My dog has a torn or strained ACL...

[unclebilly]

My 11 year old Husky / Rotty (maybe pitbull) cross appears to have torn or stretched her ACL. We will find out which tomorrow.

Surgery looks like $3500.

Anyone else been through this? What did you do? How much did it cost?

[unclebilly]

And here are the pictures I meant to upload...

[TechnoViking]

We paid a similar amount for our lab about 5 years ago. Rehab was another $500 or so on top of the surgery.

My ex now has the dog and he is doing fine. The surgery is expensive but it works.

[stomachmonkey]

Twice with my Mastiff.

Ask the ortho if the injury is from bad architecture. They can measure the angle at the knee and see if the dog is predisposed to it. If yes then it's likely, due to the symmetry that she will tear the other side.

$3,500 sounds like they are recommending TPLO.

Great procedure, works perfect. Leaves them a bit bow legged but whatever.

At 11 I'm going to guess no predisposition. Predisposed dogs will usually tear them much younger.

She's 11 though. Having gone thru it I'd have my reservations about her age.

At 11 she's pretty much at the top of expectancy range for a Rottie and pretty close for a Husky.

Don't get me wrong, not trying to be a downer, I have and will do anything for my animals. I've shelled out 3k on two of my cats in the last 6 months alone.

Search TPLO in OT, have been several threads on it already.

Best of luck. Fingers crossed for no surgery.

[andrew15]

While 11 may be an older age for a pure husky, rott, or pitbull - the possible combination of all 3 is almost the land equivilent of a shark. Given that sharks can live 30-40 years, I say get the surgery. Good luck!

AM

PS - If it was the cat, I'd say no way. Those things are free in the paper all the time and yours isn't nice - it makes me sneeze.

[Henry Schmidt]

Absolutely.
Some 8 years ago I had a 9 year old Chow that blew out her ACL. The vet gave me the same crap. Thousands of dollars and the tough part, restricted movement for my puppy in excess of 6 months.
I had a friend who owned a company that made carbon fiber knee braces for athletes.
We talked and he said he could make an articulated brace, (single hinge) the could be slipped over the leg to hold the joint together.
The brace looked like a pistol holster with a pivot in the middle.
It was held in place with a strap that went around her waist.
From the moment the brace was installed her was up and running around. For the next 8 months I would remove it so she could sleep comfortably and put it on her every morning.
She wore it without incident for about eight months until one day when she started chewing on it.
That day I took her to the vet and his report was that her leg had heeled.
I lost her to cancer a couple of years later but the leg brace was a blessing that allowed her mobility until her passing.
Good luck
Please forgive lack of artistic ability.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Henry Schmidt

Absolutely.
Some 8 years ago I had a 9 year old Chow that blew out her ACL. The vet gave me the same crap. Thousands of dollars and the tough part, restricted movement for my puppy in excess of 6 months.
I had a friend who owned a company that made carbon fiber knee braces for athletes.
We talked and he said he could make an articulated brace, (single hinge) the could be slipped over the leg to hold the joint together.
The brace looked like a pistol holster with a pivot in the middle.
It was held in place with a strap that went around her waist.
From the moment the brace was installed her was up and running around. For the next 8 months I would remove it so she could sleep comfortably and put it on her every morning.
She wore it without incident for about eight months until one day when she started chewing on it.
That day I took her to the vet and his report was that her leg had heeled.
I lost her to cancer a couple of years later but the leg brace was a blessing that allowed her mobility until her passing.
Good luck
Please forgive lack of artistic ability.

Now THAT is frikin awesome.

There's a market for that.

[Cornpanzer]

My JR Terrier had both of hers done at age 10 and 12. I dont recall it being that expensive, but it may be more for a larger breed. She did well and is good to go now.

Best wishes for your pup!

[Steve Viegas]

I have had two dogs that have had this done. Our first was older when it was done and the solution was rather crude, if ingenious. They performed the surgery and then put her in a cast that was about six inches longer then her leg. It prevented her from walking on it. I think that ran about $2500.00

Our next experience was with our younger more athletic dog. The doctor gave us two options, one at $2800 and the other at $4500. This was about 3 years ago. We went with the less expensive option (more invasive longer recovery time) and are happy with the results. Now at almost 10 she is still as active as ever. This solution did not include a cast with the idea that the pain would prevent her from walking on it. They were right.

[Ronbo]

We went through this with two of our Danes. Recovery takes a while, and you have to keep the dog from running around for a time, but the repair was complete.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Our Belgian blew out both her ACLs on a romp to the back of our property. Very sad! She has had both repaired surgically and is about 70% seven months on. I do not know that she will ever recover fully. All around us is up and down hills and we have steps just to get into the house. We pick her rear end up to go up stairs but she is adept at going down and wants the independance. She is an older dog and her choices were limited as her rear legs would no longer support her after tearing the ACLs. She is, literally, held together with screws and fishing line now.

I have seen other of these operations go swimmingly well and horribly wrong. Skill of the surgeon is key.

Henry,

Any idea if your buddy is making those braces for dogs? What I see on-line is out of my current reach economy being what it has been.

[kcf7z]

our 7 year old australian shepherd mix had this happen. We elected to do nothing as this was a time in our lives that we had no money. We rested her and prevented her from extreme activities for a few months. She is now 13 and has been doing very well. The only thing we ever see is slowness in getting up, but she does not let it slow her down.

[targa911S]

Good luck. Do a search here it has been discussed before with good info. Big Henry had it done at age two. He live to be 12 with no probs ever again.

[Rikao4]

+1 on there being a market for that brace...
price sounds about right as well..
good luck..

Rika

['89cab]

Our lab, Faith had the expensive surgery three years ago. She blew out her knee on the beach and we can't take her there anymore to run without a leash. Don't want to have to do the other knee.

Surgery very successful and I don't regret the cost.

[Henry Schmidt]

Originally Posted by Groesbeck Hurricane

...snip....

Henry,

Any idea if your buddy is making those braces for dogs? What I see on-line is out of my current reach economy being what it has been.

The process was somewhat involved so I'm sure he has not pursued a retail market.
It worked well but each brace would need to be manufactured specifically for the animal involved.
The process consisted of shaving the leg, making a cast then cutting the cast in two.
Then filling the cast with plaster to replicate the leg.
The carbon prepreg was formed in a oven between the two molds. It was a true work of art.
When we first made the brace it was thought that she would wear it indefinitely. It worked immediately so it was a success from day one. The fact that her leg heeled without surgery was just a bonus.
If faced with the same options I would seek the natural recovery method if possible.
Each injury is of course specific to the animal involved.

[FastCarFan]

Sorry to hear about your dog. We went through that with our 12-year-old Lab several years ago (search & you will find a lot of good advice from the Pelican community). Our 1st recommendation was the newer, more expensive surgery. We went to a different vet for a second opinion & he advised the older "fish line" method instead (I forget the real name for it). He said it would be easier for our older dog to recover from, & since she wasn't young, she wouldn't need to run as much. He thought it was the best option, given her age. He thought the later (better) methodology would be much harder on Shelby. And the older technique was far less expensive.

It took her awhile to recover, but she did fully recover & lived another 1 & 1/2 years with no restrictions. Well, we were told not to make her run anymore (e.g., no more throwing a ball for her), but no one told her -- she continued to run after deer, cats & whenever she wanted to.

Still miss her a lot...& glad we got the time with her after her surgery. Good luck.

[Chocaholic]

A lot depends on the size of the dog. For a dog under 35 lbs, they tend to do better without surgery. Above 90 lbs, surgery is usually needed (TPLO primarily). If your dog is somewhere in the middle, you have to make a judgement call. Scar tissue will naturally grow in the affected area and reinforce the knee. Scar tissue is tough stuff.

We have an 18 month old 70 lb lab/boxer/chow mix who tore ACL's on both sides. We were quoted $5k to $8k to repair both legs. We did nothing immediately. Clearly we would want a young dog to be active. Our vet (an old timer) suggested no pain medication as a means of controlling his activity. Over the course of 12 weeks, he has gradually recovered and now goes for 1 -2 mile walks and plays just like the old days. Leaps up and down from the bed and you would never know he was nearly lame 3 months ago.

Perhaps he'll have arthritis in coming years, but that's a risk with surgery too. Right now, I can say that I'm glad we did not do surgery. With your pup being 11 years old, you may want to consider restricting his activity (he will do that naturally because it hurts to run around) and monitor the results. Note that it will take time and perhaps your results will be different, but at least as of now, our story has a happy ending. Hope this helps.

[widgeon13]

Is surgery absolutely necessary? Our 9 YO golden had some probleMs with ACL, walking on three legs most of the time and fortunately she has recovered. my wife had all the discussion with the vet so not sure what was discussed but surgery was an option and the vet said "let's wait and see". We have her on glucosamine tablets (glyco-flex III) and control her exercise. She does a lot of swimming and we try to keep her from playing too rough with her dog friends as well as no chasing stuff in the woods.

She's doing fine but every once in awhile she still limps but doesn't seem to be in any discomfort.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Henry,

Thank you for the information! I can easilyunderstand his point of view. Now to try and make one ourselves.