Cruciate Ligament

[Jburl]

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!

[trkyhntr21]

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.

[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.

[Dakota Creek]

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.

[MikePal]

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.

[Sharon]

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.

[Redsoilreaper]

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

[Mount Sweetness]

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.

[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!

[terrym]

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.