Dog has slipped knee

JR4

So I took my dog to the vets last week as he hurt his leg running in the garden with my mums dogs vet thought he had slipped knee, pain killers for a week and went back today to see specialist.
Saw the specialist today slipped knee in both right grade 3 left grade 1 booked in for op on 7th cost between £1100 - £1300 ( thank god he is insured) I am just worried about the recovery he will be in his crate for at least 2 months and he is such a happy bouncy boy I am dreading it. 😞

krlyr

Get on http://www.youtube.com/kikopup

Plenty of tricks on there and you should find quite a few that won't be too strenuous on his knee. Trick training may seem a bit frivolous but really engages the brain as well as the body - it should help knacker him out!

I'd also feed him in slightly more challenging ways, such as Kongs and other food dispensors. I'd maybe avoid the ball sort as you don't want him chasing them around, but things like the Tug-a-Jug may suit. Or if you're any good at DIY, this is a fab idea and he can do it lying down in his crate - not sure if this video will work as it's from Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10201238609040479

JR4

Thanks Krlyr fab ideas to be honest I hadn't thought of doing any bits like that with him great ideas.

krlyr

Also with decreased exercise levels, I'd watch his food. You won't want to cut the volume too much if you'd using food dispensers, but I would recommend bulking out his normal rations (or slightly reduced to account for the reduction in exercise) with things like blended raw (or lightly cooked) veggies, these will add to the volume without the calories (dogs don't get huge amounts of nutrition from veggies - but blending or cooking will help them get some goodness).

In regards to treats for the trick training, create a tub of very small but very high value treats, mixed with some lower value, "low-cal" treats. So this could be things like the tiniest cubes of cheese (allow a slice or two of cheese to dry out in the fridge overnight, otherwise the little cubes stick to each other), mixed with some of his normal food if he's on dry biscuit (deduct this from his breakfast/dinner amount), one or two cocktail sausages diced up small, and some cubes of carrot. Mixed together in a tub, the lower value treats like the carrot and biscuits should get some of the smell of the other treats anyway, but because you'll feed a mix, you'll keep him guessing - he'll accept the lower value treats knowing there's some really yummy ones to come.