ground zero

It all started about 10 days ago. Niko was out walking and playing with Sunny, his sister, when he started to run in the opposite direction. In a split second, he all of a sudden yelped and fell to the ground. It was as quick as that. He wasn't jumping or tearing across the park, he was just doing what all dogs do - playing.

Even though I didn't know it at the time, that single moment determined the course of all our lives for the next 4 months.

He laid down and didn't get up and we had to go get the car to bring him home. He was holding his left rear leg up and walking three legged for the rest of the day. I thought, and hoped, that it was just a bad sprain and that in a couple of days, he would be better. However, after 3 days it was obvious that this injury was more than a sprain and I made an appointment with the vet. When I brought Niko into the vet, she examined him and manipulated his anterior crusiate and determine by the loose movement that he had ruptured it.

She recommended two surgeons that perform TPLO surgery for dogs. Who would have thought that surgery could cost $3,150 and be followed with 8-12 weeks of physical therapy at over $100 a session. Choices? Sure there were choices. I could allow him to be lame for the rest of his life and run around 3 legged, or I could do the surgery.

I opted to do what I felt was best. Surgery to restore him back to all 4 legs.