Rizzo Retires

 Rizzo says, “Shh, don’t tell anyone I’m a house dog now!”

Rizzo has been intermittently lame on her right hind through the summer and fall, but each time I hoped she had just stepped on a thorn or pulled a muscle since doggie pain meds helped.  During the last two weeks she’s been more regularly lame, so we went to the vet to get her checked out.  

Unfortunately, as I had feared, she has a partially torn cranial cruciate ligament (like an ACL tear in a human knee) in her right hind stifle.  She is young (only four), very fit, and not a big dog, so we did additional xrays to try and determine why that knee developed the issue.  Looking at hip xrays we discovered she has severe hip dysplasia and arthritis in both hips.  She probably injured her knee because she was compensating for sore hips.

We’re not able to do the expensive surgeries to repair/replace all the joints, and three major surgeries would be quite traumatic for her as well.  So the treatment plan is a month of rest, anti-inflammatories, and hoping that enough scar tissue will develop in the knee to stabilize the joint.  With both of her hips being so bad as well, the vet said Rizzo definitely needed to retire from her working dog career.  You would never have known she was in pain, animals hide it so well, she had been working just as hard as always prior to the vet visit. 

So now Rizzo has had a bath, I’ve brought her crate and dog bed inside, and we’re reviewing house training as she starts to acclimate to being a house dog.  It will take a little adjusting for her and Mahzi to live together inside, but I’m sure they’ll sort it out as we carefully reintroduce them.  I’ll keep Rizzo as comfortable as I can for as long as I can, continuing her joint supplement and specialty food for her urine pH.  

I sure love this little dog and I’m really bummed about the xrays.  But now that we know we’ll just have to make adjustments and do the best we can for my little work-a-holic and hope she does ok in retirement.  I know Pascal will miss her outside too, it will be an adjustment for everyone.