Torn Ligament
 

My 4½ year old Yorkie named Coco jumped off my bed one day last month and hurt his right hind leg. I bought him to the local vet which is nearby and she said it was soft tissue injury and put him on rimadyl for 10 days. After a month, he could walk, jump a little and run on that leg. However, he was still limping slightly and the local vet wanted to do some x-rays. I was very hesitant because I am reluctant to put my little guy under anesthesia unless it is absolutely necessary. Because of their small size I am told that anesthesia is dangerous to them. I decided to take Coco to my regular vet, an older and more experienced guy. He felt around and said the same thing or that it could be a ligament tear and did not recommend x-rays or surgery. He said that if he couldn't’t feel anything wrong an x-ray would not find anything he could not’t find by feeling the leg. He also said that Coco has weak knees a condition he was born with (patellar luxation). The Vet put it in laymen terms for me, he said Coco has football knees much like when a football player tears a ligament. He said the leg may get better or it may not. Has anyone had this happen to their baby and how long does it take to get well? Any well wishes or comments would be appreciated.:aimeeyork

I had a male yorkie years ago that tore his ligament. I did have surgery and he still held the leg up when standing. LP can be a problem in yorkies. 2 of my 4 have it, so far they manage fine without needing surgery. If it were to get bad I would have the surgery. Hope your baby is ok.

Hi ya. my dog dougal has limped for quite some time on his hind leg. He was on complete rest and rimadyl for 6 weeks and got better but was not completely fixed. Then we started seeing a doggy chiropractor and he's doing a lot better for it. he's back doing agility work and is really happy to do it. Maybe you could give that a go - no drugs, no anesthesia. And if it's not in his spine you've only lost a bit of $.

Certainly I've been told by other doggy chiropractors that jumping off beds can jam up their little spines. Both of my dogs are much happier for seeing the chiropractor.

:)
oh my goodness.. a doggy chiropracter.. try to watch a session and tell us what they do in chiropractor therapy.. very interesting stuff:)

Rebel did the exact same thing when he was 8 months old! He already had the luxated patella in his rear left leg, but the jump tore a ligament.

I took him to a wonderful surgeon in Gordon, Ga, who completely understood my reservations about having my baby anesthetized ( he weighed barely 4 lbs at the time) and repaired Reb's leg while I was there.

He stayed overnight, and after a couple of days of complete rest, my problem was keeping him from overdoing it and re-injuring the leg. He's had no problems with that leg at all since the surgery. Once the stitches were out I'd fill the bathtub and support his belly while he "swam". The vet said that was great physical therapy for him.

Good luck with your baby!

Did your vet grade his knees? Luxating patellas are graded from 1-4 with 4 being the worst. 1-2 usually don't need surgery, 3-4 do. If not surgically corrected, the joint will continue to deteriorate and arthritis will set in. Dogs who have luxating patellas are more likely to tear their ACL as you found out.

Here is some information:

Luxating Patella: A Knee Problem in Dogs

it's quite neat. she runs her hand down their spine and feels where there is anything out of alignment and either manipulates things with her hands or uses an actuater thingy that sort of gently taps the vertebrae back into place.

Dougal's got a very mild luxating patella so I'm quite careful of him but the vet recommended more jumping (agility jumping - not on and off the furniture :)) as that would encourage the muscles to be strong to compensate for the weakness in the knee joint - but both of my guys are quite big (12lbs and 7lbs)

Hum.. interesting.... I live in the US so I will see if there is such a thing here. Thanks.

I've always assumed that the US was the home of such things!! Your vet might know someone.

My baby had surgery yesterday, The vet calls him...
 

The little turtle chaser. Yes, my baby, Jackson, even though leashed saw a little turtle and tried to chase it. One tiny wrong move, tore his knee ligament. I took him to my regular vet thinking he had a splinter in his paw and she sent me back to the orthopedic specialist that performed Legg Perthes on his..other leg 4 years ago. A piece of cartilage had to be removed and the nylon for the ligament He had a rough night and is mainly sleeping today. He stays still and rests as long as I sit right beside him. I've been awake for about 32 hours now, but I'd have it no other way. He's my baby. I know it's been rough on him, however, I'd rather him not go through this again buy putting too much strain on his ..now healthy.. little right leg. He returns to the dr. in seven to ten days I'll ask about water therapy swimming as he did after the LP surgery..he hates water.. but it helped strengthen the muscles. My advice is, after the vet guesses a diagnosis, if they don't refer you to a specialist, ask them to. Whether bone, internal, etc.. They should see a specialist. Good luck with your baby. I'm watching over mine 24/7... :animal-pa