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Shady recently tore her ACL in her right knee and had TPLO surgery today to repair it. She tore her left knee last fall and that surgery was a great success - we were told at the time that more often than not, the 2nd knee will also go bad but it was still a bit of a shock for it to happen so soon. She is now a "bionic" dog and a very expensive one too! But she is so very young still and we are hoping this gives her many more years with us. Though ACL is not directly related to her OCD, we've been told dogs with OCD do tend to have this injury more often. We tried waiting a bit this time to see if it would get better but our vet said arthritis and lameness would surely make her a very old dog long before her time without intervention. We had to once again go to a specialty vet who takes care of large breed dogs but at least this time, we have been able to bring her home the same day. She is currently in dream-land. Tomorrow the work begins - icing, massage and starting very small range of motion exercises. It's 2 weeks of hell, then things will start to improve and within 2 to 3 months she will be her old self again, ready to return to short hikes in the mountains, her favorite pasttime and one she has not been able to do in nearly a year. Thank goodness Leo seems to be a superbly strong healthy dog, although we've put pet insurance on him "just in case".
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