[binthe920]

My dog started favoring his right rear leg back in the middle of November. It came and went and seemed to get better. I took him out in the woods for a walk in the beginning of January and it came back, he didn't seem to be in pain, but he is a Bully mix so they can take a lot before showing. Anyway it didn't get better all month and actually seemed to get worse so I took him to the vet. The vet agreed with my suspicion of a torn acl but couldn't be sure without x-rays. Because of his weight the normal nylon string surgery wouldn't be a good option and I simply cannot afford the ~$3000 surgery so opted not to pay the $300 for xrays after reading about a lab with a ruptured right acl and torn left acl that recovered without surgery. Why pay $300 to find out he needs surgery I can't afford anyway. So we tried aspirin along with joint care supplements and some home rehab. Fast forward to last Thursday, my girlfriend calls and says he's doing really bad, won't move just sits and cries and screams in pain if trying to move. I get home and sure enough he is in severe pain, laying on his bad side, I can't even get him to roll over further to inspect his bad leg. I have some strong pain relievers from when I had surgery a while back and give him enough to move around some. Right up until Sunday he eats only what I hand feed him to give his medications, doesn't drink anything, and doesn't use the bathroom at all. Sunday morning he gets up goes outside and does his business, pees for a good 2-3 minutes and defecates about 4 times. Comes inside and eats an entire bowl of food. He's walking around like nothing was ever wrong, doesn't seem to be favoring the leg at all. I had decided over the weekend to get the x-rays and do whatever it takes to help him including giving him up or having him put down. Now I don't know what to do aside from count my blessings??? Any idea what could have been wrong? The vet did say he had some swelling and bone growth/arthritis. He's not even 5 yet, I'm just wondering if it could be something else that's better now or what? I'm so happy he's doing better, but he want to go for a walk soo bad and I'm scared it may come back. Do I wait and see, take him for a short walk and work up slowly, or take him to the vet for X-rays? I know it should probably be the x-rays, I just can't really afford it and all it can really tell me is bad news...