Cruciate Ligament

Hi,

My 2 year old pudelpointer (Sage) has injured her back right knee. I've had her to the vet and he confirmed that she has injured her cruciate ligament, but not torn it completely. On the vets orders, we have completely limited her activity to pee breaks on a leash and house rest for the last month. Up until last weekend she has been on an anti-inflammatory medication... since the medication has ended I've noticed her favoring her right leg again. From what I've read on-line, this isn't going to go away easily. We go back to the vet next week, but I was wondering if anyone has had experience with this.

Sage and I are both pretty bummed... There's just way too much life and hunts ahead of us!

Any thoughts, suggestions, or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

From the cases I have been around it always ended up being surgery Follow the rehab to the letter. And if surgery is the only option prepare to do the other leg down the road.

My Brittany tore his left side at 5 yrs of age. Did the TPLO procedure. Very expensive and invasive. The vet warned me that over 50% of dogs who have the procedure end up wrecking the other knee. 5 months into rehab My wife turned her back on him for a second and he leaped off the deck to catch a squirrel and wrecked his other side. The vet was bang on. It's only a partial tear and unless he pushes too hard he has a normal life but being a Britt with crazy prey drive i had to retire him from hunting. He can't turn it off. He's on supplements with Condrotin, MSM and glucosamine and like I say he is fine as a pet but is retired.

With a partial tear along with the crate rest and leash walking, with the advice from your vet I would try to find a vet who specializes in rehab. They can design an exercise program to help strengthen the surrounding muscle so that you can hopefully avoid a complete tear and surgery.

We had two Burnese Mountain dogs that had 3 TPLO surgeries between them. As said, lots of rehab, over 6 -8 weeks of minimal movement. Thankfully I was retired and could mange them. Thank God we opted for Pet Insurance when they were pups, so we had the costs covered. About $3,500 each and lots of additional cost for drugs etc.

We now have Great Pyrenees that got a slight tear a few years back when he was about 1 yr old that resulted in a slight limb. The vet recommended we hold off on the surgery for it because it was small and he hoped it would heal over. AND it did. We 'babied' him till he stopped favouring the leg and he eventually got back to normal. He's free range here on the farm and a avid runner, so the leg muscles obviously developed enough as he grew to protect the joint and tendons as he shows no sign of there ever being a problem.

Good Luck, lots of decisions will have to be made.

Yes one of my setters had TPLO surgery. Great ,experienced vet in London. I did the rehab. The dog was in good shape in a couple weeks. Had to have the second leg done 3 years later. No problems . Dog is now almost 13 and still runs like the wind.

edit ps: I'm talking about a dog who is in great shape/condition before the surgery.

My Brittany had surgery on Jan 31/18 and is still recovering..............not sure if it's harder on him or my wife & I!

Dog will likely require surgery, but try rest and rehab first.
Start saving your money now, you will need it.
My Vizsla had one knee done, he is fine.
Once he has surgery, do the rehab and don’t hunt for 1 full year.

Thanks for the feedback!

The first few responses had me pretty upset, but I'm relieved to hear that some are having positive results with the surgery.

We are working through rest and rehab, but I would imagine we will eventually be heading down the surgery road.
I'm not sure if my vet does surgeries like this, if so, do I let him do it? Or should I look for a specialist? (Sharon can I send you a PM?)

What kind of cost should I be budgeting for? I've seen numbers on-line from $2,000 to $6,000.

Again, thanks for your help!

Most vets will refer you to a specialist. Please don't misinterpret my first post. A TPLO surgery will work great. They do great work. I paid $4700 for the surgery and that included the post op meds. It also included physiotherapy which was great as the first ones were done in the aquatanks where they take the weight off for first sessions. With X-rays and couple vet visits and diagnosis it was @$6k. Considering what the procedure entails I actually don't think it's overpriced. If a human were to have the same procedure I'm sure the bill would 10x that.

Save 4k to 6k
This is a surgery for a specialist, we went to London.
Sharon recommended a great surgeon.

Murphy Surgical Services in south Guelph specialists in TPLO surgeries.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jburl

Thanks for the feedback!

The first few responses had me pretty upset, but I'm relieved to hear that some are having positive results with the surgery.

We are working through rest and rehab, but I would imagine we will eventually be heading down the surgery road.
I'm not sure if my vet does surgeries like this, if so, do I let him do it? Or should I look for a specialist? (Sharon can I send you a PM?)

What kind of cost should I be budgeting for? I've seen numbers on-line from $2,000 to $6,000.

Again, thanks for your help!

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Absolutely.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by terrym

My Brittany tore his left side at 5 yrs of age. Did the TPLO procedure. Very expensive and invasive. The vet warned me that over 50% of dogs who have the procedure end up wrecking the other knee. 5 months into rehab My wife turned her back on him for a second and he leaped off the deck to catch a squirrel and wrecked his other side. The vet was bang on. It's only a partial tear and unless he pushes too hard he has a normal life but being a Britt with crazy prey drive i had to retire him from hunting. He can't turn it off. He's on supplements with Condrotin, MSM and glucosamine and like I say he is fine as a pet but is retired.

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Terry, flip side in every way with one of the dogs in one of my retriever training groups. As krakadawn knows, the major domo of this group is a vet and field trialer. One of his dogs tore a cruciate just about the time she was being "washed out" as a trial dog and he chose to forego surgery and put her in a hunting home if the hunter would work her and bring her in periodically for checkups.

Long story shortened, I was just alluding to this dog's joie de vivre and "run" yesterday compared to others I've known that have undergone TPLO surgery and got their owners facing that lifelong "50% possibility" that the other knee will blow out. Pretty remarkable, really, how this has progressed, even through a litter of puppies and additional reconditioning - I told the (new) owner (and the old) that I would like to see her run FTs now, as she's probably a better dog having come in for more personalized amateur care rather than she would've under professional training. Then again, she could just be the anomaly - but her resilience without surgery sure grabbed my attention for future reference in the likelihood of a cruciate problem befalling any of my retrievers or gundogs.

MG

Good post MG.
My lab tore a cruciate at age 9, had the tight rope procedure done in February of that year, he ran the National later that summer. It is certainly possible to get dogs back on their feet with aggressive therapy and rehab. As others are probably aware there are other procedures to consider. Some choose the tight rope, some the TTA and some have underline the older 'fish line' operation. Which ever, find a surgeon who has a clear preference and lots of experience.
The same dog tore the other knee at age 11, all I was interested in doing was making him comfortable and discussed alternatives with my Vet. Instead of invasive surgery he sent me to Pawsability in Toronto. The gal who runs this worked in Sick Kids doing prosthetics and braces, she's got a ton of experience. In two days she had measured and constructed a leg brace. Dog wore the brace every day(off at night) for 5 months. After that you could not distinguish between the 2 knees.
As my Vet told me it really comes down to scar tissue.
By the way the cost in 2012 was $900. My goal had not been to save money but rather to stabilize an old Champion's knee.

Jburl,

$5-6K as suggested by others is what your looking at.

I have a fantastic vet in Oakville that I would highly recommend if you’re in the area.

We did our Munsterlander (11 yr old) last January & she was out duck hunting with me in the fall. We were given the warning about the second leg, but so far (knock on wood) Holly has been fine. I am a little more cautious about what Holly does now & most of our hunting is now waterfowl - which Holly seems to prefer anyways.

Also - there is a few you tube vids on making a sling for your supporting your dog’s weight on their hind quarters by using those recycled Canadian Tire/grocery tote bags.

Good luck to you