Poor Duke, wait no, Poor Wallet! Last September, we found out that the reason for Duke’s limping and pain had to do with his knees. At the time, his left knee’s CCL (a dog’s version of the human ACL) was completely torn and his doctor thought that the right one was also strained but not torn. Lucas and I had a long and tearful discussion and decided that we needed to do what was best for our family and that meant making Duke better so that he could have a good quality of life.
Thankfully that surgery went great and it significantly helped his walking and quality of life. Last month we noticed that he was starting to favor the other knee and we knew what was happening. As much as we wanted it to be a fluke, we remembered that the doctor said that at least 50% of dogs that tear their CCL in one leg, will tear their other one too. We took Duke in last week and Dr. Owen diagnosed what we were dreading; he had torn the CCL in his right knee. Lucas and I talked it over again and decided that since he only has two knees, we are praying to God that this is it for him and that Duke will not have any other issues once we fix his other knee.
So we dropped off Duke yesterday morning so that in the afternoon they could perform the surgery to fix his right knee. After work today, the whole family went to pick up Duke and welcome him back home with open, loving arms. He will be getting a lot of TLC the next couple weeks as he recovers.
Duke is such a joy! He is the most loving dog we know. Big hugs from us. We love you Dukie!!