Reina hurt her knee almost five years ago (we don’t know how) and every 12 months or so she has a flare-up (it will dislocate on and off for a couple of days) and then life goes back to normal. Until now.
For the past three days she has not been using her right rear leg at all. She has not been able to climb steps. She has hardly been eating. When I bend and straighten her leg, the knee pops in and out. None of this is normal for her.
In turn, tomorrow evening, Ed, the Kids, Reina and I (Phoenix, Aries and Alexander will guard the house) will be off to see a vet in Ogdensburg, NY. Thankfully, it’s only a short drive (less than 30 minutes).
Why a vet in Ogdensburg? Our friends recommended them, The Zoo doesn’t have a file with any vet in Kemptville and we imagine it to be less expensive.
Worst case, she’ll need knee surgery from an orthopedic surgeon to replace her ACL or more. Most likely (read: what we expect), she’ll need her ACL replaced by a (normal) vet. Least likely, we’ll bandage her knee and be on our way.
We’re looking forward to Uncle Andrew’s visit this long weekend. Maybe he should bring his passport…
Update: Reina has Knee Surgery
Note that Reina (pronounced Ray-Na) means “Queen” in Spanish. She had the name when we got her. We didn’t rename her as we thought that we wouldn’t be keeping her (Ed had other plans). Not that there’s anything the matter with Reina (we now love it), it’s just kind of like naming your dog Rover.
Our dog looked just like Reina! She was tan and white, and her face was a little less boxy. Whatever she was mixed with softened her out a lot, so only those die-hard, scared to death of pit bull people knew what she was.
She also tore her ACL and had it replaced, I think when she was four. She'd get a limp afterward if she worked too hard.
Reina is SO beautiful!
Hi Sarah,
How did everything go?
We are going through something very similar with our hound. We live in Kanata.
Can I email you to ask a few more questions?
Thank you!!!
Dear Tara,
Sorry to hear about your precious hound. Please, email me your questions. I’d love to help anyway I can.
journeysofthezoo@hotmail.com
Besos, Sarah
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Sara/Tara,
I have a 9 year old Pit-bull/Cross mix who may need ACL surgery. I don’t have lots of money and I’m looking for any advice you guy’s may have to offer.
Currently I’m thinking Ogdensburg because I live in Ottawa. The only draw back is they do not practice the highly talked about TPLO surgery and it’s about 3’500$ here.
Any advice would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks Guy’s!
Dear Kb,
Reina did not have the TPLO surgery so I can’t speak to that. What I can speak to is our experience with ACL surgery completed by a vet (and not a specialist).
At the time of the surgery, Reina was about the same age as your dog and after 3.5 years, she’s going strong and still has a jump in her step.
We obtained a quote for ACL surgery by a specialist and it was $5,000. At the same time, our neighbours dog had theirs done (by a local specialist) and paid that. Ours cost around than $2,300 including maintenance capsules for 3 months afterwards.
Some things for you to consider if you go to Ogdensburg…
1. The hour long drive each way (In addition to the surgery there will be follow-up 1 – 2 follow-up visits).
2. The need to have a passport.
3. The exchange rate.
We informed them that we were in Canada (many of their clients are) and they tried to minimize our visits. Since we believed we knew what was wrong (it was obvious something serious was and it seems like you know too), we booked the consult for the evening with the assumption that we would leave her overnight and have the surgery completed in the evening/next morning.
We did not choose the best solution that money could buy, however, we chose the best that we could afford and are happy with our decision.
You can find some additional information on this post (http://www.journeysofthezoo.com/2011/05/update-on-reinas-knee.html). Note that we went to Town and Country Vet.
All the best with your decision and feel free to ask me any additional questions.
Besos, Sarah
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