Our attention was less on Jasmine and more on Sam today. He has been limping all week and last night it got so bad that he was falling down, walking on three legs, and wouldn't climb the stairs at bedtime. We spent the week holding him and carrying him and dreading the worst possible scenario, that we might have to put him to sleep if the injury was severe enough. We thought broken hip, cancer, lyme disease... We were sure it was serious as we watched our dog fall to the floor because he couldn't use his back leg. We talked about what we would do if it meant treatment would make him suffer, that we would opt to put him down depending on his quality of life. We've been a wreck about it for days.
We made an emergency vet appointment for tonight and took Sam in with fingers crossed that it would be something simple like a sore toenail or paw.
The vet diagnosed him with a partial torn ligament, which although serious is nothing life threatening and nothing that he will need surgery to fix. He is now on medicine and strict rest. But he will be just fine. The vet loved Sam and said at 82.5lbs he's at a healthy weight and should heal up just fine. We are so thankful.