Hi, my 9 year old Border Collie mix ruptured her ACL this afternoon running
after a squirrel. Brought her in to the vet right away, sat in the waiting room
for three hours while the dog tried to stand and walk around, when the vet
finally got to her he said that she'd require an orthopedic surgeon, and then
proceeded to tell us that the nearest one was downtown and once our dog was
evaluated they might not do surgery because she's overweight.

The weight has been an issue for years, she's currently 56lbs., and only today
does the vet come up with a reducing diet. I asked what took so long, the
assistant offered "whoops" as a reason.

He also just now mentioned that she has "masses" in her inner thigh and around
her front leg. We'd been treating them like pulled muscles, which I think he
also said she has. The vet doesn't believe in repeating himself.

This vet is only good for shots and nail clipping, I've already lost two friends
to him, one only three weeks ago and now I'd like to change vets, finding a new
one in the area won't be easy however (we live in Bronx, NY and there are two
vets nearby, this one and one that has no parking.)

He sent us home with a bag of ten Rimadyl tablets and the peanut shell reducing
diet, telling us to come back in two weeks. Our dog won't eat the food so we've
given her a lesser amount of what she normally eats, Nutro's dry food and plain
ground chicken. She ate and went out and urinated, but now we're wondering how
she will be able to "assume the position" to poop.

I've also got the 80 year old that 'owns' the dog insisting that she stay
upstairs with her. I have no way of making her see that the stairs are
impossible right now and the dog was carried up as I was writing this.

Help.

C.T.