Right Knee - Weeks 6 & 7

We have spent that past two weeks trying to get Murphy to put all his weight on his leg while walking. As you can see from the picture, when he is standing his leg looks bowed out. That is because he is actually standing on his tip-toes on that leg.

We have paid close attention to his movement during his walks and there are times when both legs appear to be moving in a normal fashion. This means that he is capable of walking normal, we just need to get him to do it ALL of the time.

We have lengthened our walks to 20-25 minutes, two times a day, and we have slowed down our pace, again. This forces him to put all of his weight on that leg for longer periods of time. So far it seems to be working because by the time we get near the end of our walk (when he starts to get tired), he is walking semi-normal without a limp.

He is also getting more active. About three weeks ago he started standing up and shaking/flinging his toys just like he did before (minus the running of course). He has also started scratching his neck, chin, and front leg with the hind leg that had surgery. All of these are signs that it is healing because there are no signs of any pain.

We are a little bit concerned about his tip-toeing, and his leg bowing. However, there isn't much that we can do about it except continue to work with him to strengthen it. In two weeks he will have his final x-ray and exam, and his vet will make the assessment at that time on if he has healed properly.

In the mean time we are getting ready for the cold of fall and winter. Murphy's haircut is still comical to us. The first layer of his hair has grown back and now he is starting to grow in some of the thicker yellow/orange colors. When I first noticed it the other day I thought that it was dirt because it was a tiny, tiny patch near his hip. We keep teasing him that he needs to grow it back faster or he is going to have cold butt before too long.