In terms of temperament, Kryten is exactly what I want. In terms of health problems while there are some that in my mind are worse off than he is, his joint problems are serious. He was diagnosed with bilateral elbow dysplasia when he was 15 months old. He had surgery to repair his left elbow this summer and it is a very real possibility that he will need his right leg repaired in the future. Thankfully I got pet insurance on him when he was 12 weeks. Even so I probably paid over $2000 (it would have been $7000-$8000 without) and the second leg will cost around the same amount.
The money isn't the real problem though. Kryten has lived most of his life in pain and it has taken a large chunk of his life so far in order to even partially correct it. His surgery was on June 3, 2013 and I can only now allow him to be the puppy that he still is. He spent several months where he couldn't even go outside of the yard because of his surgery and recovery restrictions. I also KNOW that he will have arthritis and it could be very severe.
His breeder did have the hips done by the vet but I believe that was the only testing that was done. She had the history of several generations of the male line and there was no history of joint problems. But as I've come to learn the only way to diagnose ED is by X-ray and it is far more frequent than people want to believe.
Due to the emotional turmoil of deciding how to best help Kryten I have decided that the next puppy I get will come from parents that have had testing done, just to minimize the chance of having to watch another dog go through this.
... I'll happily comment to you privately.
