prayers for my Tyke :( Can't get surgery--unknown heart condition
 

So our oldest Yorkie (who will be 12 on the 16th!) was to go in for surgery on a torn ligament (not the ACL) on his back left leg. They ran the precautionary EKG and it came up showing he had a few abnormal heart beats. I had called to check on him and luckily I did because they had tried to get a hold of my mom who had her phone off. When they can't reach her, they call me (I was to pay for his surgery and everything anyway)....they said he never had the surgery done and that the EKG showed the abnormal heart beats...not many, but enough. I asked if it was serious and he said it's an "age change" thing but that with that, they were afraid to put him under because he would have a high risk for a heart attack :eek: They asked if they could do a chest exray on him, to which I agreed.

Now question...he tore his ligament sometime last week. My mom first noticed him walking funny, and took him in on Monday. We think he jumped off a couch and hurt himself (he tore an ACL doing that before...I have now removed all the little stairs up to the couches so they can't be on them when we are not around...my other yorkie, Bubba, has no problem, but I'm not risking ANYTHING)...I asked the vet if it will hurt if we wait until the week after next for his surgery...my family is out of town for spring break, and I am here and at class and work during the day so I can't be with him all day...much like my mom would be able to. He isn't acting like he is in any pain...just doesn't walk much on that back leg...hobbles around....am I doing the right thing having them wait on the surgery in two weeks (provided the chest exray says it's ok)...can much further damage be done? I just didn't want to leave him by himself for hours during the day recovering from surgery :(

this might have been a blessing in disguise as i am a firm believer not to rush into acl surgery - the dog should be rested 2 months before even considering surgery for acl injury as in small dogs many times it is not necessary. My dd did this to her leg a year ago jumping off doggie stairs and she is totally fine now. What happens is the scar tissue builds up and acts like a tendon so they do not need the surgery 80% of the time in small dogs.

Join the group conservative management on yahoogroups.com as many people opt not to have this surgery and with a dog with a heart condition i would never risk it. Keep him in a small area no jumping, running, etc and on a leash when going out to go potty so he does not run off.

I spoke to two orthopedics and two vets when this happened to dee dee and one vet which i have come to not care for after this is the only one wanting to rush dd into surgery and the other three said 2 months of rest first then we will go from there and she is fine now. Now after 2 months if dog is still lifting leg then yes surgery is most likely in order :(

there is no pain after the initial injury it just slides out once in a while and they lift their leg and then it goes back into place so you will see off and on lifting of the leg. I am not happy this vet is wanting to rush a toy breed into this surgery :(

have you spoke to an orthopedic or are you dealing wth a regular vet as in my opinion i would only have a board certified orthopedic surgeon do this surgery

First off he "is" in pain. Whenever they limp or even carry the foot off the ground, it's because of the pain.
If he is at risk for a heart attack if he's put under, then I don't know what to say. Only your Vet. can answer that question. Even if he could safely have surgery, I sure wouldn't leave him home alone afterwards. I'd wait till your mom comes back to handle this situation.

this injury the initial pain is when it happens and then no pain. They lift the leg to get it back in place. I personally ruptured my achilles tendon and acl is a tendon as well and it hurt horribly when it first happened then afterwards no pain at all but obviously it had to be sewn back together or i could never walk again or walk with a club foot lolll

thanks guys :) When you're 27 years old and have no kids, they ARE your kids. I was crying after the phone call because I didn't know what to do :)

lol i am 41 and have no kids and these are my babies so i totally know how you feel but i think sometimes things happen for a reason and i think this was a blessing in disguise :)