max_work

I opted to not perform either surgery on my boy - and believe me when I say I loved this dude; probably more than my wife.

He was a rescue, bit of a neuro case, and had some background issues. Also as noted there’s a multi month ‘cage rest’ prescribed to keep them from destroying the surgical repairs the first time they jump a deer or coon or whatever. Those things definitely factored into the decision.

Tighline/tightrope: too many anecdotes of it eventually ragging out, repopong, etc. I realize the plural of anecdote is not data, but this is where I ended up on this one.

Plateau: exactly like it sounds; major bone mod work. Kept coming back to the fact that there is no going back once something like this is done.

Many stories out there of people letting the dog roll with the torn ligament. This case was the acl. Over the years he certainly favored the leg; but he found a new stride for running the was comfortable. Once in a while he would come up a bit lame and chill for awhile. If I had to put a percentage on his mobility I would say 80-90%. No more jumping into the truck bed etc. Was hard to tell where old age started and the acl began; that probably best illustrates my point as to the quality of life you can expect.

Please understand would’ve paid ten grand (more?) to put him back right if I thought the risk was worth it; or if I felt he started to lose enough mobility to effect quality of life. I did monitor the scar tissue around the knee.

His name was Charlie. I think about him everyday.