Simba’s got a bad knee

Did you know in dogs the knee joint called the stifle?
Yesterday we noticed Simba was favouring his back right leg a little more than usual and not putting much weight on it. It was something we noticed a few times at the park a few weeks back, but he never did it consistently enough to make us think it was much of a problem. Yesterday he was doing it a lot more, so it was off to the vet to check it out. Fortunately they weren’t too busy so it didn’t take too long.
The vet clinic isn’t one of Simba’s favourite places (oddly enough Nala loves going to the vet) so he was pretty mellow. The vet moved his leg around, poked, prodded and pulled and had some x-rays taken. He said all the joints seemed pretty stable, but he did feel a little bit of clicking when the stifle/knee was manipulated. He thinks Simba may possibly have partially torn or injured his ACL and that the clicking in the knee might be a result of some collateral damage to the cartilage.
So now Simba’s restricted to just going out on the leash (no more dog park for a little while) and some Rimadyl to help with any inflammation on days he seems to be limping more. The vet also recommended adding some glucosamine supplements to his diet to help with the joint problem.
Hopefully he heals up well, but it’s going to take a while. We’ll keep a close eye on him for the next month or so and then follow up with the vet if we don’t see much improvement.