Useful Resources & Links

Achilles' Tendon Rupture/Gastrocnemeus Tendon Rupture [Vet Surgery Central Inc.]

Help Pets Walk | K9 Dog Orthotic Brace [HandicappedPets, Inc.]

Animal Orthotic and Prosthetic Mobility Solutions [Orthopets]

Orthopedic Problems in Dogs [The Pet Center .com]

Everything About Achilles Tendons [The Achilles tendon Encyclopedia for People]

Achilles' Tendon Rupture [Wikipedia definition]

haeclark's Sites [Collection of links I (hae) often use]

Mar 30 2009 | The FULL Story:

Our poor Kiela "P" [Rottweiler / lab / ?] is currently in process of undergoing a sugary!

Why, you might be thinking?

To fix her poor leg she falayed open this Saturday, after becoming startled from chewing on her butt when Z told her to stop [moved his chair back which startled her, causing her to jump up].

She cut a nice 3" long by nearly 1/2" deep cut into her leg, on the very backside of her heel / leg [above her "knee"]
The cooperate: our baseboard heater.
Our "great" previous tenant decided for some weird ass reason it was a good idea to raise the baseboard off the ground by nearly 1/2 a foot, WITHOUT any kind of cover, etc. So when the poor girl jumped up, she snagged her leg on the underside of the baseboard, cutting into her leg! :'S

Upon changing / cleaning her wounds Sun [no vet offices open over weekend here at time of accident, Sat + NO answers from emergency calls!] I was wondering why it was that her wound appeared to be hollow, or more open then a normal cut at the most inner part.
Instead of being shaped like a "v" as normal cuts would, hers was more of a falayed upside-down "t", as it opened about 1/2"-1" wide with a gap / space / indent where the innermost part of her cut met the solid / muscular part of her body.

The reason I found out today upon dropping her off at the vet's office:
she cut her tendon, all the way through!
This also explains why she held he leg up so much, as also why she appeared to not be able to stand on her leg for more then a minuet or two before her leg shot back up again, in the held position. :'S [not a relaxed potion due to pain as I thought, but mer fact that she couldn't support it for very long, nor move her foot itself]

The cost BEFORE surgery: $600-900 [quoted] !!!
before discovery of cut tendon: [up to] $100-200 JUST for stitches, if sleeping gas needed! + the $30 vet office fee [of course]!

Doc said he's had cases where the tendon re-broke after sugary, and she most likely "wont be the same athlete she was before," + she'll have to wear a splint for 3-4 weeks while recovering...but then again, he also said Lilly's "goiter" [blood abscess in the nap of her throat] might come back after sugary...that was almost 3 years ago now of "goiter" freedom!

Z blames himself for it happening, as he moved his chair backward, startling her while she chewed on her butt due to her hot-spots. Yet I tried to tell him otherwise...it was just an unfortunate accident, as it was a culmination of bad things coming together at the same time to create a very bad overall situation.
I'm at least grateful I have the time to be able to stay with her for the majority of the week [due to being on unemployment]...even when the last term starts next week [only on Thurs, which is Z's day off]. :)

Fingers crossed, hopin' for the best!

Note From Kiela:
Saturday, March 28th, 2009. That's the day my leg got badly hurt!
My mommy told me the vet said the thing that makes my leg move [Achilles tendon] had been cut clean through. The cut I got...a cheap fix over the tendon repair...but I'm getting ahead of myself.
You must be wondering how this happened?
I was minding my own business, laying in my usual spot next to my daddy [sitting in his chair], near the warm spot on the wall [baseboard heater].
I suddenly got that annoying itch near my tail I always get, and went to bite on it. Mom and dad don't like when I do that, and always yell at me to stop. That day was no exception, and since mom was gone, dad turned his computer chair to stop me. I jumped up to pout [and slightly startled], and that's when it happened:
My leg snagged under the warm spot [baseboard was unusually higher then normal on wall] which cut a big sore on my leg [3" x .4" cut following the tendon, not across].
It happened at a time vet offices are closed [5:30-ish pm, Saturday] making my dad call the emergency number...only there was another problem...
There was NO answers!
So my mom and dad did the next best thing: cleaned / closed the wound...I hated that stinging stuff! [used regular medical cleaning aid, and butterfly bandages]
It wasn't until Monday that my mom and dad could get me into the vet's office. I hated it because I was forced to lay down all weekend, plus my leg hurt...although I never let them know it [aside from occasionally trying to lick it; she's a Stubborn Rottweiler + Lab + ?]!
My poor mom and dad [owners] weren't aware of how bad it actually was! I knew something was wrong, as my foot felt weird. Even though I couldn't move it, I could still stand on it...making an illusion as though I could still use my foot! This is why mom and dad didn't know it was as bad as it really was!
By Monday, I had licked that pesky thing [butterfly bandages] off my wound, so I could get to it and lick it. Mom wasn't happy when she saw that! It sucked, as she then put more of that stinging smelly water on my wound [hydrogen peroxide], which stung!
After that, she took me in to see the vet...and left me!
She said later that doc told her he wanted to put me in surgery ASAP, and wanted to prep me.
Luckily, my original cut worked out to be an advantage...more details about that and what happened on a different post though! [here]