to get shocked by a hotwire, else they don't complete a circuit. Hotwires probably won't do anything if they're at the top of the fence..

..just had to throw that out there..

Ok, so, I really hope this isn't Kane's problem, but to come back holding up a hind leg makes me immediately think of a torn cranial cruciate ligament.. Our LGD, Ivan, blew out his CCL and had to have surgery recently.

If that's what it is -- and I really, really, really hope it isn't -- do yourself a favor and investigate "TightRope" surgery instead of either the traditional 'heavy suture' or TPLO. The heavy suture is affordable, but it's basically fishing line...might not hold up well enough in a big, young, athletic dog like Kane.. TPLO works, but it's hellatious expensive...like, several thousands of dollars...and has a pretty extensive recovery period..

TightRope is sorta like the heavy suture, but instead of fishing line they use a fibertape that pretty much won't break.. The fibertape itself is several hundred bucks, but the surgery isnt much different than the traditional heavy suture. We had Ivan done for a little under $1,400, and he's doing great with his "new" knee...he was putting his foot down two days later. We're about 3months post-surgery right now, and he moves almost like he did before surgery..

But, again...I really hope that's not it!!!

 

[WriterofWords]

Nah,, Kane still has "puppy fuz!" They sure are handsome!

 

[gritsar]

Okay, so it's been two days and Kane finally allowed DH to poke around a bit. It's his right rear foot that is hurt, not the leg. We're thinking he came down hard on a stick or something. So hopefully a few days rest and the vetprofin or buffered aspirin will do the trick.

Writer, Kane does indeed still have some puppy fuzz. Mainly on his head and tail now. I'll be so glad when its gone.

 

[Brindlebtch]

Quote:
Well, dang, that is the first thing ever that I didn't know!

OK, nix the hotwire.

I thought it would work because Tritronics used to have an electric jumping bar for dogs with laziness jump issues.


Uh, yeah. Here is to hoping it isn't an ACL. However, I did have a dog with a partially torn ACL at 9 mos that never had to have surgery and went on to a long healthy agility career.

 

[Brindlebtch]

Quote:
From the picture his head looks to be just about as big as Jax's, too. What a big boy.

You said he was short and stout. Are his legs proportionally shorter than Jax's at the same age?

 

[cmjust0]

Quote:
Well, dang, that is the first thing ever that I didn't know!

OK, nix the hotwire.

I thought it would work because Tritronics used to have an electric jumping bar for dogs with laziness jump issues.

Interesting...not sure how they got that to work..

Uh, yeah. Here is to hoping it isn't an ACL. However, I did have a dog with a partially torn ACL at 9 mos that never had to have surgery and went on to a long healthy agility career.

Apparently, you can sometimes get away without surgery if you make sure smaller dogs get plenty of rest, if not also some anti-inflammatories and so forth, in the case of a partial tear..

Big dogs? Not so much.. They almost always go ahead and blow it completely out once it's weakened at all..

Case in point....our LGD also had partial tears leading up to his blowout. He'd toe-touch for a few days like his foot was tender, then he'd be fine. At the time, we just figured he was maybe straining something or had a stone bruise...something like that. Then one day he started toe-touching and it just didn't get much better even after a week or so.. When he started making a sickening **POPPING SOUND** in that leg when he'd use it, we figured...uh, ya...probably need to speak with the vet.

I had zero knowledge of CCL (like the ACL in humans) injuries in dogs at the time, so I was rather surprised when they diagnosed it as a CCL blowout on symptoms and breed type alone, without even examining the dog.. They were certain enough that's what it was that they went ahead and scheduled us for TightRope CCL surgery before even examining the dog.. When he got there on the day of the scheduled surgery, the vet who was to perform the surgery was in with another patient... I told the kinda-newbie vet there what he was in for, but explained that he'd never been examined to be SURE that's what it was..

She said "Well, I'm not the best at checking for a 'drawer sign' -- especially in big dogs -- but let me see here (takes the dog's leg in her hands for about 0.032 seconds) OH, WOW!...I'm gonna call that a definite YES."

Turns out, he'd not only compltely blown out his CCL, but had somehow managed to damage his PCL and destroy the meniscus as well....and he would still run if he got excited!

But...$1,400 and 12 weeks of recuperation later, he's pretty OK.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
From the picture his head looks to be just about as big as Jax's, too. What a big boy.

You said he was short and stout. Are his legs proportionally shorter than Jax's at the same age?

Brindle, at the same age Kane is now Jax was much longer and lankier, but no heavier. It's obvious to us now that Kane will be the heavier of the two, Jax will probably always be taller. Kane's just built like a bulldozer, but he's proportionally correct.
Kane definitely takes after their sire:

Jax takes after his dam:

Don't know how else to explain it. Just two very different body types.