Dog care, symptoms, health issues, and dog health advocacy from an owner's perspective. In loving memory of Jasmine.
No, I didn’t get the photo mixed up. Juno is a 96 pound Dogue De Bordeaux, and this is her story. If a big girl like Juno starts limping on her hind leg, you’d think the prime suspects would be a torn cruciate ligament or hip dysplasia–issues that large breed dogs are most likely to get. Luxating patella is something that…
TPLO surgery is well-established and considered a gold standard for treatment of dog cruciate ligament tears. It is, however, invasive and does carry a risk of complications. The thing about Pitties is that they are loving, big, and energetic. The younger, the more energy they have. Though with Cookie, who is a Rottie and coming up on 7, there hasn’t…
Modern veterinary medicine is incredibly advanced and offers treatments nobody even dreamt of not so long ago. Veterinary surgery is an ever-growing field offering exciting treatments. Most of the surgeries are mostly safe with amazing results. That, unfortunately, doesn’t mean that things cannot go wrong. Nigel is an active dog, full of life and a drive for adventure. When he tore…
A [cranial] cruciate ligament (CCL/ACL) tear is the most common knee injury in dogs. Is the knee anatomy to blame? Is the fate of the knee literally hanging by a thread of the cruciate ligament? If you look at the anatomy of the bones, the knee joint does look like the most unstable conformation imaginable with the tip of the…
If your dog injures their cruciate ligament, you have some serious homework to do. There are many treatment options out there, and the number continues to grow. You can explore everything from conservative management, holistic therapies, regenerative therapies, to surgical repairs. Surgical solutions themselves include eight different techniques I know of at the time I’m writing this. That tells you something–there…