Last week when I took Widget in for her eye surgery, I also had our new arrival Timmy along for his initial exam with our vet, Dr. Brenda Culver. It was clear when he first came that his front leg was a problem for him — he can't move it, and it hangs off of him like a dead weight, so when he tries to run or scamper about, it throws him off balance. We'd watch him lurch downwards every time he hit his stride on that side of his body. In other words, when he would have put a normal leg down on the ground in the course of walking or running, instead it causes him to lurch, and the foot sometimes smacks the ground in the process and bounces off. Then he has to try and recover by pulling himself back up while maintaining his gait. It makes him look like he's stumbling.
We had thought when we first saw him that he might have a contracted biceps tendon, like our dog Jasper (long since adopted out to a wonderful new home). When Jasper wanted to run, he would pull his leg up, tuck it under him, and take off like a rocket. But we quickly realized this wasn't like Jasper's leg at all. In Brenda's orthopedic exam, she found there isn't anything left to work with in terms of surgical repair or rehab — the leg is too far gone, and there is radial nerve damage which may still be causing him pain. This is the result of trauma of some sort, and we can see the scars on his foot.
Brenda's recommendation is that we amputate the leg. But that's going to have to wait, because he turned out to be heartworm positive, which makes surgery risky. So this past weekend he was at the clinic being treated for heartworms, and will spend this week there on cage rest. Once he returns to the ranch, he will have to be on strict cage rest for another month. It will be at least another month after that before Brenda will be able to take care of his leg.
It's an odd thing, but all of our three-legged dogs have always been among the fastest, most athletic animals here. While it's too soon to know how fast Ella will be, I have no doubt that Timmy will be racing around soon enough.
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Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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