I adopted a 10 week old labrabull from Alabama 3 weeks ago

[d-dave]

On 12/9/2019 at 1:16 PM, Anybodyhome said:

One of ours is a pit/lab mix as well- Master of Disaster- "Master" so named for the padlock around his neck when we found him. He's 88 pounds of solid rock.

See the scar inside the left leg? CCL (canine version of the ACL) surgery last August with a 12-week recovery. The ortho vet who did the surgery was pretty reluctant when we first noticed an issue and brought him in. He is so muscular that she had a hard time determining just how much lateral movement (not good) his knee had. Right leg needs to be done, probably late winter/early spring. This is his normal sitting pose now, although he'll occasionally sit upright on his haunches. He can still run and loves to chase squirrels and he's boundary trained, but we leash him for a portion of his daily walks through the woods so he doesn't tear up the other CCL too bad. He's only 1 month since being cleared for full activity from the vet, so we don't want to turn around and put him back in a kennel for another 12 weeks after another surgery.

Just a heads up- it's a fairly common malady among 70-80% of lab and terrier mixes.

My baby has to go in for that on the 27th.  And then again in the spring!  My American Staffordshire Terrier needs both needs knees, and then hips in the future.  Dog insurance is basically paying for itself now!  Poor thing is in a lot of pain.  It's going to suck this winter and spring as we do both knees, but it will help her in the long term, and allow me to really train her. 

She is also a rescue we adopted from a local group.  She's just the best!  She can be a total turd sometimes, but she just makes everyone so happy in my family.

 

[Anybodyhome]

37 minutes ago, d-dave said:

My baby has to go in for that on the 27th.  And then again in the spring!  My American Staffordshire Terrier needs both needs knees, and then hips in the future.  Dog insurance is basically paying for itself now!  Poor thing is in a lot of pain.  It's going to suck this winter and spring as we do both knees, but it will help her in the long term, and allow me to really train her. 

She is also a rescue we adopted from a local group.  She's just the best!  She can be a total turd sometimes, but she just makes everyone so happy in my family.

 

Best of luck to all of you. The money I couldn't care less about (except after the second knee is done in the spring, I want my name on that wing of the vet hospital), and having gone through the 12-week rehab, what really got to me was not having his personality for about 9 weeks after the surgery. The drugs- pain, antibiotic and sedative- just took every bit of his personality away and he was nothing but a quiet, eyes-glazed-over shell of who he really is. But after about the 9th week when all of his meds were done and he was getting more mobile, his personality came back.

He was totally released from veterinary care the first week of November and he's back to his usual self, except that his other knee is partially torn and the ortho surgeon says we're a few months away from doing the other knee. If there's any information I can share, please don't hesitate to reach out.

[d-dave]

5 minutes ago, Anybodyhome said:

Best of luck to all of you. The money I couldn't care less about (except after the second knee is done in the spring, I want my name on that wing of the vet hospital), and having gone through the 12-week rehab, what really got to me was not having his personality for about 9 weeks after the surgery. The drugs- pain, antibiotic and sedative- just took every bit of his personality away and he was nothing but a quiet, eyes-glazed-over shell of who he really is. But after about the 9th week when all of his meds were done and he was getting more mobile, his personality came back.

He was totally released from veterinary care the first week of November and he's back to his usual self, except that his other knee is partially torn and the ortho surgeon says we're a few months away from doing the other knee. If there's any information I can share, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Awesome!  Thank you!

The big thing for us is just getting the house ready.  We have tile floor where her crate is and the door to the outside.  We're going to get a rug to fill in so she has better traction after surgery.  Then we have to work on keeping her off the sofa.  She is my snuggle baby, and she lays on all of us when we're on the couch, so that's going to be the worst thing for her.

The surgeon said that she couldn't do anything like that, would have to lay on the floor or her bed, no play, etc until at least week 4-6.  That's going to be very hard on my family.  After that week 4-6, they are going to go ahead and do that 2nd knee.  So she's going to be so miserable, which sucks.  But at least things will get better as the weather warms.  She can start to exercise and play again once that 2nd knee heals up.

Hopefully for us that will put us ahead of her hips for a while longer.

[Anybodyhome]

12 minutes ago, d-dave said:

Awesome!  Thank you!

The big thing for us is just getting the house ready.  We have tile floor where her crate is and the door to the outside.  We're going to get a rug to fill in so she has better traction after surgery.  Then we have to work on keeping her off the sofa.  She is my snuggle baby, and she lays on all of us when we're on the couch, so that's going to be the worst thing for her.

The surgeon said that she couldn't do anything like that, would have to lay on the floor or her bed, no play, etc until at least week 4-6.  That's going to be very hard on my family.  After that week 4-6, they are going to go ahead and do that 2nd knee.  So she's going to be so miserable, which sucks.  But at least things will get better as the weather warms.  She can start to exercise and play again once that 2nd knee heals up.

Hopefully for us that will put us ahead of her hips for a while longer.

What surgery option are you going for? We did TPLO, which includes bone work, plate and screws and there's no way our guy was ready to do anything in 4-6 weeks. Matter of fact, our first post-op x-ray wasn't done until week 6. We kept him in one of these-

which was big enough that his favorite bed fit inside nicely. We got a second, smaller version he slept in at night next to the bed because the antibiotics and sedatives had him needing to go pee every night around 3AM. Big thing is having a top on it so they won't try to stand up. We also added a couple throw rugs around the hardwood floors. Worst thing to happen is the dog slip off the repaired leg- then you're back to square 1. 

You absolutely cannot allow her to climb, go up or down steps, jump or try to stand on her hind legs.

[d-dave]

1 hour ago, Anybodyhome said:

Worst thing to happen is the dog slip off the repaired leg- then you're back to square 1. 

You absolutely cannot allow her to climb, go up or down steps, jump or try to stand on her hind legs.

Yeah, that's what we're looking at.  She and her sister are crate trained while we are at work and at night.  So I hope that should be OK.  Keeping her from jumping up is going to be the hardest thing.  That's where hopefully the sedatives will keep her calm when we get home from work (she normally acts like she's trying to break out of her crate).

[CRA]

On 9/21/2019 at 7:39 PM, TheRumGone said:

And it was absolute hell...to start.

he had a respiratory infection, two different types of parasites and mites that took some of his fur off. Crying in his crate, pissing everywhere, sneezing green mucous. Back and forth to the vet. It was really rough. I forgot how hard it is to train a puppy from my childhood. But this week he turned a corner. He’s done with all his meds and start socializing with other pups and he’s been amazing. Loves cuddles and fetch and walks around the neighborhood. I love this little dude. Glad I got to bring a buddy from the south to the Midwest with me.

So many dogs need good homes. Adopt if you can!

I just adopted a labrabull in September too.  

First weeks were rough for me too.  No real health issues but I forgot how having a puppy was so much like having a newborn.  I forgot about the night crying and poop overload a new puppy brings.   And all that biting.   

[TheRumGone]

7 minutes ago, CRA said:

I just adopted a labrabull in September too.  

First weeks were rough for me too.  No real health issues but I forgot how having a puppy was so much like having a newborn.  I forgot about the night crying and poop overload a new puppy brings.   And all that biting.   

Yeah he’s over all of that stuff now and loves his crate. The adolescent period is hitting him hard right now though. Forgets I even exist 50% of the time. Mischievous, constant energy. I had him loose leash walking by 4 months old. Right now I can just forget it. He’s a total psycho. He’s lucky he’s so damn cute. Ha