Our corgi has a limp in his back right leg
Our 4 year old corgi, Cody, has a limp in his back right leg. At first we thought it was something minor and would go away but after a day it has gotten worse. He can't walk on it at all and whimpers when he walks or tries to run on it, so we took him to the vet and he said that there is a torn ligament. He said if it doesn't get any better he may need surgery. So we got him some meds and the vet said limited movement for 6 weeks but come back in 2 weeks for a check-up.
We feel horrible because, as I am sure you all already know, corgi's love running!! We take him for walks twice a day and always play fetch in the backyard. We built him a little "playpen" to keep him from moving around so much. (pictured)
We were just wondering if anybody has any advice on how to keep him from being bored and hwo to keep him active without pressure on his leg. The vet mentioned that if he weighed any heavier, surgery would of been recommended immediately. We are worried though that he will gain weight with no activity for him. We feed him 3/4 cups of dog food in morning and later 3/4 evening. He is a little smaller than a regular size corgi weighing 23pds.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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There are many discussions on how to keep him quiet. I would maybe cut back at least 1/4 cup a day and moniter his weight. The pen looks great but it hard to keep them from running. Do you have sides you can put on this too keep his area to move around smaller? I would try kongs to keep him busy with just a tiny bit of peanut butter stuck way up in it so he really has to work on it to get any. Wynn did this many years ago and hasn't had any problems since. Good luck...sorry I don't have any great advice.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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Franklin broke his foot.....twice. First time when he was 7 months old, 2nd time this past spring when he just turned 2. Both times required AT LEAST 4 weeks of no activity, the 1st time ended up with him on "bed rest" for 8 weeks. It was torture. I did two things for this, one I bought pretty much every interactive toy in the store. These work so well to keep their minds occupied. If you are only wanting to try one or two I recommend the Kong Genius and any of the StarMark everlasting treat toys in Medium (they have a blue one, a red one, an orange one, and a green one all with slightly different shapes). Put peanut butter and kibble mixed together in a frozen Kong. Also, as for feeding, I feed Franklin 3/4 cup of food A DAY and he is almost 30 pounds. So you can probably get away with decreasing his food quite a bit while he is in rehab. Also decrease his food a lot since you will be adding treats to the mix if you use teh interactive toys. Raw knuckle bones are excellent, you can use bully sticks, antlers, or rawhides when you are there to supervise. As a last resort I also used sedatives for Franklin. He is such an active boy that he got quite depressed after a few days of no activity and to prevent that excess energy being converted to evil deeds the vet gave me acepromazine to give him. They also gave me Alprazolam. They said I could use them in combination or alone. I found I could give 1/4 of the recommended dose and it was enough to take the edge off and for Franklin to be content with just the interactive toys and no activity. I also only gave it in the morning so he was sedate throghout the day instead of every 8-12 hours and it worked really well and sometimes I would skip days because he was calm some days and hyper the others.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
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I have two corgi's with torn ligaments. Seanna had surgery and did great, and is doing well. Jackson tore his way before he was rescued, so he went without. Out of the two, he does the worst. He limps probably twice a week, and sometimes gets pretty lame. I recommend surgery no matter what. You can email me with any questions you have! I got a puppy pen from petsmart, and kept Seanna in there before and after her surgery. It worked extremely well, and she got so used to it she would just go in there when she didn't want to be bothered. It was mobile so we could take it and place her wherever we were.
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Permalink Reply by Judith Andre on
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My last Corgi had 2 ACL surgeries...the kind that uses nylon "fishing" line. This was about 10 years ago. My vet who is an excellent surgeon did them both. They each cost $650 if I remember right. With the second he had some water therapy after. With the first it was not available. I didn't see any difference in the way they healed. It took several months for him to get back to normal, but then he was back to his crazy ball chasing self until he died of DM about 6 years later.
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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on
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I have 3 dogs and my older gal Pixie ( age 13 ), who is very active, tore her ACL chasing squirrels recently. I put up baby gates to close off the kitchen and family room from the rest of the house, as they otherwise will run back and forth. I know the times when my dogs tend to settle and leave Pixie loose in that area, keeping an eye on things. If I have to leave the gate open, or there is any excitement, I have a leash looped into the sofa leg and clip that to her collar. This allows her to move around some and I can change where I put the leash, which she likes. If I leave the house, she is closed in my bedroom and enjoys looking out the sliding glass door. If I move her from the bedroom, I leash her, or she will run. Outside only on leash to do her business and for short, slow, rehabilitation walks. Our driveway is 1/8 mile each way, we started at 1/2 the driveway length. I am also giving fish oil for inflammation (she is 35 Lbs. and gets 1/2 t. once a day) Cosequin DS for general joint support ( Amazon has it cheapest) and I gave her Homeopathic Arnica for swelling. I expect it will take awhile, but she is doing well with this regimen. Surgery, at her age, is not an avenue I would pursue. Your pen looks very nice. Hope this helps.
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