Hi all! I haven't been around for a good bit, so I'm sure I look unfamilar
. As a refresher, I have a 5 year old working Cocker mix named Chisum.
He's had some issues with his back legs as of late; I was concerned he had a luxating patella because he gets what I call the "kicks" where he'll just start rapidly kicking his leg out and apparently that's a sign. His right back leg is worse than his left, sometimes he'll stop using it altogether and hobble on three legs, other times he'll just limp.
Anyway, we went to the vet and they manipulated his leg and did X-rays. No luxating patella apparently, but he has significant arthritis in his right knee as well as a partial CCL tear, plus some mild arthritis in his left ankle. The vet said if he completely stops using his leg it could mean his CCL has torn completely and we may have to do surgery. Since this isn't due to any trauma, I am of course concerned that it's structural in nature and that it will probably tear completely eventually and that the other leg may follow suit.
Whenever I tell people of his diagnosis I get comments that he's really young for this and questions about if it's related to his breed. Has anyone else had this happen with their Cocker? To be fair he's a genetic nightmare - he came from a hoarder and is inbred; he's got some mental health issues and I'm not at all surprised that he'd have structural issues as well. I'm just bummed because he's so young and active and we are trying to figure out how to balance his new limitations.
Vet has him on Carprofen and a joint supplement for now. We can try some injections in the future if we think the current treatment isn't doing the trick. It's been a few days and there isn't much change but we will wait and see.
