Yay!

Abe's so much better -- he is calmer, he's not limping and stiff, he's back to trying to bite Mojo's jowls off, as in the photo above.

After four surgeries, Abe has a much better and healthier knee.

Unfortunately for Abe he has a funky weird knee anatomy -- the vet had to finally overcorrect the tendon or ligament (I am not sure what it was. When the doctor started explaining all the bone cutting and moving and pinning and scraping and gouging and scooping stuff, I kinda stopped listening, because, ugh.)...the vet finally had to overcorrect the tendon or ligament, actually make it a zigzaggy shape to get the kneecap to stay in place. In normal dogs, it's straight. The vet had never had to do this surgery even twice before, much less four times. He was really annoyed. It was kinda cute how pissed he was at Abe's uncooperative knee. Plus he only charged me for the first surgery -- the rest I only had to pay for the supplies used and the prescriptions.

Oh, yeah, that was the problem -- pit bulls are prone to congential knee deformities. And since Tucson has more fighting pit bull breeders than anywhere else in the US, lots of the mutts in Tucson are part pit. And since both our dogs are Tucson rescues, they both are part pit.

(And please don't bother to tell me pits are dangerous. Bad pit bull owners have dangerous dogs. The breed itself is not inherently bad or dangerous. Pits are actually very very friendly to humans. Mojo, who is part pit and part mastiff, adores people. Really really adores people. Embarrassing really how much he slobbers over people. Any people, too. He is not discriminating when it comes to people. Two legs = wonderful, is Moj's philosophy.)

Whoops -- just caught a story on the news...apparently they can be dangerous to truck engines. A Vacaville, CA, man found a pit bull stuck in his truck engine. While he was waiting for help to arrive, the dog was chewing through wiring and eventually chewed himself free, doing a thousand dollars worth of damage. I wonder if insurance covers that -- or is that an act of God? A God with a kinda mean sense of humor, maybe...

So Abe is very much better, his thigh muscle, which had visibly atrophied during his trials and tribulations, is back to normal. He is off all meds except for the glucosamine and chondrotin he will be on forever to help with the inevitable arthritis that accompanies this kind of joint damage.

We are very happy to have our cheerful if rather annoying at times Abe back.