Wednesday, October 08, 2008
The Doing
So after the big whine comes the “get off your ass and do something about it” phase. And when I can get past the moaning and moping, I remember to do my research.
The dog is not going for surgery. Instead, I’m putting her on seriously restricted activity for the next six to eight weeks. I’m back to feeding raw and increasing joint-friendly supplements. I understand that ligament tissue doesn’t re-grow. But some accounts tell me that the joint can sometimes stabilize itself by growing compensatory fibrous tissue. It just needs time.
Plus, the vet can’t tell me 1. If her cruciate ligament is really torn or 2. How badly it is torn. He’s simply going on statistics. That’s how they do it. Well, statistics aren’t enough of a reason for me to go ahead with a risky and expensive, and questionably effective procedure (most dogs require second, third surgeries, inevitably including the opposite leg), especially if there’s even the slightest chance that this joint can heal itself on its own.
So I’m rolling the dice. If she doesn’t heal, at least I gave it a shot, learned something and besides, there’s no time limit on the surgery itself should she need it down the road.
Meanwhile, I may be evicted from my own house. The dog food recipe I make includes patties of “prairie-fed green tripe”. Green tripe “includes some of the stomach's last content and smells very unappetizing”. Way to understate it, Internets. It’s the most foul, shit-smelling, disgusting crap (one step away from actual crap in the digestive process, actually). Every time I defrost a batch, my dad starts gagging. But the dogs go freakin’ nuts for it.
posted by Working From Home Today
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