Indiana | Whitney Beth Photography | Utah Pet Photographer
Indiana. This pup has been through it. Back in February of 2020 Indy blew her dog ACL. She had to have surgery to shave off part of the bone and make it so she didn’t need one anymore. This was her left leg. Our vet told us that this is pretty common in bigger dogs, and that it wasn’t a matter of if it’d happen again, but when. We did the surgery and everything went great. She was able to walk and run again, no problem.
Fast forward to this year. At the start of the year(honestly it was probably around February again) we noticed Indy favoring her left leg. We took her in and they couldn’t see anything immediately. So they gave us the equivalent of doggy Ibuprofen and told us to see if that helped. It did, until she ran out. Back in we went, this time xrays and sedation for a full exam. Unfortunately the xrays showed nothing wrong. There was a little bit of muscle loss in that leg – most likely from the surgery and her never having PT due to Covid, but it shouldn’t be effecting her that much. Our vet said there was one little spot that looked unusual – but if they hadn’t been combing through and looking for a reason, would have dismissed it. They sent it off to the surgeon who did Indy’s surgery for his opinion and sent us home with more pain meds.
We waited to hear back from the surgeon. During that waiting period we were outside, as a family in the backyard. Getting it cleaned up from winter. We have chain link fences on the front part of our fence that has a gate. I was having the boys pick up trash that had blown against it during the winter. One of our neighbor dogs got out and rushed the fence to bark and try and get my dogs to chase it from each side of the house. Well with the boys being there, Indy sprang into “Momma Dog” mode and barked and charged from one side of the yard to the other. As she ran to the other side where the neighbor dog was waiting, we heard a yelp. She started limping bad. That’s when we noticed that she was limping on her right side.
She had just blown her right ACL.
The next morning we called to the surgeon’s office to get her in. They still needed a consultation – even though they were pretty sure we were right about her ACL. The downside – the soonest available appointment was a month out. (We found that to be the case for everywhere we called.)
In the meantime, while we waited for the appointment, Indy started losing weight scary fast. With both hind legs out of commission, she barely left her bed. There were many times during that in-between when I thought she might not wake up after I tucked her into bed at night. We had the appointment and got her scheduled for surgery – another month out. The soonest they could get her in was June 15th. Today if you’re reading this the day it was published.
There were a few times where Danny and I contemplated if it was even worth it to go through with the surgery. If she was strong enough to make it. Then, about 2 -3 weeks ago, Indy started eating her full serving of food. She was hobbling around on the tips of her back paws. She was wagging her tail and when I pet her, she laid down for tummy rubs! She started looking like less of a shell of the dog she had been for the past few months and more like herself. This gave everyone so much hope that she’d make it out of the surgery ok.
So today’s the day. She’s going to have her ACL surgery done on the right leg, as for the left leg which we still are not 100% what is wrong – the surgeon is going to start figuring out what it’s not. So the plan is to remove her meniscus and see if that was the problem. If it was, she should be able to use that leg fully again in 2 weeks. If not, her ACL surgery leg should be back in commission in 4 weeks.
I’ve been a mess over this dog. She’s been with me before any of the kids. She’s been through all my pregnancies with me – in fact, I call her my “pregnancy test.” Before I can even take a test, if I’m pregnant, Indy will start acting cuddly and overly protective of me. She’ll stay that way the entire pregnancy. When baby is hear, that protective ness transfers to him. When I nurse she’ll sit by my feet and stand guard. – inspecting and clearing anyone who wants to come up to me. If you wouldn’t mind saying a prayer of two for this goofy pup of mine, I’d appreciate it.
I took these photos the day after she blew her ACL. I was a mess and didn’t know what to do, so I made art. It’s my coping mechanism. The entire time I was taking these I just kept thinking of that old saying that goes something along the lines of, “If you want to know what someone cares about most, look at what they photograph”
I’ll update you all when she gets out of surgery. Love you!
