seeking advice

[willuk]

hi my name is will..i am not really an educated person but i share a major interest in what this site is about. i love my boy "kasper" a newzeland bc ..and require advice..yesterday while chasing a stick..(his fetish) he cried aloud and started dragging his rear leg ..on inspection from 3 vets the diagnosis is a torn ligament/muscle. How long does recovery take?..and can i do any to help my lad...regards...Will

[juliepoudrier]

I would think that length of time for recovery would depend on several factors: correct diagnosis and severity of the injury, what medical steps are taken (or not) to repair the injury, and what you do at home to help with the recovery (rehab/physical therapy).

 

Two examples: my dog who injured her cruciate last fall (the injury may actually have happened earlier but another injury may have masked this one in the meantime). I took the conservative route--no surgery, physical therapy under a vet's supervision, and now my dog has been released to go back to work.

 

A friend's dog with a torn cruciate who underwent TPLO surgery. Prognosis as yet unknown, but the dog should be able to work again.

 

Two very different approaches to a similar problem, and both could ultimately have the same outcome, a working dog who can work again. Both require/required significant outlays of money and time for rehab.

 

For my dog, recovery has taken 5 months of careful rehab. I have only just begun allowing her to do anything that requires fast stops or sharp turns, that is, actions where she might plant a foot and turn hard, thus straining injured tissue. She is still not 100%, but she is pretty close. I am still being careful with her and have just begun working her on stock again. For what it's worth, I will not likely play ball or anything like that with her again--to me the risk of re-injury is just too great.

 

Anyway, you should talk to your vet(s) about pain mitigation (if needed), need or not for surgery, crate rest, and exercises you can do with Kasper to help him regain use of the injured limb.

 

Oh, and I should add that I have another dog who broke her leg while chasing a ball (again the plant the foot and make a sharp turn thing). It went misdiagnosed as a sprain for a week before a different vet discovered the break. So if you are not convinced the original diagnosis is correct or Kasper's recovery doesn't follow the course the vet says it should for a particular injury, then do not hesitate to follw up with either the same or a different vet.

 

I hope that helps some. It's really difficult to give advice at such a distance (not being a vet and knowing what the injury really is or the actual extent of the injury). The best thing for you to do is thoroughly discuss various treatment options with your vet and then proceed from there.

 

I'll not go into a lengthy discussion of the potential for injury that chasing sticks creates--suffice to say that in the past two of my dogs have jammed sticks into their throats (it's not easy keeping puncture wounds to the back of the throat clean--not to mention the proximity to the brain, eyes, and sinuses) so stick throwing is no longer an approved activity for my dogs. (Onedog was injured catching a stick; the other was running around with a stick inher mouth and planted it like a pole vaulter's pole, thus jamming it into the back of her mouth).

 

J.

[willuk]

thank you very much for your informative reply to my post ..unfortunatly a have found that no vet in my opinion ...that i have taken my boy to so far ..has given me satisfactory after care advice that my boy deserves...to too many i feel we/he is just a number in queue..also i do appreciate and understand your concern about stick play ...but i reassure you and possible others ..i take every consivable?...precaution nesseesary to insure his wellbeing...and ask myself frequently ..who am i to take such enjoyment away from him...this friend who seems to love me for who i am....regards Will

[Tassie]

Hi Will. Sorry to hear about your boy?s problem. Don?t know where you are in London, but you should be able to find a vet and/or canine physiotherapist that specializes in sport medicine. They are more likely to be concerned about care which will return a dog to sound working condition as Julie describes, rather than just dealing with immediate issues such as pain. And if you feel your current vet/s are just treating you and Kasper as a number, I would be looking round for another vet. There are 3 vets in the practice I go to, and each one of them regards each patient as special and important.

 

Once Kasper is fit again ? and as Julie says this can take months ? you might want to consider changing from sticks to a ball, or a kong on a rope, or something like that. Kasper will still get the enjoyment of chasing and fetching, but with less risks than sticks. One of your main problems right now will be finding things to entertain Kasper that you can do while he's taking it easy - there are some threads in the archives on this, and you can probably find some stuff on the Net. Here's one I found in a quick search http://www.lauriebryce.com/tplo/recovery.html

but I'm sure there are many others.

[WWBC]

When playing with your dogs, for alternatives to sticks, please check out www.Stick-To-Toys.com Perhaps some of the stories there will help persuade those who don't see the dangers of sticks to use alternatives.

 

WWBC

[Oreo's mom]

oh my, wish I had waited until after lunch to read that link...

 

very good advice, though. Oreo loves to chew on sticks, but we have never played fetch with them. No particular wisdom on our part, just a blessing.

[Oreo's mom]

The games at the recovery site that Tassie mentioned look like fun, not just for dogs in recovery, but also for indoor mental stimulation. Thanks for that link.

[diane allen]

Clean Run and some other sources also have "soft sticks" - basically nylon webbing stuffed with soft fabric, most with a webbing handle. My dog thinks its just as good as a stick when thrown - and much softer should she catch it in the air!

 

Will, I do hope you find a vet you're comfortable with. The hardest thing with an injured or recoving border collie is to keep them quiet. Mine had a never-quite-diagnosed joint problem a few years ago; we did crate rest for several weeks, but apparently started up again too soon. Back to limping. So, back to crate rest, more stringent working back up to full speed (including trotting her along with a bicycle - it was very slow for me, but helped build her muscles back up, after her extended rest). Hasn't had a problem in several years now - knock on wood!

 

Good luck.

 

diane

[G_Davis]

I probably shouldn't, but I always respond to "stick" threads. I didn't read everything on the why-sticks-are-bad site, but I am certain they can be very dangerous in many ways. One thing I worry about is little pieces of wood being inhaled while the stick is carried by a dog that's breathing heavily.

 

Having said that, I will say that I have always played "stick" with my dog(s). I find tool handles made of hardwood that doesn't flake or crumble or splinter easily, and cut them into 8" or 9" lengths. I NEVER use forest sticks with bark on them, or any soft wood. I never let my concentration or timing lapse -- I want the stick AT REST before the dog reaches it. Catching it out of the air is not an option for the dog. I typically throw 50 to 70 yards, even longer with a good following breeze, a little shorter into the wind. I realize many won't believe that, but that's okay -- the people that watch don't believe it either. The uniform, thin stick cuts through the air well. And I could always throw.

 

Having said all that, I will say that stick play is dangerous and not for everyone. But I worry ALOT more about the ground squirrel and gopher holes than I do about the stick.

[sacha-megs-mum]

I have herd of the dangers of any dogs playing with sticks. One of our friends BC Scooby, got a splinter in the roof of his mouth, as well as being horible to see him in pain, it also prooved to be rather expencive in vrt's bills.