Breeze and Ty's story

Owner: Debbie E-mail: nooneshome@netnitco.net Date posted: October 12, 2000 I have two 4.5 year old Rottweilers who are littermates. When my kids (dogs) were 2.5 years old, my female Breeze tore her right cruciate. She was playing with her brother in the yard when I heard this loud yelp. Ty (my male) came running around the side of the house and his sister was no where to be seen. As I walked around the corner of the house, I saw her standing in the yard with her right rear leg dangling behind her. Not knowing what was wrong and thinking that she might have just twisted her knee, I waited until the next morning (Sunday) to call the emergency number for the vet. He said to bring her in the next morning because even if she had to have any kind of surgery, it couldn't be done until the next day anyway. Well, during the night we had a very bad snow storm. I was able to get to the vet's office but had to wait for the vet to get there. When he did finally get to see Breeze he told me that she would have to have surgery to repair her leg. He referred me to Purdue University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, and I told him I could not go there because of the cost. (I had to take my first Rott there some time ago, and a one-night stay was $1,500.) This is the reason I chose to have my local vet do the surgery. So we scheduled the surgery for the following Friday, and I was told to take Breeze home and keep her quiet and give her Bufferin for the pain. Well, the day of surgery came and I was told that she would have to stay overnight. Later that day the vet called me and told me that every thing went well, but that we could not rule out the possibility of loose cartilage. We started the 10 days of no steps, no playing, no nothing. I tried leaving her on the main level of the house so she would not have to do steps, but Breeze was having no part of not being with her mom. So after getting her up the steps I felt that she was OK for the night without her e-collar since her leg was wrapped from toe to hip. When I woke up the next morning, she had gotten to one of the stitches and torn it out. I returned her to the vet the next morning on my way to work so he could fix the stitch, but he choose not to fix it because it was not that bad and he did not want to sedate her so soon after the surgery. Thankfully I had a way cool boss and he said I could bring her to work with me. So for the next 8 days she got to go to work with me. Well things are going great and Breeze is healing wonderfully, when I notice that my male Ty is now limping. We do the same thing wait a day to see if it gets better. It doesn't, we go to the vet, he has a torn right cruciate. Here we go again. Just as he is healing, my female Breeze tears the left cruciate and we start all over again. Now, I show my dogs in obedience and this is really not doing any of us any good. Both of them have gotten their CGC (Canine Good Citizen) and were in the process of being trained for their CD (Companion Dog). Well, Breeze is healing great when Ty tears his left cruciate, then -- thank God! -- there are no more to tear. It has been about a year and a half since our last cruciate surgery, and my kids are now 4.5 years old. I had to deal with all those surgeries in a little over a year. My male has gained his CD and we are thinking of going to Canada to show in the future. Breeze still has some problems on and off, but the vet thinks it is just arthritis pain. She will some day go into the ring to earn her CD. The vet feels that their legs are stronger now than they were to begin with, so he says I can train for the higher classes with jumps, but to be careful with them. As type this letter my 2 spoiled-rotten Rotts are lying on the floor with their heads on a pillow, sleeping like the babies they are. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to write me at the e-mail listed. Thanks and good luck to you all. Breeze and Ty!