Pet of the Month

Hannah injured her left knee in July of 05. She and her brother, Hud , love to take off running across the yard to bark at our neighbor’s dog’s. We took her our vet and she sent us to an Orthopedic vet. We scheduled her surgery as soon as possible. Her surgery went fine. Then we had 16 weeks of healing ahead of us. That was not easy. On her or us! She could put no weight on her back legs at all. Which meant we had to hold her up and she was not a small dog.

This past year she took off across the yard and hurt the other knee. We took her to our vet and she gave us the same diagnosis. She wanted to know if we wanted to schedule to see the Ortho. vet again. This time we had to factor in her age and the healing process. Which is hard on the dog and the owners. My husband was able to hold her up without a problem,but I really had struggle to get her up and down our steps. He came home from our vet’s and we were very upset to say the least. We did not feel like we should put her through another surgery, but what other choice did we have. So I  decided we would look for an alternative to the surgery. We could not be the only pet owners out there with this problem. I logged on our computer and came up with some websites that offered help. But not until I got onto OrthoPets did I become excited. I read all the information and had my husband read it as well.  Bob talked to our Vet and she had never heard of the company but did not discourage us from going this route. We received the kit for the mold for Hannah’s leg. We took her along with the kit to our vet and they did the cast. We shipped off the mold and we received the Stife brace in March. It was a little long and we sent it back with new measurements. There was not a problem with us sending it back and everyone at Orthopets answered all our questions anytime we called and have been wonderful. We got her new brace and we put it on. We also got detailed instructions on how she would act and how to use the device. That was very helpful.

We feel the brace has given Hannah a better quality of life. She and Hud will be ten in March. She is able to get up and down the stairs in our home with little or no problem. She even tries to play with her brother and we have to hang on to her when we take her into the side yard as she will still take off flying across the yard.

I feel Orthopets gave us more time with our precious Hannah Savannah Scarlett. I know she will never be without pain in her knee but with her brace it is minimized. We cannot thank Orthopets enough. We would do it again without a minutes thought.

Thanking you again,

Dianne and Bob