Dog_Horse_Girl

Finally Ruby's had some *good* luck... I got a call from my vet at about 2.30 this arvo...at first I was worried (as you would be). But once he got her under and he began manipulating the joint, he found that the tear wasn't as bad as when he diagnosed the problem. He said that to open her up to operate would cause more damage than what he needed to repair and that the tear was healing by itself to the extent that surgery isn't desirable. He also said that she has developed arthritis so will need on-going support and supplementation (once we find something she's not allergic to, of course!). He took more x-rays to confirm all of this before waking her up! So the good news is that she's home, dozing in the crate, being very sooky and hasn't got a mark on her. But she'll need careful monitoring, no strenuous exercise, and anti-inflammatories...and at the first sign of trouble, straight back to my lovely vet. :D I am SO relieved. The enforced rest period between diagnosis and surgery had a much greater affect than I thought possible...the tear was very significant.

Thanks KT, I'll be calling them shortly to see how she's going...I'm a nervous wreck!

RC has many different formulations. I'd be trying to get that right if you do decide to combine it with raw foods. I have trialled Lilly (greyhound) on two RC formulations: the vegetarian one (worked okay) and the large dog (can't remember which formulation now, it was years ago), and she had enormous poos, lots of farts, and plenty of tummy gurgles so I eventually discovered raw and haven't looked back. My allergy dog has had RC when travelling, which was okay for her but I wouldn't use it regularly. Raw just suits us better - the dogs' health comes first, my convenience second! I've got no problems in defrosting their meals. If I happen to forget to get something out of the freezer, I defrost it in the microwave oven - great inventions! The real issue here is the cost - feeding raw is quite expensive in Darwin (as is everything else).

Glad to hear he's on the mend...phew! ;)

Where did I say you *neglected* your dog??? What I said was "negligent" which is a different word with a different meaning. Negligent means that you allow something to occur despite knowing that it's wrong. Your dog has damaged knee joints and you allowed it to jump heights of 2 metres. That's not right. Any escaping behaviour should be managed as soon as the owner knows the dog is getting out, that's part of the responsibility of having a dog. You could have put the dog in a run. You could have put the dog inside the house (and you say you eventually did this but why did it take so long?). So now you are saying the six months of crating isn't because of the cruciate injury? ;) Gee, you're very hard to follow. Why not post what is factual instead of alarmist?

No advice from me...I just wanted to wish you well...and I'm hoping all will be fine. P. S - bad owner? NO way! Just human, like the rest of us.

Thanks for the well-wishes...I've set up the mid-sized wire crate for Ruby's first few days post-op...she's looked at it once or twice. I think she's expecting a foster to arrive! My vet has says half his crucitate patients are staffords or staffy crosses, so at least she's a "typical" patient for him! I know LP is quite common in the breed as well but thankfully Ruby doesn't have it...just a torn cruciate on one side and a slightly worn hock joint on the other side. I think she did it while zooming around the yard after the greyhound. She had a bath today...her last for a little while.

I've just read this thread in horror at the OP's experience and so-called advice from a vet (who really should know what they're talking about?). Ruby's booked in for Tues (see sep thread) and my vet doesn't necessarily advocate crate-rest post-op. He thinks a few days to a week crated is fine but longer? No way. The dog needs to be using the limb (gently) in order to begin the recovery phase. On-lead walks, swimming, and gentle slope walks are ideal from about 2 wks post-op (depending on the dog of course). Ruby's a staffy x and aged 9 yrs...a very active girl who I have to manage closely once she has the surgery. If Ruby started wanting to leap 2 metres into the air with a damaged cruciate ligament, there is NO WAY I would allow her to do so. That's bloody foolish at best and negligent at worst. ;)

Ruby gets raw fish heads as part of her very limited diet (see thread about her elimination diet). I've also fed her whole raw barra...baby sized, cleaned and gutted but skin on. Fish is really good for dogs - if you don't feel comfortable feeding a whole fish, just buy the heads. The dogs will love them! :D

I also just started her on fish oil caps - wish us luck as we trial roo mince tonight. :D

My poor Ruby (allergy dog) has damaged her cruciate ligament a few months ago. At the time of diagnosis, she was also dealing with mange and severe allergic response (the allergies are on-going). My lovely vet advised we wait before booking the op, as she wouldn't have coped with the recovery or surgery itself... She's sufficiently well enough to have the surgery now, so I've booked her in for next Tuesday. I had a consult with my vet this morning just to go over things before going ahead. He does two or three of these a week so I have lots of confidence in him. I would prefer he does it now, than we wait until after we've moved to Brisbane and then try to find the right vet to get the surgery done. It will be a bit more work for me as I have to carry her up/down the stairs (but am doing that now as she's very sore) and she'll need to be crated for a little while...and because my OH is away for another couple of months, it's all on my shoulders. She will also need a physio program to go on with once she begins to heal. He just said, "Do whatever the vet recommends, she's put up with this for a while," so I have his agreement (she's his dog). Please think lots of positive thoughts for Ruby next week. She's 9 yrs old so not a spring chicken...not that anyone's told her that! :D

Well, I actually saw my vet tonight (I volunteer at the shelter attached to the clinic) and his advice is to stop the pheno. The reason for this (his strongest reason) is that because the levels are below the line where they are doing good, and because Molly doesn't seem to be having seizures, therefore the drug is not at a level to be effective if she was having seizures. He also said that if we suspect she's having/had a seizure again to introduce it at the same dose and interval. So I think that's a great plan. ;) I will probably be a bit paranoid and watch her like a hawk and double-check her bedding, room etc, every day! Not that I don't but on the tablets I have relaxed a little. I'm very relieved as the medication makes her constantly hungry and she has gained a little weight as a result. ;) I'm going to be very happy if she can stay seizure-free. *searches for the cross fingers emoticon*

That's what I thought PRS. Last levels were "within normal" but I'm going to check on the actual level so I know for sure. As far as we can be sure, Molly hasn't had a seizure since we started medication in April 07. But we both work full time so can't observe her during the day. The seizures were occuring either late afternoon or early evening before medication started so I think we would have seen some signs of a repeat seizure at some point?

Finally have the results. Her levels of phenobarb are at 52 and it should be at 65 or greater. Now I don't really know if this is a problem as Molly *seems* to be seizure-free and has been for a while. So, on the one hand, if the levels are lower than therapeutic and she's not seizing, we can consider reducing the dose with the aim of stopping altogether. But the vet I spoke to (mine wasn't available today) seems to think we should *increase* the dose to return to a therapeutic level, or alternatively do nothing. I'm a bit confused as to the next step to consider. :D

When I'm not sure if a particular food has caused a reaction or not, I go back to just 2 - fish and SP and give only that for a week or until the skin settles then add a day. Then I give the trialled food for dinner the following day and wait to see what happens. Sometimes there's no reaction straight away when you introduce a new food, or just a mild reaction that leaves me wondering if I'd imagined it. So the only way I can be sure is to start from A again...and it works. I found out that she does react to lard by doing this. I've booked a consult for tomorrow afternoon. In speaking with one of my vet's colleagues, we don't necessarily have to schedule the surgery - yet - but she can go onto an anti-inflammatory program again to help with the discomfort. I think my vet needs to see her again just to check where she's at. I also managed to find (relatively cheap...$7.29 per kg) human grade roo mince so I've bought a 1 kg pack. I had planned to intro a veg this week but we need more than 2 protein sources, particularly as they'll be boarded in a couple of months. Roo is also supposedly low-allergenic...let's hope so.

Well, I went back to fish/SP and her skin settled again. So I gave a turkey part (a drumstick as I had no necks left) on the weekend and no reaction... I'm giving her another drumstick tonight. If all goes well, it's green vegetable time on Saturday. And she'll keep getting turkey along with fish and SP. BUT - her lameness is back. Poor girl could hardly walk last night and wouldn't come downstairs. This morning she's hunched up again and very stiff/sore. So I carried her up and down the stairs. She seems to be in pain when toileting as well. I think we need to schedule her surgery for the cruciate ligament ($1000) - it's rotten timing with the move coming up as well.

Ruby has flared up again. She's had turkey neck on Saturday, Monday (no reaction) and last night...and today her symptoms are back. I'll return to fish and sweet potato for a week to see if it settles again. I think I can conclude that turkey has caused the response. But I need to be sure as I know that sometimes, dogs do develop a sensitivity to a food previously fed without a reaction/response. :p

Can't afford rabbit here...I was quoted "about $40" for a whole rabbit, skinned and dressed. Obvioulsy for human consumption, but so were the ones I bought in Melbourne for about $4 or $5 each. Darwin's just ridiculous for buying the less usual types of meat...don't even ask about goat prices!

Nope. Not unusual for Darwin though. I'll be so glad to be back on the east coast. At least things DO happen overnight!

I also suffer with eczema and I know certain foods set mine off, plus having really dry skin, using the "wrong" body wash and washing powder etc. I hate it. I've changed washing powder which seems to be working out okay so far. Ruby's getting turkey every second day this week. There has been no reaction to it (yay!). Because I also wanted to re-test lard, she had it with her breakfast yesterday and she came out in itchy spots within two hours - by about mid-afternoon her skin was pinkish-red. So lard is now off the menu. So we're getting there. Rat - food allergies seem to be on the increase in dogs as well as humans and it can be cumulative in effect as far as I understand it. I would think it best to start again with the elimination diet? Remove all treats and processed foods. Then remove all but one low-allergen protein source and one plant/vegetable source. Do this for the six weeks, then commence re-introduction of one food per week. It's the only thing that worked for us.

Lab Rat - just out of curiosity, why do you still feed chicken if she reacts to it? Try turkey - you might be pleasantly surprised like I was. It's a bit more expensive and a bit harder to find. My local woolies sometimes has wings, usually has drumsticks (too big for Ruby unfortunately, but perfect for my greyhound), and I can get necks at a woolies near my work. Next food item will be a plant rather than animal component. I'm going for a green vegetable, still deciding on broccoli or silver beet (silver beet is very hard to get up here so it might be broccoli).

That's great lillysmum! Hope it continues to go well for Ruby :D Me too. It's been a very long road so far and it's not over by a long way yet. But any progress is good progress. ;) My OH is thrilled too (he's away for a few months but I give him updates every week). She's his dog really. ;) How's your pup doing...about 4 weeks into the trial?

We've had a small success! :D Trialled a turkey neck for her dinner last night and - so far at least - no significant reaction! :D All being well, she'll have turkey neck again tomorrow night...I plan to alternate between fish and turkey for the rest of the week. Next food is either pork rib OR a vegetable. Perhaps broccoli...or silver beet. She must be so sick of sweet potato. ;)

Yeah, but we're in DARWIN...everything takes longer because none of it is done locally. I think the vet blood work is done in QLD or WA depending on what's needed. We are moving forward...S-L-O-W-L-Y here. Some tests are now done locally for human patients. Kirislin - hoping it's not epilepsy...crossing fingers for you.

Molly was the perfect patient having the blood draw. Now we just have to wait a week for the results...nothing is done here in Darwin. She's on my lap - shivering ATM because it's a bit cold...yep, in Darwin.