On July 12th Toni - at two months short of 14 - decided that I did not have enough excitement this summer and dislocated her left hip.

We don't know exactly how she managed to do it- Paul saw her playing with Eleven and thinks they rolled down the hill and she may have splayed her legs when she rolled. He said she came out from behind the shed dragging the leg. Never made a sound.

I got home from work 3 hours later and immediately loaded her up to go to the vet- why Paul waited is beyond me.

Vet said she had to stay there the night and they would anesthetize her in the morning and try to pop it back in.

The next morning the vet called and said they knocked her out and took more X-rays and somehow Toni had popped it back into place in her own. Toni never was one to wait for anything.... So I picked her up and they had out her in an Ehmer sling - the leg was tied up like a chicken wing.

The sling just came off and Due to her age and not knowing what other damage ther may be, she has been slow to recover. We are not pushing- she is taking it as she can handle it- it was really hard for her to walk with the sling on as it threw her balance off. Now with the sling off the bad leg is pretty stiff.

We are all slogging through it the best we can. I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on exercises we can do with her to gently get the leg rehabbed.

Thanks!!!

Swimming possibly?

Great for load free exercise on the muscles.

Last spring, Sugar slipped at high speed in lichen on the paving slabs whilst chasing a cat, and she literally ended up in a star shape. She tore a muscle in the front right, and banged up the back left.

The vet gave her 30mg/400mg codeine paracetamol for four hourly for 5 days, said to do very gentle exercise on short walks, and no climbing on furniture or using stairs.

I also massaged the legs a couple of times a day, and TRIED to keep her still! It took a good few weeks before she was weight bearing on all four. It was tempting to put her on bed rest, but when my hips and back play up, I find immobility makes things worse.


Maybe a wheat back on the leg for ten minutes a couple of times a day??

Poor Toni, hope she feels better soon

That should be 3mg codeine!

Edited by tracey holden (07/24/2018 11:32 PM)
Edit reason: Eta

Definitely swimming! Easy on the joints, and great for the muscle so it doesn't atrophy!
Acupunture does wonders for my friends dog dwn south.
I would keep her off pavement and only on grass. Poor Toni, and poor you, one thing after another!

Kelly ... I just sent you a PM about your "disappearing post." I sent you the text and told you what's wrong (so you can re-post).


C.

Unfortunately she is not fond of water - I am afraid that she might panic and make it worse right now. Maybe I can walk her in the river once she is a bit more mobile though.

Right now it is all she can do to get up and go potty outside- we carry her up and down the stairs. She moves around on the bed we made up for her in the middle of the living room but that's really about it- she is limiting herself pretty well. She really did a number on herself and I am thinking it will be months before she is remotely back to normal. She is eating and drinking well so I am letting her make the call on her activity level right now.

Paul messed up his back a while ago so most of the carrying duty has fallen on me - so far the bionic hips are holding up.

I have been massaging and moving the leg around a little bit - she hasn't shown any pain response to that yet but she is so stoic that I am not sure if there is pain or not.

Eleven and Fennec have spent lots of time in crates the last couple of weeks because I don't want to risk one of them getting too excited and jumping on her - they are being so great about it. I owe them big!! I really have a great bunch of dogs!!

I've heard good things about acupuncture for dogs with injuries, but I've wondered about the likelihood of dogs getting freaked out by the procedure .....

Has she got pain meds, or would masking the pain make matters worse?

It sounds like she's being quite sensible, and keeping her quiet and calm while she heals is such a help.

I wish I could jump on a plane and come and do something useful, you've just had a ton of crap in recentl times and I really feel for you all

Poor you! One really is tempted to believe "bad luck keeps bad luck", though I don't think so. I1m sure this is all a great burden for you, at least you sound somehow overwhelmed. Understandable, I'd feel like you. Believe me GOOD LUCK will come again and keep good luck.

I'd also say swimming, swimming! Charlie, the one, who has trouble with learning other things and so had a lack of movement, hated swimming at first a lot. In between he does it with with great excitement.

Though of course if your dog doesn't like the water I wouldn't try this right now, but to accustome him gradually later on, would certainly be a great advantage.

I have no experience with acupuncture but also heard such a lot of encouraging messages about this (as well for dogs and people). If you have the possibility, do give it a try.
I wish you all that finally things will change in a positive manner.

I will certainly do acupuncture and cold laser therapy once we are able to get her in and out of the car a little easier... The leg is super stiff from being tied up for so long.

I took her out this morning and she wandered around the yard- some tentative toe touches here and there. It is the first time she has really put that foot down. Boy when we say Outside she can get up pretty fast!! She tires quickly though so even this morning the little bit of wandering wore her out and I carried her back to the house.

It feels like she is getting better everyday- with her age I didn't think she would be this far along yet... It has only been 2 weeks, though sometimes it feels a whole lot longer!

Thank you all for your support! It's nice to know you all are there when the chips fall!!

 Quote: Kelly

I will certainly do acupuncture and cold laser therapy once we are able to get her in and out of the car a little easier... The leg is super stiff from being tied up for so long.

I took her out this morning and she wandered around the yard- some tentative toe touches here and there. It is the first time she has really put that foot down. Boy when we say Outside she can get up pretty fast!! She tires quickly though so even this morning the little bit of wandering wore her out and I carried her back to the house.

It feels like she is getting better everyday- with her age I didn't think she would be this far along yet... It has only been 2 weeks, though sometimes it feels a whole lot longer!

Thank you all for your support! It's nice to know you all are there when the chips fall!!

Well, this is some GOOD news indeed, Kelly You all have certainly had more than your fair share of the Other kind -- At least everyone here knows she's in the BEST of hands at your house !!! Just keep us posted, as time allows, please...