Miles has a ruptured cranial cruciate ligament in his back left leg. Poor guy started limping on Sunday. I thought it might just be a twist or a bite or something, so I gave it through Monday to get better. It didn’t. We took him in on Tuesday for examination. Surgery is the only reasonable option. Theoretically, we could let it go and heal on its own. It’ll stop hurting in a few more days, but since the ligament is broken, he would undoubtedly develop arthritis and it would continue to hurt him for the rest of his life. Surgery, while nauseatingly costly, is the only way to restore near-normal use of the leg. The most common causes of this injury are obesity and age, neither of which apply to Miles. But also, large breeds are susceptible at all ages. Reading down the list of the most common young, healthy breeds that get it, both of Miles’ breeds are listed: Lab and Rottweiler. Oy!

The poor pup hasn’t eaten much over the last few days. I hand fed him about ten handfuls this morning, which he happily woofed down. We’ve let him camp out on the soft futon. He seems generally happy as long as he doesn’t have to move, which for this large, hyper dog is probably more excruciating than the pain itself. He’s got some seriously sad eyes, too. He’ll lay there, wag his tail a couple times, and then lock those big brown eyes right on me with that pitiful little crinkle of the eyebrows. Oh, woe is me! And I really mean me, not the dog. It just tears me up to see him like that!

Anyway, surgery is on Monday. Painkillers in the meantime.