>My Daisy injured her left front leg a couple of days ago.
 
Almost the same thing happened to my Mia acouple of years ago.  She has a
defect in both of her back legs which causes her to hyperextend her 'knees'.
Anyways, she injured one of them and the joint swelled up so that she
couldn't bend it.  It must have happened in the evening, because by morning
the joint was completely solidified.  My vets also gave me the choice of
amputation or rebuilding it, and I decided to get it rebuilt.
 
The first surgery was going to create a new knee joint, it was called a
full-flow technique or something.  She recovered quickly, and it seemed to
work great for 3 months or so.  Then she hurt it again, and they decided to
pin it in place.  The worst part was that I had to keep her isolated for a
long time (like 6 weeks) so that it would heel properly.  It was horrible to
watch her all by herself, while her sisters danced around on the floor.
 
Anyways, the leg seems to be doing fine now, with the knee joint pinned in
place.  She has a limp, but she runs and jump like the rest of them.  If I
had to do it again, though, I'm not sure that I would put her through it.
 
As for Daisy, I guess it depends how major the surgery would be to replace
the elbow.  When my vet did the first surgery, I asked the FML if anyone had
been through this, and someone suggested I talk to Dr. Weiss, who is also on
the FML.  I called him, and he was very helpful, so you could try to contact
him.
 
Good luck,
jimbo, with Mia, Pace and Early
[Posted in FML issue 1993]