Spunky Boy Meets "Mr. Boy"

We regularly keep Laska, along with our other four dogs, in our backyard pen.
However, a recent, serious injury may have put an abrupt end to Mr. Boy's "kennel days." Laska, aka "Mr. Boy" thoroughly loved the time and attention and love lavished upon him last night. Particularly, he loves his boys. Here, Spunky demonstrates the fine art of grooming his dog. He slept in Bobcat and Eaglet's room last night, and has had no trouble making himself at home indoors. He has a feline pal in here, who is thrilled to have his company. Really, she loves him. So what happened to get us in this predicament?
Thursday evening, Laska was running and playing happily with one of his dog pals, when he stopped suddenly in pain. From that moment on, he used only three legs. The vet tech in me said immediately as it happened, "There goes his cruciate." We decided to give him a day or two and just see if it may have been a soft tissue injury. When he was still not bearing any weight by Monday morning, I took him in to see my good friend and former boss at All Creatures Vet Clinic. What I knew to be true, but had hoped was not, was confirmed. Laska ruptured his ACL. We are in the process of laying out our options for our dear, 12 1/2 year-old, faithful family member. This guy has been with us through a lot, and for a long time. He was our "baby" when we were a newlywed couple. I'll never forget the day we proudly adopted him from my veterinary technology school. We drove him 1/2 way to my parent's home, where the new "grandparents" picked him up and took him back with them to Wisconsin until we could get moved into our new rental home, which would allow a dog. Yes, we moved across the city so we could accomodate this guy. And, I'll add, we are so glad we did. He has taught us much about life, about trust and faith, about exuberance and perseverence, about love. What can we do to help him now? Ideal treatment is a very spendy, TPLO surgery done by a specialist. Even a couple years ago, we would not have hesitated. But at 12 1/2 years, we have to admit that our sweet dog's life expectancy is in it's twighlight. Do we put out the $3000, which incidentally, we don't have? For now, we have him on pain medication and anti-inflammatories. It is also possible, that a combination of these and a couple other medications, along with a bit of...ahem...weight loss :) could make him comfortable enough that he'd have a good quality of life for the remainder of his years. We're also looking into an orthopedic brace. For those of you who may not be "dog people" this post probably seems a bit crazy. That's ok. For those of you who are "dog people", please pray for our sweet dog and also for wisdom for us in what to do for him.