”Robert has done
a great job
with Charlie's
aftercare.
It is a privledge
to work with
Robert and Charlie.
You guys are
awesome!
And, we're
not just
saying that
to get
more donuts! ”

Elizabeth Geurts, DVM
Charlie

Meet "Charlie", our August 2008 Case of the Month.  Charlie is an 8-year old chocolate Laborador Retriever owned by Robert Lienke.  Charlie loves life on the dairy farm with his owner.  They spend most of the day together outdoors managing the diary. One of Charlie's favorite things to do is ride along on the 4-wheeler. 
Charlie is a large dog (weighing approximately 112 pounds) with a lot of ambition. He decided to leap from the 4-wheeler one day and landed with a twising force on his right rear leg. He instantly came up lame although Robert could not feel anything that was obvisouly broken. Charlie maintained a persistent limp after the incident and Robert brought him in for evaluation.

Charlie is a large dog (weighing approximately 112 pounds) with a lot of ambition. He decided to leap from the 4-wheeler one day and landed with a twising force on his right rear leg. He instantly came up lame although Robert could not feel anything that was obvisouly broken. Charlie maintained a persistent limp after the incident and Robert brought him in for evaluation. 

Manipulation of his injured leg revealed that he suffered form a torn cruciate ligament, an injury that many football players suffer from. X-rays were taken of Charlie's right knee to better evaluate the damage.

Radiographs indicated that Charlie had significant degenerative joint disease (arthritis) of his knee suggesting that he may have had a partial ligament tear for a while prior to his 4-wheeler accident. The accident completely tore the already damaged ligament tissue.

Cruciate ligaments in the knee are vital components to stability of the joint. Without joint stability, abnormal wear and tear occurs on the boney surfaces leading to arthritis and pain.
Robert elected to have Charlie's knee repaired surgically. Surgical treatment involves dissecting open the knee joint and removing the torn ligament sections and torn cartilage.  The knee joint is then surgically flushed and closed.  Two critical stabilizing sutures are placed along the outside surface of the knee around and through some boney structures. These sutures act to replace the torn ligaments that were inside the knee joint. The sutures have the tensile strenght of 100 pound test fishing line and they are made out of a monofillament material that remains permanently in the patient. Attached is an intraoperative picture of Charlie's knee with the lateral sutures in place.

Three month's after surgery Charlie is doing very well and back to his regular routine on the farm with the exception of 4-wheeler activities! Robert is trying to keep Charlie on a weight control program, but Charlie still insists on his steak and eggs for breakfast on occasion.--after all, a dog's got to live a little!
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