Leeloo' Legs

A couple months ago Leeloo came in from outdoors and was limping. She would put almost no weight on her right rear leg. I gave it a couple of days but things didn’t improve so I took her in to have the leg looked at. The vet took X-rays and determined that her hips were fine so she suspected a torn ACL (technically the cranial cruciate ligament).

My bank account was still recovering from having my other dog Katie’s eye removed so I decided to hold off on any surgery for Leeloo. Then a couple weeks later I noticed she also wasn’t putting weight on her left rear leg. She could barely get up to go outside.

Back to the doctor we went and she was officially diagnosed with a torn cranial cruciate ligament in both legs. I read everything I could find about knee treatment for dogs, including non-surgical remedies, and decided on the standard replacement technique using a nylon substitute. Cost for the procedure: $1700 per leg.

Leeloo underwent surgery 2 days ago. It went well and she’s home recovering. She’s uncomfortable and a little confused. I have to support her back end with a sling whenever she needs to move. The recovery process is going to be challenging will take a full 6 months, but she should regain full use of both legs.

In case you were wondering, yes, Leeloo was named after Milla Jovovich’s badass character in The Fifth Element.