Cody has torn his cruciate

Last Tuesday, we took Cody for x-rays at the vets, as he'd been limping intermittently for a few weeks, despite resting and painkillers. It was discovered he had a torn cruciate ligament. The vet suggested TPLO surgery (due to his size this was the best option) and referred him to a specialist vet an hour away, for the following week. We re-searched as much as possible about cruciate problems in dogs, TPLO surgery, rehabilitation etc. When we got there, we took Cody in (muzzled as he was so nervous he was shaking; although he let them pet and examine him). We decided to go ahead and we left him at the vets. It was a long day (this was about 9.30 am, we picked him up around 7 pm). He used the ramp to get into the car. At home, Daddy made him a pen, big enough he can stretch out but not too big he can jump around or anything. For that first night Cody was panting a lot and whining a little. He settled down though and seemed okay with the idea of the pen. The other dogs greeted him through the pen, well he wasn't really noticing but they were all doing lots of tail wagging, which was so sweet!

The next morning he ate his breakfast and we took him out for a toilet break. He is allowed to go out about four times a day for 5 to 10 minutes, which we can progress to 10 to 15 minutes in two weeks. He was limping on three legs for the first little while, then slowly putting more weight on his other leg and now at three days after surgery he is almost walking like usual, which is great!

He is starting to get bored, so we are teaching him new, calm tricks (chin rest, hand targets etc) and lots of kongs! He is also getting lots of attention from us, which he enjoys.

It's going to be a case of slowly building him up to more activity over the next three months. We are also planning to do hydrotherapy in a few weeks time. We are just hoping his other leg will be okay!