Keeping healthy

 I mentioned that yesterday Sisko walked with Marc while Booker and I ran.  Sisko has been having some difficulty with his knees.  Specifically his CCL which is comparable to the ACL in humans.

The CCL can tear which, if it tears completely, requires surgery.  If it is partially torn there is a chance that it can heal.  So when last summer we came home from the beach and after laying down for a while Sisko got up with a terrible limp we had to make some decisions, 

The most commonly used surgery for the CCL is TPLO surgery.  Sisko is 7 1/2 years old.  So we would be putting him through an intensive surgery and recovery time.  And statistically when you repair one CCL, there is like an 80% chance that the other will repture requiring surgery on the other leg.

After some research we made the decision to not go in for surgery right away and try to manage it.  We placed him on a regimen of glucosamine/chondroiton, fish oil, and turmeric.  He gets one of each of these twice per day.

This has worked wonders.  However it is not a cure.  Some days he can run with me and show no effects.  Other days we walk a couple of miles and he limps the next day.  So it's not always predictable.  We manage any pain with canine aspirin (NEVER use human aspirin or other NSAIDS) and if he has any sort of favoring of his leg we try to keep it easy.

Like yesterday when I decided not to have him run with me, especially since I planned on doing a longer run.  But today we did a long walk on the beach and he ran and jumped and played and had no limping afterwards.

I am hoping that he can continue to be active and healthy and avoid surgery.   My vet said to me that when he gets up in the morning he is often stiff and achy but "I'd like to think I have a good quality of life!"  As long as most of his days are happy and mostly pain free I don't see any need for surgery.