my poor baby

we got river when she was about three months old. that was november, 2001. a little over five years ago. she began getting arthritic last march. we started giving her a glucosamine/chondroitin supplement, and the limping stopped.
about a month ago, i took river and her older sister janka to the dog park. we were the only ones there, and they didn't run around much. we left after about 20 minutes. that evening, the limp was back with a vengeance. river wouldn't move, and snapped at us when we tried to touch her. for river, this is not only abnormal, it has never happened before. this is the dog who would lick a burglar to death.
the next morning, she was fine. no limping, no pain. we didn't know what had happened, but we thought it had passed.
two weeks later, we were out for a walk when she began the slight 'swagger' that usually means she's had about enough. then carlos looked at me and asked, "what's that noise?"
it was a clicking noise, like snapping fingers.
"i think it's river" he said.
i stopped walking, janka stopped walking. carlos and river went a few steps further, listening.
the clicking came from her left rear leg.
over the next few days, the clicking continued. it sounded like when you crack your knuckles. i took both dogs to petco to update their yearly vaccinations that saturday, and river went to the vet on monday.
after x-rays, the vet said she had torn her cranial cruciate ligament, an injury pretty similar to a person who tears their ACL in a sports injury. she gave us the number of a surgeon.
the surgeon recommended TPLO surgery. Click below to find out more about the surgery.
http://vetsurgerycentral.com/tplo.htm

we have an appointment on friday. keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

more info:
http://www.lauriebryce.com/tplo/index.html
http://petsurgeonla.com/ntplo.html
http://www.knowlesanimalclinics.com/miami/tplo_info.htm