Case of the Month:
“Josie”
“Josie,” a very active 12-year-old spayed female Golden Retriever / Border Collie mix, became suddenly lame one evening while chasing a dog up and down her fence. She could not bear any weight on her right hind limb, and her foot from her hock/ankle down was dangling side-to-side. Josie was still happy as ever despite a serious injury to her leg.
There was no stability in Josie’s hock and a firm swelling along her Achilles tendon. Radiographs confirmed an avulsion of her Achilles tendon, or a complete tear of the tendon of her calf muscle off of her heal. The torn avulsed tendon took a few bone chips with it as it snapped over an inch up her leg.
If Josie were human and walked normally on her entire foot, this injury may heal on its own with rest. As a dog, because she walks only on her toes, there would be too much tension on the tendon to heal on its own. Also, it is not likely that Josie would be happy to rest peacefully in her bed day and night to rest the injury. She was ready to chase squirrels already!
Josie’s injury required surgical correction. After exploring the injured area, the avulsed tendon was isolated and sutured to the calcaneus, or heal bone, with nonabsorbable suture material. The suture material was strung through holes drilled in the calcaneus and up through the Achilles tendon in a figure-8. The tendon was pulled close to the heal bone, and the initial incision was closed.
After surgery, Josie was fit with a fiberglass cast, which will keep her leg in a slightly extended position for 3-4 months while her body forms tough scar tissue to keep the tendon in place. Because she is a dog and not concerned at all with keeping her own cast clean and dry, she will need to return every 10-14 days to have her cast removed, cleaned, and replaced. Because of the frequent removal, we gave her cast a “bi-valve” structure with two halves that can easily be removed and replaced while still giving her the stability of a fiberglass cast.
So far, Josie is feeling great! She is using her casted leg fully and trying to run and play! She will need to be calm for a whole 4 months if she expects to make a good recovery. She is allowed to have short walks on her leash while she is healing, but no chasing squirrels or dogs along the fence!
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