So there we were waiting for the specialist, and Fizzly was trying to compose herself after meeting her “Boyfriend ” who had left her heartbroken !! Well this Husky walks in and promptly tried to take a hunk out of her !!! Everyone assumes that Rottweilers are these big dangerous dogs ?? well Fizz may have been an exception to the rules ?? But this 10 stone Rottweiler would never start anything but beware if you upset her cos it was something that was not pleasant to see !!
This is the time when you either have a large breed under control or not………. I knew before I got a Rottweiler, that I would need from a very young age have total control of that dog. Especially as I had Ben and Emma as my children would always be my highest priority, and anyone who knows them will know that Ben has always been huge, and his Sister Emma has always been tiny !!
But Fizz listened to Emma instantly all though her life, while Ben never had the same control over Fizz ?? This proves that its the way of being and not the size of the person that a dog decides to listen too !! Well I’m not exactly tall being 5 foot 2 inches …….. But this dog would work to sign language, and if I looked at her she would instantly stop, and instantly lie down and not move !!
So I made sure I had control of any situation that arose with my Fizzly.
As I have said in various story parts on both my blogs and facebook page, I learn’t how to be around Dogs from my Dad, and he had the same instant control over any dog we ever had as I was growing up. When you have 20 dogs inside a home you need to have someone who they listen too !! So its not aggression that controls dogs its the way of being and MEANING what you say !!
I know that Fizz was an incredible dog as did anyone who met her, But in the end she was still a ROTTWEILER with Rottweiler size and Rottweiler attitude !!! This mean’t that when a Husky walks into a room and for no reason decides to try and take a hunk out of her ??? She is going to react …… this is where experience comes into play, as if you know your dog and you can read your dog, then in the end you can CONTROL your dog !!
So all I did was poked her hard, and told her to shut up !!! Tickling a Rottweiler is not going to stop a Rottweiler, so I poked her and she stopped instantly. But not before she has given her Chest Out Don’t Even Try It Look !!! Which the husky understood immediately and moved itself backwards towards its owner !! But this idiot dog then tries to start on this lil Black Labrador.
Fizz then turns protector and stands between the Labrador and the Husky ! The woman with the Husky just said Oh, She always does that I don’t know why she does it !! Well I could have told her that her dog needed a kick up its butt, but I didn’t ?? But it never ceases to amaze me how people will have these big breeds and then have absolutely no CONTROL over them at all.
Its the saying that there are no BAD DOGS just BAD OWNERS !! For that Husky the saying was very apt.
Luckily for the Labrador the Husky gets taken off somewhere else, and we then get called into to see the specialist. So up we get, and the feeling of will he won’t he be able to help run’s through my mind !! The Specialist then looks at this huge Rottweiler hopping towards him, looks at me and then looks back at Fizz !! The words that come out of his mouth were “ Is she Friendly ?? ” By the time he had the ” Is She ” out Fizz was on his lap giving him kisses !!!
He looks up at us and starts laughing and says ” I Guess She Is !! ”
We just said ” Yes she’s very Friendly ! “
He said ” Well lets see what’s the matter with this girl then ? “
He tells us he needs to see her walk, so we all go outside and he gets me to walk up and down the car park and he’s kneeling on the floor watching her legs move. He then says ok lets go back inside and I’ll examine her properly, so we followed him back inside. We then get told that he thought her Cruciate Ligament had snapped and apparently Rottweilers and very prone to it as they are so heavy !
He then examined her leg and as usual she showed no sign of pain, He then said that one of the main signs is loss of Muscle in the bad leg and tip toeing which mean’t that the dog doesn’t use the full foot when they walk they use the tip of the foot instead. Which she had be doing for a couple of weeks, I then asked about the fact that the hopping had started and then stopped for a while then it had come back again just worse than ever.
We get told that when the Ligaments are weakening then the leg hurts the animal, so the Hopping starts. Then when the Cruciate Ligament Snaps completely the Pain then leaves the dog so they stop hopping or tip toeing as the pressure of the weakened Ligament then goes. But then the Leg and Muscle lose structure so then the Limping comes back and then the pain is even more severe. This will then mean that the muscle wither’s away and the pain gets worse as the joint in the knee actually starts rubbing the bone against bone.
This is the stage he thought our Fizzly was in, but he must admit that normally dog’s showed more guarding or signs of pain when the joint is touched or moved !! I pointed out that Fizz was not a normal dog and if there was ever a dog, that could have its head removed and show nothing it would be this one !! He laughed and said Maybe but he wanted to X~ray her and we would make sure that it was the Cruciate Ligament and nothing else.
He then asked could I stay while Fizz had the Blood Work done and to put a line in so they could sedate her for the X~ray, and to be able to Manipulate the joint more harshly so she did not suffer too much. I said that Fizz would allow them to take Blood from and put a line in without me. They just said that all the other Rottweilers have always been aggressive so its just the way they did things, if I didn’t mind helping them. I of course said I would.
So we were taken into an examining room with a nurse and I sit on the floor with my Fizzly, who of course decided to roll onto her back again !! The nurse said that this was a first for the surgery as they had never taken blood from a Rottweiler while she was upside down !!! Fizz of course didn’t even blink an eye when the blood was taken, and she was then given the injection to sedate her.
I then pointed out that she was very heavy and shouldn’t we put her to the correct place before she completely passed out ? We then put her on the Table where the tests would be done and Dai and I left to get some very late lunch !!
I must admit that I wasn’t in the mood for food but it was a good way to waste time and Fizzly did love a Stuffed Crust Pizza. So off we went and collected lunch and then went straight back to the clinic, because I just wanted to know what was wrong with Fizz, and more importantly could he help her ??
We get back to the Clinic and we get inside and are greeted by Fizzly sitting in their office sharing the Nurses Lunch !! Sooooo much for all the savage Rottweilers they had ever seen !!! We walk in and Fizzles see’s us and leave’s the food for her mummy ( such a devoted baby !! )
The specialist tells us to bring the savage Rottie with us and he will try to sort something out for her !!
Back to the worried feeling and I sit in his office with Fizz lying next to me, he turns to us and says that Fizz have definitely snapped her tendons and her bones where rubbing against each other so she must have been in some pain. He says that he has more Rottweilers needing this surgery than any other breed. So the first thing he asked was did we mind that he used her Blood work for testing to find out answers and maybe get some idea as to why it happens.
Also If we wanted the surgery then a Bone Scrapping so that it could be frozen and used for trying to find a Scientific factor in helping or testing to find a cure for this problem. As it causes so many dogs to suffer a lot of pain and in the end some of them have to be put to sleep because of it. We of course said that whatever samples or blood work, that would be needed then please take them. As I would hate for this to continue happening and for other families to have to go through this, as well and other dogs to suffer like Fizz.
Now down to what could be done for my Fat Lump, he first wants us to confirm that Fizz is insured as whatever operation or treatment we chose would not be cheap ? We said that yes she was insured
( Getting your dog INSURED is one of the most important things I tell anyone I talk to when they are having one of my puppies or buying puppy. Get them insured its the only way, we would have been able to do anything with Fizz, as over the years I’m sure she would have cost us £25,000~00 to have all her issues dealt with ?? Which without the Insurance we would not have been able to keep up with her enormous Vet Bills. )
We had Fizz insured so we were in a lot better ability to get her treated by the best and have the best operation available at that time. He then went into the 3 Options that could apply to Fizz,
1 ) Do nothing and she would be crippled within a year ?
2 ) This was the normal way that people had done in previous years, which was to actually put cables inside the leg and basically, act like the snapped Cruciate Ligaments ~ But with her size he felt that the risk of them re~snapping and causing more damage would be high ?? Also it caused Arthritis as the Bone Joints would still continue to rub against each other and then in turn she would be in a lot of pain quite quickly !!
3 ) The final option was the most expensive of course !! but it was also the most major Surgery ?? It was also the most brutal and he felt the best option for our Fizz. This was when he brought out his white board and started drawing pictures. Basically it was the total removal of the Ball Head off the Joint of her knee would be cut off completely. Then he would put two Titanium Plates on either side of the bone and then screws would be screwed into the Bones to hold everything in place !!
The Specialist then said that he felt because of her weight and age being 15 months old, this way would be the safest and last for her entire life. Because the Top of the Ball would be cut off this would then mean that she would not have the pain of the bones rubbing together and causing severe pain and end up crippling her.
He also said that even though there had not been many of these surgeries done, they did not know about the possibilities of her getting Arthritis, but he felt that the chances were much less with this surgery than any other ?? But as with all things we don’t know ~ until we know ???
For me the choice was obvious and even though he said that the after care would be much harder work in looking after Fizz. I knew that I wanted my baby to have the best chance in a healthy and long life, especially at 15 months old when she could be crippled by 2.
So it was decided and the date was the Next Monday, so I had 4 days to get totally worked up. But also 4 days to spend with my Fizzles, before she would have such a serious and major operation. Where she would need me to be there for her, so she could heal up and be the bouncy girl, and pain free girl that she deserved to be ……….. because I knew she was special, but the Specialist would be totally shocked when he found out JUST How Special she would be ???
