It Gets Worse

Devastating news today.

Miikka came up lame a couple days ago.  She's never been lame a day in her life.  I was very worried that it was a cruciate as it was her back leg and she wasn't putting much weight on it.  She was walking on her toes almost.

I was throwing the frisbee for her the day before.

I took her into the vet yesterday and he did a work up on her.  He said it didn't appear to be a cruciate, but he sent her x-rays in to a radiologist to determine the cause of her lameness as nothing obvious stuck out at him.

The diagnosis came back today.  Achilles tendonitis.

He said BOTH back legs showed severe wear and tear of her achilles tendon.  He also said she had two old, small fractures in one hind leg.  I was floored as she had never shown any signs of lameness before.

And this is where it gets bad...

He said she needs to be on an activity restricted "diet" for the rest of her life.  No frisbee throwing, no training, no hunting.  She can do some swimming and go on walks once her bad leg feels better, but that's it.

I cried.

I need to wrap my head around this, and do lots of reading and research.  He said if I continued to work her in any way (including fetching a tennis ball), then she could have complete achilles rupture and she would never be able to walk normally again.

It just sucks.