Harry, my 10 year old cocker spaniel is in need of knee surgery on both hind legs. He blew both ACL's, so to speak. We don't know which leg it happened first, we just noticed a slow down in his ability to go up stairs or even jump on the bed. He most likely tore one then the stress on the other leg caused it to tear also. I've had him since he was 5 months old and is strong and healthy otherwise. It's a new to me vet since I just moved to Texas a short time ago. He did a "senior dog" work up. Blood, EKG and everything other than typical cocker eyes not producing enough tears, requiring daily medication, is normal. He was surprised that Harry is so healthy. He said normally they'd find something at his age. Until this, he was running and playing more like a 10 month old than a 10 year old dog.

I left him at the vet for my vacation last week and they sedated him to ex-ray his hips as they were at a loss. While positioning him for the ex-ray - hips & joints all fine, they found his knees moving unnaturally, so to speak. He's on Ritadel (?) - an anti-inflammatory. Since the swelling has gone down in the joints, you can actually hear his knees clicking. Two methods to repair: One is they use a wire to replace the tendon which is supposedly ok for small dogs. The other is they notch the bone and use a plate & screws - a better, stronger and permanent repair. They want to do that procedure primarily since it's both knees, the repair needs to be strong as he's gonna rely on the support of one until the second knee is done. I'm sitting her on pins & needles waiting for the vet to call me with a $2000-$4000 estimate. I'm putting the cart before the horse but a co-worker just told me that a friend of hers just had it done on one knee of her dog and it was about $2500.

Without delving into my finances, I just came off 16+ years of caring for my mom and my finances and credit rating took a massive hit. Moving here was basically a start-over for me. So do I beg,borrow and steal to care for my boy ? I hate to be one of those people that takes the "cheap" way out and puts down an otherwise healthy animal due to the cost. Someone just said to me: "it's just a dog. Don't add to your financial mess." That's a hard answer for me to swallow. Harry has been more than a dog. He's been friend and councilor for the last several years without even knowing it. My first day back to work and I can't focus because of this......

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Sharing my partner's 2012 Forte 5dr SX til I find my next 123 or 126..
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Do I miss being a service advisor ???