Frankies leg (update)

[Cinder & Smoke]

We will take it one day at a time and hope for the best.

Keep a close eye on Frankie ~
You need to be sure he's "figured it out" and understands just what he Can
and Can NOT do with his "bum knee".

I was lucky with Smokey ...
He arrived a year old and seeming to have no problems ... till he and Cinder became
such fast friends and constant "runnin buddies" - THAT's when the knee started to pop out!
But as we both learned how to deal with it when it popped -
HE also learned how to deal with it so it DIDN'T pop ... he changed his
"running style" to only use the "bum leg" under certain conditions - if he
didn't REALLY need it - he'd carry it or *skip steps* to save wear & tear!

Took him about a year to fine tune things; but "we" got it to the point where
about the only time he'd pop his knee was when they were rough-housing and
rasslin ... merely running around at top speed, leaping, and changing directions was
never a problem! The "bum leg" is not as muscled or quite as large
as the "good one" - but you have to be a very close observer to notice how
he sometimes favors one over the other!

My worry about not doing the surgery is if he'll have problems later in life - maybe
when he "furgetz" some of his techniques for keeping his knee on the right track.

His only medication is 1,000 mg of Glucosamine every morning - which seemed to
help when we started using it when the knee first acted up.
He gets nothing for pain or swelling - since there is none of that.

Good Luck with Frankie - hopefully he will "learn" how to live with his Bum Knee and
be able to manage on his own.

/s/ Phred & Smokey

[chocolatepuppy]

That's what we get for getting a breed dog (probably badly bred) and not a cute mutt at the aspca.

Sorry Carmen, have to laugh at this one...my two cute mutts came from a shelter...and as you know I spend most of my time in Dog Health. It could happen to any pup ...Frankie is still in my prayers.