Taz Long, a 9 year old chow/lab mix,
has had a long hard life. Just ask him and he'll tell you all about it, but be
prepared to sit a while as he tells you the story of his life. If not, you
will be ever-so-gently grabbed by a deformed paw that he uses to his advantage
to grab things off of tables, pull bowls away from his housemates, and to get
your attention if you just stop petting him for one (1) second when he
feels that you should be continuing, non-stop, until your hand falls off. Taz
lucked out in life. I, Dr. Amy Long, found him in the Broward Humane
Society. He had just been surrendered again from his third home. I
became his fourth and last home, though some days I did not know if he was going
to survive until the next day. You see, Taz being his said name was no
accident. He was absolutely the most destructive puppy that ever terrorized
the earth! Thus he was dubbed "Tasmanian Devil,' or Taz for short.
I say he lucked out because he ended up being the companion of a
veterinarian. Taz's medical problems have been extensive, starting from
the age of 4 months. These include angular limb deformity, bilateral hip
dysplasia, hypothyroidism, obesity, chronic arthritis, and cranial cruciate
tears (CCL/ ACL) in both rear knees. He is structurally challenged.
With every new problem, I remind him he is lucky his mom is a vet. He either
rolls his eyes and hides his head or barks back.
When I went off to veterinary school in
Grenada, Taz was right by my side. He has been my greatest confidant,
protector, and matted rug of fur to cry onto when times were rough, whether it
was just making it though the trials of a highly demanding medical program or
finding out about the passing of other companion animals. When I had to leave my
family to pursue career and life goals, Taz was thrilled about traveling. He had
to fly separately when traveling to and from Grenada. My mom said
it was like he knew where he was going when she shipped him to me. He
was always in a grumpy mood when I left for school without him until he was
shipped out. The Grenadian beaches were his favorite pastime. He
bee-lined for the water whenever he got the chance.
Taz's latest challenges are his knees and weight. He tipped the scale at 116 pounds in February 09, mostly due to inactivity because of his arthritis pain and hypothyroidism. At that point, both of his knees and bad hips could not support his weight and he could not walk. Surgery was not an option at this weight, so he went on a strict prescription diet to slim down. He lived at my previous clinic for several months where my staff helped me maneuver him, as I could not lift him myself. By August 09, his weight was 94 pounds, and he has been able to support his weight without assistance for several months as well as walk short distances without stopping. Since he was doing so well, Dr. Sukhija and I discussed stabilizing the knee that was worse to give him more stability, decrease his pain, and hopefully promote more activity and therefore further weight loss.
On September 14th, Dr. Sukhija performed orthopedic surgery on Taz
with my assistance. The procedure began with opening the stifle (knee)
joint to remove arthritis buildup and ruptured ligaments including the cranial cruciate
(similar to an ACL in humans). The purpose of this ligament
is to stabilize the knee joint and prevent the tibia and femur bones from
slipping back and forth, causing severe pain. Most dogs
that present with a cruciate ligament rupture are not bearing weight on the
affected hind leg. The rupture usually occurs during a jump or running
exercise and leads to immediate pain and loss of weight bearing ability on the
effected limb. In Taz's case, his ligaments were so overstretched
due to his obesity that they just gave out one day. After removing the
ruptured ligament, the second part of the surgery involved re-creating the ligament with a synthetic suture that acts to
stabilize the knee joint again. After an upper body workout for both
Dr. Sukhija and I, the sutures were nestled in their new home and much to my
delight, Taz's
knee joint was completely stabilized.
After one day of down time, Taz was up and trying to be independent and refusing to let us help him walk with towel supports. If his looks could be verbalized they would say, "I can do it myself" or "Will you just let go, I got this!". Now, almost 12 days post-op, he barely has a limp on the left rear leg, is getting up much easier than before, and wants to walk voluntarily rather than have me force him to exercise. Thanks to Dr. Sukhija's knowledge of orthopedics and steady hands, Taz is doing fabulous and his quality of life has significantly improved. As veterinarians, our goal is to provide the best possible quality of life for all companion animals, even when it is one's own four-legged best friend.
--Written by Dr. Amy Long
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