Hello everyone, it’s Ryan.  We just wanted to make a small update about Eddie.  We were able to meet with a surgeon this past week to discuss options for Eddie and fortunately it was the surgeon that originally diagnosed Eddie at about 3 wks old.  We learned that Eddies official diagnosis is Tibial Agenesis, which is (probably) a genetic abnormality that did not allow his tibia to form.  As you can see below, I have posted copies of the X-rays that the surgeon provided us after our meeting.  Keep in mind that Eddie was only around 3 weeks old when these were taken, so there is still a lot of cartilage in the joints, which he has aged out of.  In the first picture, the leg that is pulled rearward is Eddies good leg, showing the tibia and fibula in the lower portion of his leg.  Looking at the other leg, you can see that the larger of the two bones is missing, and there is no evidence that it even began to form.  The second X-Ray is another view, showing Eddies good leg on the right and bad leg on the left.

He was also diagnosed as Cryptorchid, which isn’t really an issue because we planned on desexing anyways.  We spent roughly 90 minutes with the surgeon evaluating, discussing, and video-ing (because she’s never seen this before either).  Basically, it’s been confirmed that most appropriate option is a proximal femoral amputation, leaving approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of the femur post-amputation.  We discussed prosthetics, both traditional and implanted and because of cost, this is definitely not an option.  We also discussed simply leaving Eddie’s leg in place but she recommended having the leg removed between 4 and 6 months old because it makes the procedure much easier, due to the fact that he and all involved vessels, muscles, etc are simply smaller.  We also discussed appropriate timing for desexing and gastropexy, but that’s going to be after amputation.  Anyways, the prognosis is good, as we expected, and now we have more of a game plan for the next couple months.  Unfortunately, we don’t expect to use the surgeon we met with because she works at a specialty clinic and the estimate we received was quite a bit more than we expected.  The surgeon did recommend that we meet with an experienced “general practice” veterinarian because a proximal amputation is a “simple” surgical procedure that can be done by an experienced vet in the office.  We’re currently exploring a few options as our neighbor is a vet-tech at a local office that has done amputations before, and another neighbor recommended the vet who has treated all 3 of her Danes, as well as Boo and the General, the Bulldog mascots at our local military college.  Hopefully we’ll be able to find the best fit for Eddie and we’ll be able to get this definitively treated soon.  Other than that, everything else has been progressing nicely.   Eddie weighed in at a solid 20 lbs on Friday, still smaller than the rest of the litter but that’s great according to the surgeon.  He can also climb full size stairs now, although we’ve only attempted a set of 3 thus far.  Eddie has also been testing us, as all puppies do, having recently decided that clean laundry is the best place for a nap

Thanks for keeping up with our story and don’t forget to check back for more updates.