I know, I was suprised that it's taken up till now for him to start putting weight on it; and he's by no means walking well on it. He resorts to three legs quite quickly too.

He dislikes the other two dogs coming near him when he's out for a pee break incase they come against him; which is understandable. They can't understand why their playful friend lies in the crate all day and no longer wants to have fun.

I'm going to contact the vet in the next week or two and ask if they want to see him again and ask about when would be best to start thinking about referal to hydrotherapy. I think we are a few weeks off that stage yet.

Hope your poor girl continues to improve. Our lad is now off his meds. Being the kind of dog he is (chop all four legs and he still keeps running type) the vet felt it would be better for him to feel the pain to a certain extent so he wouldn't be using the leg before it's healed enough.

Only just spotted this, and am so glad that your boy does not have cruciate ligament damage - he is taking forever to heal though isn't he

Big cuddles for both of you.

Thanks Bitkin.

Hope he keeps on improving. Now that he's weight-bearing again he should start building up the muscles. Fingers crossed.

Your poor lad - what a slow and painful healing process It must be so hard on him and you. I hope that now he is starting to improve that it continues quickly. It is heartbreaking when dogs have to be on crate rest - its not as though you can explain why to him or his house-mates - so much easier if we could.

Keep us posted with his progress.

Thanks.

Thank you, will do.

Update on Elroy.
We went back to the vet today and they sedated again to xray and test the joints again. They now tell us his CL is ruptured.

He has seen no improvement this last few months beyond the inital improvement. One the toe on that foot and a few minutes out walking would leave him on 3 legs again.

We are to go to the vets this evening to see the vet and "discuss the options" as she put it. Filled with dread. He's been through 10 weeks of crate rest following inital injury (when they also spotted some arthritis in both hips as well - which doesn't bother him yet), followed by house arrest with occasional very short walks.

He is usually such an active dog, and the inactivity has been taking it's toll this last couple of weeks. Going to look up some CL threads now to read about other peoples' experiances with it.

Gutted.

If it's a full rupture it won't heal itself. Even partial ruptures often won't heal without surgical intervention, apparently.

I wonder why the damage wasn't picked up on the first lot of x-rays?

I'm going through exactly the same thing just now - my dog has just had surgery sort out her leg as she fully ruptured her cranial cruciate ligament in her right leg.

Thread about it here:

Molly has hurt her leg

Some years ago I had a dog with crippling arthritis in her back legs. The vet told me to give her dogfood with the lowest percentage of protein I could find. I did as he suggested and Penny was much improved for it. I have since done the same with any arthritic dog I have had always with good results.

Thanks, will take a look at your link now.

Thanks for the info.

Elroy is going in for surgery next week. Poor wee man is v sore this evening after his exam, even with painkillers.