Dog tore her ACL

[stealthn]

Our dog torn her ACL while on a walk yesterday. She had a bit of a limp from a swollen ankle on the other foot and going up hill she must have twisted it.
Spend two hours at the animal hospital and they gave us the options, not like human ACL tears.... I'm worried the other ankle my have cancer hopefully the xray will tell them.

Issue (other than her being lame) is she's heavy 85 lbs so I have to carry down our deck so she can go to the bathroom. The other news the vet had was around 50% of dogs will tear their other ACL within a year of the operation.

Sad to see our animal friends hurt...



Bob

[fxeditor]

Sorry to hear that. My Samoyed/Golden Retriever mix had that happen about 6 years ago. We opted to go for the TPLO surgery for him. Tibial-plateau-leveling osteotomy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . Recovery time was about 12 weeks and in the beginning he was in quite a bit of pain but I'm happy to report that he's been 110% ever since then! If your dog is on the younger side I'd recommend having it done. It costs more but is a permanent solution, particularly if you do id active.

Oh yeah, Be prepared for it to happen to the other knee within a year. Ask me how I know !

Good luck,
Michael

[billybek]

Bummer... Hope it isn't too serious other than the hit to your wallet.

What kind of pooch?

[stomachmonkey]

TPLO on both knees for my Mastiff. Works great. Leaves em a bit bowlegged but it's better than the alternative.

And yes, if they tear one they will almost likely tear the other. Mine did the second knee almost exactly a year to the day.

It has a lot to do with the angle of the joint. They can measure it and tell you if the dog is at risk.

Best of luck to your beast friend.

Hope the ankle comes up clean.

[Chocaholic]

At 85lbs it will be hard to avoid surgery. Our Lab/Boxer mix tore his a few years ago. At the time he was about 65 lbs. Doc said if we can get his weight down (his words: Ethiopian thin), restict his actvity for several weeks, that scar tissue can fill in and support the joint. Doesn't always work, but more likely with less weight. In our case it worked. We're maintaining his weight around 55 lbs and it's been 2+ years without surgery and he's doing great. Hopefully will continue to hold out. Two glucosamine/chondroitins every day as well.

Good luck with your girl.

[Baz]

Hey Bob...what is her name?

TPLO is usually the best option for large breeds.

Hopefully you have a good orthopedic doctor in the area who will take xrays and perform the drawer test and then provide proper diagnosis and options.

What options did they tell you?

In dogs technically it's called a CCL - not ACL.

Had CCL tears on both back legs of Billabong but fortunately she was a good candidate for the Arthex Tightrope procedure. Then later she had surgery for a Luaxted Patilla. She's fully recovered now and I would do it all over again if need be. My girls mean the world to me.

Don't be afraid to call around to find a surgeon you feel comfortable with. After all - your dog cannot do this and you are her advocate.

Give her a belly rub from us.

[Rusty Heap]

My friend has an $8000 dog through hips/surgeries.

it's a tough call, but it comes down to quality of life.


I put one of my Llamas down for a clogged wee-wee, he couldn't pee. Serious, he couldn't pee.

$3000-4000 surgery on him with no guarantee of them unclogging the blockage?


or $85 house call with sleepy shot from the vet and I dug a nice sunny spot in front of our lower acreage pond with a track-hoe for him, Zepher the Red Wooled One. Great packer llama for sure.


Either way no easy call.

[enzo1]

[stealthn]

Thanks guys, her name is Cheyenne and she's a Weimaraner, she will be 11 in sept.

Good to hear TPLO works, but kinda strange it would kill the other knee...sounds like the human ops are better as I had the human version of the tightrope on my knee.

What does the TPLO cost, I've heard about $2500


Bob

[Baz]

Originally Posted by stealthn

Thanks guys, her name is Cheyenne and she's a Weimaraner, she will be 11 in sept.

Good to hear TPLO works, but kinda strange it would kill the other knee...sounds like the human ops are better as I had the human version of the tightrope on my knee.

What does the TPLO cost, I've heard about $2500


Bob

Hey Bob....the animal hospital you visited didn't go over any of this with you when they discussed options?

What did they tell you wrt options for Cheyenne?

The trick to not letting the other leg tear the CCL is RESTRICTING the dog's horseplay - running fast and turning hard. Every situation is different but the other knee just doesn't go....it goes when the dogs does what it did to injure the originally injured knee. Over-doing it. Don't ask me how I know..

[stealthn]

Baz,

Yes they went over the three procedures to fix a torn CCL, and recommended the TPLO, it was just an intern looking at her so we asked if a radiologist can review her x-rays as well. Especially her other ankle. The report and information will be sent to the vet we use and we'll review options with her once we know about her other ankle.

Cost was not discussed yet.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by stealthn

Thanks guys, her name is Cheyenne and she's a Weimaraner, she will be 11 in sept.

Good to hear TPLO works, but kinda strange it would kill the other knee...sounds like the human ops are better as I had the human version of the tightrope on my knee.

What does the TPLO cost, I've heard about $2500


Bob

TPLO does not kill the other knee.

Some dogs are simply more predisposed than others.

There is a direct correlation between Tibial Plateau angle and CCL injuries.

The higher the angle the higher the risk.

$2,500 is about what we were charged per knee but after the first one we took out pet insurance so the second was 80% covered.

May want to think about that.

EDIT: Just saw she'll be 11 this year. TPLO on an 11 year old dog, I don't know about that. It's major surgery with a reasonable but still somewhat long recovery. I'd be pushing hard for another option.

Best of luck with her. I hope it works out.

[Andy911sc]

I have an 80 pound Rottie that tore her ACL years ago at the cabin. Had the surgery and she still doesn't use the leg much due to muscle deterioration from non-use (at least the pain is gone for her though). Her other leg is strong and healthy and she hasn't torn the ACL on that one. We call her tri-pod because she only uses three of her legs. You can't really get a stubborn dog to realize it's alright to use that other leg to bring it back around with muscle growth. She is super happy and runs/plays all the time. It has been a good 10 years since the surgery.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by stealthn

Baz,

Yes they went over the three procedures to fix a torn CCL, and recommended the TPLO, it was just an intern looking at her so we asked if a radiologist can review her x-rays as well. Especially her other ankle. The report and information will be sent to the vet we use and we'll review options with her once we know about her other ankle.

Cost was not discussed yet.

Hi Bob,

S. Monkey gave you some good info. in his reply. I can only add that when this happened to my girl, I went online and spent a LOT of time researching this injury and surgical options trying to get up to speed on the whole deal. I learned a LOT just by reading different articles and conversations by other dogs owners online. But a big part of this is also a detailed discussion with your orthopedic vet.

A huge component of how well your girl recovers from knee surgery comes from post-op rehabilitation. It is crucial that she is managed such that the surgical repairs have the proper criteria to mend properly. Most of this involves restricting her activity so there is no stress on the knee joint.

I would like to see you post more info after further conversation with your vet about their recommendations. There's a lot of us here who have gone down this road and could be of some help.

Thanks, Baz

[Ronbo]

We had the same issue with one of our first Great Danes. He had the TPLO surgery and was good as new after the recovery.

[JAR0023]

We hunt with Labs. Have lots of friends that hunt with Labs. These are hard playing and even harder working dogs so injuries come with the territory. My dad has had TPLO done on his last two dogs. Both were done when the dogs were relatively young so they were in their prime for rehab. First dog made it to 15 and died of natural causes. He was still jumping into the back of a pick up weeks before he passed. Second dog has a couple years on the TPLO and is still going strong and showing no favoritism for the repaired leg.

Some years ago we had a nine year old Lab tear her CCL. Money was tight and she was a retired house dog. The Vet suggested Extra Capsular repair which we did. Maggie ended up with a little hitch in her walk but she was still kicking around quite well all the way to sixteen.

Whatever you decide keep the dog as lean as possible. The extra weight just puts that much more pressure on the joint. Way too many fat dogs out there. When Maggie tore her CCL our Vet referred us to another Doc in town that had performed a ton of surgeries. When he first heard 9 years old and 85 lbs he didn't want to do it. When he saw she was still a tall skinny 85lbs he said sure no problem. -J

[fxeditor]

Originally Posted by stealthn

Thanks guys, her name is Cheyenne and she's a Weimaraner, she will be 11 in sept.

Good to hear TPLO works, but kinda strange it would kill the other knee...sounds like the human ops are better as I had the human version of the tightrope on my knee.

What does the TPLO cost, I've heard about $2500


Bob

Wow, $2500 is good! The TPLO operations that Kuma went through cost about 4 grand each! The money is irrelevant though because he's a member of the family and he needed to have it done.

I don't think it's the TPLO that causes the other CCL to become more likely to give out. It's more just an instance of if one goes the other will probably follow.

Good luck and I hope Cheyenne feels better soon,

Michael

[Baz]

Every dog is different regarding post-op recovery.

My little girl, who went through 3 different knee surgeries in a 2 year period, took a little while to gain her confidence back in using her legs like she used to. You should see the change now a few months later....she scampers around again and won't hesitate to stand up on her two back legs now. It is soooo gratifying to see her back to her old self. Every dog has a different recovery schedule and path. You just have to respect that and give them time.

I wouldn't hesitate to sell any or all of my Porsches if I needed to in order to help one of my girls. Fortunately I work my butt off and have been able to keep the cars and pay for the surgeries.

There's nothing like a dog.

Nothing.

[Baz]

Been almost 7 months now since her last surgery (Luxated Patilla).

On our way home the day after surgery:



She's almost like new now!