My Poor Dog - After Surgery

About 10 days ago, I was watching TV and noticed my 11 yr old Westie could not get in his doggie door. After helping him get in, he was non-weight bearing on left rear leg and would collapse on that side if I tried to pick him up by his front legs. No whelping or whining to indicate significant pain, so I watched him for the rest of the afternoon.

No improvement, so I took him to one of those emergency Vets which actually was a very nice experience. They did X-Rays and thought he probably tore his anterior cruciate ligament, gave meds and told to follow up with regular vet. $325

Visit with regular vet, they agreed. Recommended surgery to repair which I agreed to, so had to get pre-op bloodwork. $145

Friday, orthopedic surgeon vet did surgery, confirmed that was the problem, kept on IV meds overnight and released yesterday. Surgeon's bill $900. Vet hospital supplies, meds, anaesthesia, monitoring $650. It all adds up to $2,020.

Is he worth it? Hell yes. Just an eye opener that I wasn't expecting.

Here's a couple of quick photos, which looks kind of sad...mainly because white dogs have pinkish skin with various pigmentation spots, but it will all grow back fine.

Here's my captions:

Glad everything worked out great for doggie! They are always worth the money to keep them healthy. I still get watery eyes when I think of my parents Harlequin Great Dane who adopted me as her best buddy. I loved that dog. She passed in 1985.

I knew that vet bills were expensive but WOW. It makes sense why they sell pet insurance now. I'm glad that the pup's doing better. It's heartbreaking to see your pet/friend/companion in pain. Scratch him under his chin, raise his head high, and tell him I wish him well.

Cute dog!

The only thing I see wrong with the cast is that it has no signatures from his buddies.:laughing:

LL, glad your Westie is on the mend. I bet he'll be back to chasing squirrels after he heals.

We went through ACL surgery on our Pointer, Chula, whose photo is my avatar. It does take a while to heal, which was probably the hardest part---restricting movement on a Pointer isn't easy! That leg did heal up fine, though. And then just a couple of months later, the other rear leg went out! We did a second ACL surgery, followed by a second recovery period. The good news is that both legs ended up at or close to 100%---she really did seem as good as new.

Chula has since gone to her reward, but she was a great dog. We now have a 14 month old rescue Pointer , Mia---and no ACL problems so far (fingers crossed).

Best wishes to your recuperating pal. :wave:

Aww, what a cute dg! I can clearly see the love in his eyes, especially in the second photo. I hope he has a speedy and painless recovery!

Just one question - no glow-in-the-dark cast material? What kind of a flashaholic are you anyway? :laughing:

Very glad to hear that your dog is alright, Lux.

What is his name?

His name is Scottie, named after our favorite nephew.

Related to the black Scottish & Cairn Terriers, the West Highland White Terrier ("Westie") breed was purebred in the Northern Highlands of Scotland. They proved invaluable going after small game, and had a visibility advantage in the brush during hunting. I've mostly had large dogs previously (boxers, doberman, labs), but this is my 2nd Westie. They are a really wonderful breed that live easily to 16+ years.

The orthopedist said this is the most common surgery he sees, and is common in all breeds. This is the first problem I have had with him, but for the unconditional love and enthusiasm Scottie provides, I owe him a lot more than a couple thousand bucks.

Scottie! What a great name!

Looks and sounds like a wonderful dog, Lux. I hope he has a fast and easy recovery.

Many people thought I was nuts to drop ~$2400 on Jake, our German Shepard Dog, for basically the same thing back in '04 at the age of seven. Remove and replace torn ligament with mono-filament, and remove torn cartilage.

He healed up great after a three month period. The surgery gave him another wonderful four years with us until he succumbed to cancer a year ago.:sigh:

Worth every penny. After Jake's passing I called the Vet who operated on Jake to thank him, and told him I'd be a reference if anybody had questions about the surgery for their dog.

Here's to wishing Scottie a speedy recovery.:thumbsup:

I'm glad that your little friend is doing we'll Lux. such a cute little guy.

Unfortunately I've been down that road before with a little Chihuahua named Enzo. He was only 2 years old when he broke his right front leg while jumping full speed off the bed. They performed surgery and installed a ti plate in his leg which began the healing process. About 8-10 weeks later after the plate was removed to let the bone grow back in, and after the cast was off he got excited and jumped off of a small plastic chair at my girlfriend's place of work. Little Enzo was there because my gf's dad also worked there and Enzo was scheduled for a check up on his leg. Anyhow, when he jumped from the chair it rebroke the leg. :mecry:

After that the surgeon redrilled and reinstalled the plate and a soft cast was used. After a couple of months the plate was removed and the Enzo was on strick activity restriction. It required constant monitoring. Terribly, he jumped onto a pile of warm clothes from the laundry and re-broke the leg. :mecry:

After that the doc decided that the plate holes, although the smallest available, were too large for the bone. This time an external fixater was used which was more cumbersome for the poor animal and a lot of maintenance for Enzo's people. It' needed to be cleaned often and could catch on things if we weren't watch him carefully. Everything seemed to be going well, the fixater was removed after many weeks and the leg was wrapped. After several check ups and lots of observation it was determined that the bone just wasn't filling in and growing strong as it should. After the cast was removed Enzo's little leg bones never really re-grew as they should. :mecry:

In the end the leg had to be amputated after 8 months of suffering, both the dog and us. Don't get me wrong, it was a labor of love and I felt terrible over what that little animal was going through. I don't think I've cried over any one thing so many seperate times. The vet bills totalled about $5000 dollars which they ended up graciously cutting in half for us due the all the complications and additional surgeries.

This all sounds awful but there was a silver lining. After the leg was removed Enzo became active and healthy. He put some weight on his bones and the missing leg didn't even slow him down. Several times we had company over and our guests didn't even realize it was a three legged dog until they were getting ready to leave...lol. I lost him in a "custody battle" with my girlfriend but he was the best pet that I ever owned.

I'll see if I can post a couple of pics but I'll have to scan them in first.

Glad Scottie is alright, Lux! :wave: As mean as it sounds, a pet with a cast is one of the cutest things (in a sad sort of way).

One of our cats got over-excited when a bird flew past the window, and jumped out, shattering his leg. He needed reconstructive surgery, taking bone from his shoulder to put in his leg, and also got some screws and a metal plate put in it. He can't bend it now, and has a really cute hobble.



And you should know that you got off lucky with your $2,000 bill compared to us. :laughing: But I'm TOTALLY with you - they're worth it. :grouphug:

:thumbsup: john

My dog Fenix was heavily abused as a pup. She still lived in Taiwan back then (yes, my dog was 'made in taiwan'). The abuse ended with her being thrown from a car at full speed on the highway. A businessman brought her to a vet who fixed the multiple fractures in her leg. After she healed, Animal Association International brought her to the Netherlands, where they foundher a good home. Only the joy was short lived. Her owner got cancer (terminal) and couldn't take care of her anymore. After a short stay at a temporary home, we adopted her.

It was quite a challenge to have a dog with both physical and emotional scars as our first dog. But all the money, time & energy we put into it have been worth it. She still has trust issues towards strangers & other dogs, but to us she's the best dog in the world. Just like Scottie probably is to you...

Good luck with the little one, I hope he heals soon!

Oh, and just to put things in perspective a little bit, I also have a pet rabbit... That little guy has over 3500 euro in vet bills in his name (that's about $5000 US at todays exchange rate)... Yes, $5K, for a pet rabbit...

5K for a rabbit? I've got perfectly good rabbits running around the back yard you can have for free. :nana: (Clearly someone is not spending enough money on flashlights...)

We had a black lab that had an ACL injury as well. The vet said they could do surgery which would cost thousands or we could leave it to heal on its own and see how it went. We let it heal and she ended up just fine. She lived happily till she was 13, we had to euthanize her last fall. Saved a lot of money and still ended up with a healthy dog.

Scottie says thanks for all the good wishes. If I didn't have the money, it would have been a harder decision whether to let it take its own course. They gave me a choice, pointing out that he would be at a higher risk of injuring the other knee as they compensate for the injury. Both knees failing becomes a real nightmare. After seeing him collapse totally on that side after about 8 days, it was hard to keep watching his disability.

Now that he is perking back up a few days after surgery, I feel good about having it done, but I understand those who would choose to save the money. There's no "right" answer.

I forgot about signing his cast, so I marked "Daddy" on it.

Back in October, a good friend passed on, and we adopted her 2 cats. One stopped eating almost as soon as we got him - $3500 later we saved his life - then my Tux (16 YO cat) went to his final illness in Feb - that was another 2K - he was by far the most expensive cat I've ever had. He got Vaccine Associated Sarcoma back in 2002, and the 2 surgeries for that came to about $5500, plus he had CRF in his later years - another 50-100/month for treatment

What a cute little guy! Glad he got patched up.
My wife and I got my dog from a shelter a year and a half ago and had to pay well over a $1000 to fix a condition known as cherry eye. Even though we had just adopted him the love and happiness he has brought into our home has been priceless and any money spent on keeping him healthy is completly worth it!

Oddjob,
My mom's dog had that same condition - it was quite an ordeal! She had surgery a few times trying to fix it, ending up at a canine optometrist out of state. Glad to hear your dog is all better.
:thumbsup: john
PS - This is a great thread... thanks Lux!

As he is feeling perkier, it is a nightmare trying to stop Scottie from going up/down steps, or jumping up on his favorite chair. It's weird having to leash him inside.

jch79, you are right, that is a cute cast on your cat!

Glad your pup is healing & feeling better!

He looks like a real character from your pictures