Knee Mend

A yearly checkup with the veterinarian has confirmed that Cheyenne is still on the mend for a stretched ligament in her back left knee.

After a handful of yearly vaccines, our vet still could not get Cheyenne to comment on her knee problem. The twists and pops of her knee in his hands didn't even get a glance from our 3-year old chocolate Labrador Retriever. Nope - our pup loves to use "avoidance" when something bothers her and even a broken toe during her puppy days didn't come to light until she was 2 years old and an x-ray done to diagnose Canine Osteochondritis Dessicans (OCD).

So what do we do now? We have 3 choices: 1) wait it out to see if she gets better or worse, 2) have the vet sedate her so that he can palpitate the joint freely without resistance or 3) have him perform exploratory surgery. After weighing the risks and Cheyenne's overall health and happiness, we decided to wait it out. Since it comes and goes, she is not in any pain so it may be on the mend all by itself. The good news is that we have x-rays from a couple of months ago to look back on should she seem to be getting worse and need further x-rays.

The prognosis is - if we continue to keep an eye on it and gets x-rays every few months, we can see if there is any arthritic change and decide what is best for Cheyenne as we go along.

For now we will continue to have playtime that limit any abrupt halts in running (such as running after a balls, stick, etc.) but let her continue to play, run, and have fun for her name is Cheyenne and she is a true Labrador Retriever!