pebbles is nearly 7 she was born with Arthritis in the back legs and hips and has been on metacam all her life, she doesn't run, play, but she gets excited when people come, a few months ago she crouched to jump and screamed as she tore ligaments and tendons in her left leg, we put her on crate rest and got a vet appointment immediately. She was sedated and they found the issues, we were advised at the time by one vet that it was a case of operation or put to sleep, the operation only had a 50/50 chance of working and she would have to be crated for 12 weeks only coming out for food and toilet, we could not lose her after we had lost beano her best friend to cancer only a few months s we did a lot digging and found some information. armed with the information we went back to get a 2nd opinion. The vet we saw agreed with us that an operation in her size of dog would not be in her best interests due to the arthritis she also has and that full crate rest, yes 12 weeks but this time without the added pain of an operation and to give her tramadol, so now she's on tramadol and metacam. He also advised hydrotherapy and a dog wheelchair for the hind legs to take the weight off her hips and to keep the muscle tone in the legs, it would also alleviate her pain and hope that the leg scars up inside so that it heals well enough for her to use it.... she will never walk properly again and will be on pain relief for the rest of her life but for now with the crate , the hydrotherapy that she is now having we can give her family and love.... we would like to get her out of the house though and can't do that without a wheelchair which for a dog her size and fitted properly costs a lot, also she needs another round of hydrotherapy. Yes she is fully insured however her hips and back legs are not as pre existing issues were found in them as a puppy on her medical check when I booked her in the day i brought her home as playmate to my rescue dog beano.