Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie He looks just great!! So is the Great Diet Restriction not such a big deal now?
Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie I just adore the back end of Labs and the way they walk, Charlie is just perfect
Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie Amazing. If it weren't for the shaved leg, you wouldn't know he'd been operated on!
Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie [quote author=Lisa link=topic=4619.msg61340#msg61340 date=1395000510] He looks just great!! So is the Great Diet Restriction not such a big deal now? [/quote] What? Do you think he looks FAT?!? No! He's put on 500g during the crate rest but I didn't think it showed. Oh no! STOP THE KIBBLE! ( ;D ;D ;D)
Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie Oh, she maybe meant the sea biscuits! Phew. No, saved those up in food - I cut down other feeds because I thought he might be a bit of a nightmare on walks and we'd need loads of treats. But he wasn't too bad. Apart from pulling a bit around, and sticking his nose through the railings to, the fox playing area, he was pretty good on his lead. Far from perfect, but also far from a nightmare.
Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie Julie,he is NOT fat and I know Lisa will say the same...his weight must have been pretty much perfect for him to have recovered so well so fast....x
Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie ;D No, of course he's not fat!!! No, I was just wondering if you have to be quite so meticulous about his diet now that the op is over. The sea biscuits DID bring up the question in my mind....
Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie Phew! It's as important as ever to keep him slim - the only thing that might help in terms of him not rupturing his other cruciate is keeping him slim. I know he is not the lightest labrador, but he isn't a particularly large or heavy dog - we aim to keep him at 28kg, but in his second year that will probably increase to around 30kg, and he'l still be slim at that. It isn't known for sure that dogs being heavier is a contributing factor in damaging the second ligament, but it might be - it might also be that the strain on the second ligament, while the first is out of action for a long time (longer than normal in Charlie's case because of the wait) is a much bigger contributing risk factor. Or it might be genetic and inevitable, we just don't know. His other ligament was checked under GA, and no signs so far that there is anything wrong with it.
Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie He's walking along beautifully! You'd never know he'd recently had surgery. Looking great!
Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie Just catching up after a weekend away - great to read that you have had Charlie home! Flickr isn't playing for me right now though, so I can't see just how good he's looking, but I'm glad he's had some chilled time at home! Clare
Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie He looks great Julie, walking along tail wagging, such a sweetie, Otis says leave off the counter surfing for now Charlie, there will be plenty more opportunities when you are better , ha ha ha ! xx
Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie If the worst happened and Charlie did rupture his other cruciate ligament, he would able to be operated on immediately I imagine? A friend of mine's Lab had just ruptured her 2nd ligament, she is now 7 years old and the op cost £1,000 by local vet! He is elderly and very experienced having done many over the years. I feel that these days vets tend not to do these ops as routine surgery as they used to do and so many ops are now referred to consultant veterinary surgeons, that day to day vets lose the expertise they had.
Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie [quote author=Stacia link=topic=4619.msg61456#msg61456 date=1395067155] If the worst happened and Charlie did rupture his other cruciate ligament, he would able to be operated on immediately I imagine? [/quote] Yes, absolutely. I would know what it was immediately and I'd just book him in. I wouldn't have the horrible 4 month wait again. [quote author=Stacia link=topic=4619.msg61456#msg61456 date=1395067155] the op cost £1,000 by local vet! He is elderly and very experienced having done many over the years. I feel that these days vets tend not to do these ops as routine surgery as they used to do and so many ops are now referred to consultant veterinary surgeons, that day to day vets lose the expertise they had. [/quote] Well, £1k is a very, very, low price. The cost of the various consultations, x-rays, hydro, operation, drugs, more x-rays to come, and so on, have certainly added up. I didn't used to be a fan of insurance but have somewhat changed my mind! I'm lucky in that my local vet has done 34 operations in the last 2 years and this is the most of anyone using a TTA rapid - one of the things is that the techniques change, and not all vets have the kit for the latest. But, I still took Charlie to someone that has done 200+ of both TTAs and TPLOs - the main reason was the uniqueness of him being so young, plus there was a big debate over the cause and suspected OCD that wasn't showing up on the x-ray (turned out not though, thankfully), and the local vet (although very good and a specialist) also thought at least 2nd opinion was needed. He was insured, and so I was free to make what I thought was the best decision.
Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie [quote author=drjs@5 link=topic=4619.msg61026#msg61026 date=1394883739] [quote author=Stacia link=topic=4619.msg61011#msg61011 date=1394876977] Am thinking of you, have a lovely weekend. Will Charlie mind going back :'( [/quote] Shhhhh...... [/quote] Just to report - he did not seem to mind going back AT ALL. ( ;D ;D ;D ) He had to be restrained from leaping out of the car in enthusiasm, then greeted the people at Greyfriars like long lost family before bounding away without a backwards glance to pee on their fence posts. Then trotted off to his PROMs, physio, walks and ice with immense interest in the treat bag and BESIDE himself with excitement when he got to head to the treadmill. Well. Humpf. I'm glad my dog is well adjusted, confident and comfortable with loads of different people. But you'd think he'd at least pretend to miss me. Even a little bit. ;D ;D ;D
Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie Well yes, he could pretend ;D But you must feel so much better to know that he has gone in happily and didn't look all woebegone and left you looking miserable as he walked reluctantly away! I guess it was you who walked away all tearful :'(
Re: Lovely Chocolate Charlie [quote author=Stacia link=topic=4619.msg61773#msg61773 date=1395178751] Well yes, he could pretend ;D But you must feel so much better to know that he has gone in happily and didn't look all woebegone and left you looking miserable as he walked reluctantly away! I guess it was you who walked away all tearful :'( [/quote] I do, and I was! ;D You are quite right, I would now be in bits if he had looked miserable! It's fine. I get him back on Friday this week. I can cope. It's much better with this arrangement of weekends at home.
