Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I need some advise on how to care for a dog with both his back legs injured. Our dog is a mixed breed (pointer/terrier)and is almost 3 years old. We found out last week (after a month of limping) that his back right leg has a torn ACL. Our vet recommended continuing restriction and prescribed Rimadyl for pain/inflammation. He was showing some improvement just the past few days, being able to put weight on it and so forth. Then yesterday, he tried to jump on our bed and ended up straining his back left leg. We took him to the vet immediately to check for broken bones and so forth. He diagnosed a possible strain since he couldn't find broken bones (no Xray) and said his back was fine. He gave him a shot of steroids/and something for inflammation. Our concern is how are we to care for our dog? He can't/won't walk. My husband has to carry him outside, and once outside it takes all our dog has to hold himself up and we are afraid that with all the weight on his 2 front legs, he will end up hurting them. Is there some sort of harness or something we can get him to help him with this injury? We are keeping him on strict restriction and the only time he would have to move would be to go outside. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Thank you,
Alicia

Why didn't the vet do an X-ray? There could be something that's fractured that the vet couldn't possibly detect without an x-ray. Ugh, vets and their steroids... Are there any holistic vets nearby? They treat things a lot more naturally and just as effectively, which might help your dog since he's already got enough to deal with. If he doesn't move himself you should turn him over into different positions every hour or so so he doesn't get bedsores.
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Kadee Sedtal
home of old lady Lucy (boxer/lab/garbage disposal), pretty girl Fancy (beagle), the rat pack- Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Pachebel, and Fillmore, and the mice- Vivaldi, Brahms, and Schubert