Medical Adventure Log (Part 2): Brace Yourself*
This adventure is brought to you by my dog health obsession, my incessant need to find solutions to any/every problem, and my willingness to drive two hours each way to facilitate joy (and knee comfort).
Background: In the Fall of 2023, Ruthie was happily playing with a young standard poodle friend and suddenly stopped and pulled up her hind leg. As dogs her size (large breed, approx. 120 lbs) often have hip challenges, I immediately soothed her and gently checked and massaged the effected side’s hip. She quickly released the leg and returned to playing.
About an hour later, back home and resting, she started to cry quietly and wouldn’t stand up. Ruthie is incredibly stoic and had never indicated any kind of pain or discomfort prior to this so I assumed the worst but still wasn’t sure what was causing the pain. We drove almost two hours to the emergency vet hospital with the best reviews and she was seen by a great ER team. An exam and x-ray revealed that she had fully torn her cranial cruciate ligament (CCL – the equivalent to the ACL behind the human knee), had osteoarthritis and evidence of a series of previous small tears that had healed over time. Poor Ruthie who never complained, though she had every single reason to!
Pain meds, anti-inflammatories and a support harness kept her comfortable and mobile enough until we could have a surgery consult and plan her fix and recovery. Or so we thought. 1.5 weeks later, our thorough girl managed to partially tear her other CCL during the two minutes that she was allowed to walk at the park without being fully attached to me via her rear harness.
Health Note: Injury of the second leg is common due to uneven leg strength/mobility and overcompensation.
Equipped with two injured CCLs and an unexpected staph infection of the skin (that we later found out was due to extreme allergies to many environmental factors), she was no longer a candidate for surgery, and we needed a new plan.
Enter: leg braces
Ruthie’s pink/orange camo brace with the latest new strap design for greater mobility.
Did you know that there were custom leg braces for dogs of all sizes and shapes?
I didn’t, because I never thought about it before. I had seen wheels for the paralyzed and prosthetics for amputees. Of course there would be braces available too.
Waiting for the brace appointment to begin. Yay, someone’s coming! We can hear them.
A few weeks later we would be casting Ruthie’s hind legs for a matching set of custom braces to give her stability while we saw if she could heal and build enough scar tissue to make both knees viable again. I told her that she could choose any brace color except pink. She listened and clearly rejected my suggestion.
How does a dog choose a brace color?
By indicating it from the color samples with her nose (twice – just to be clear), of course!
Ruthie taking a short break.
Health Note: Dogs under 50lbs often have success in this approach and surgery may not be needed. At Ruthie’s size, it’s very difficult and the knees are likely to be reinjured, or worse, without further intervention. We put Ruthie in braces fully expecting that she may need to wear them indefinitely if surgery wasn’t an option.
Present Day Adventure:
Every 4-5 months we book the first appointment of the day, drive 2-ish hours each way (with new exploration stops booked into the return journey) and Ruthie’s braces are adjusted, have their worn components replaced, and are checked to ensure she’s still receiving their full supportive benefits. She’s been wearing and loving her braces (we call them “leggies”) for 17 months and we’re no longer considering surgery.
One of the five people on the planet that she kisses [from Be Selective * Stingy: Lessons from Ruthie] is Alyssa, the caring soul who fit her for the braces and handles all the refurbishment personally. I think this pic proves that Alyssa is Ruthie-certified. There were no kisses during this visit, but they clearly did share long loving gazes. I’m sure the kisses will return, when Ruthie is so inclined.
Ruthie and Alyssa (our brace angel at My Pet’s Brace) sharing a moment before this month’s brace refurbishment.
Ruthie can live as an Everyday Adventure Girl – who is as active as she chooses to be – thanks to her trusty “leggies”. There was a period of professionally facilitated adjustment, which she undertook like a total champ. Now, if she feels that she’d like some support and I haven’t invited her to put them on, she will indicate her braces with her nose until I get them for her. She “parks” for them to be put on and then stretches each leg to make them feel comfortable. Then she’s ready to go and everyone else better keep up!
Happy Ruthie waiting for her leggies (at My Brace Place HQ) to be finished so we can go exploring.
*- All decisions relayed in this adventure were made in consultation with qualified and caring medical professionals, including our main vet at Murray Hill Pet Hospital, the emergency and surgery teams at Valley Central Veterinary Hospital, the dermatology team at Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital and our Clinical Practitioner at My Pet’s Brace. It takes a village to love and support our Ruthie-girl!