Torn ACL in Dog

[GlitterKitty]

Our dog Angel tore her ACL. She is....about 9 now and fine except for being overweight and on cold days or her "bad days" you can't tell except from her limp. She never had surgery or anything. She also has arthritis so that goes hand in hand with the limp. But I'm trying to get her to lose weight and hopefully that'll help her limp, because she gets so heavy that the "gimpy" leg can't hold all her weight,

 

[Bluemoon420]

One of our foster dogs tore his ACL when he was about 6 months old. Our vet felt the surgery had more con's than pro's. He was ( still is at 7 years old ) VERY hyper. She said since he was a well muscled dog, and as long as he was kept trim he would heal fine. We restricted his activities for a few months, and he did heal fine. Sometimes during the winter his leg will act up, but never to the point of him requiring any further care other than some buffered dog aspirin.

Maybe getting a second opinion will help. Sometimes surgery isn't the only option, and it can't hurt to ask.

Bluemoon

 

[muddyhorse]

my oversize weim (100 lb and not fat) tore his 3 years ago, we did the surgery and he did great. shop around. We went to Dr. Williams in Sikeston Missouri. It was $600

He does a lot of knees, and hips. in St.louis it would have been around $2000.

 

[LV426]

You might look into some of the homeopathic sites out there such as
http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/ACL.HTM

Also it's possible that perhaps an alternate and cheaper surgery could be performed. When my sister's cat was attacked by a neighbor kid her ACL was torn and we couldn't afford the surgery so they fused the joint. It was less money and the cat suffered some arthritis later in life but got around just fine.

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

Years ago, my 5 yr old rottie ruptured her ACL back right leg. Opted for the $1200. surgery despite being told she had 95% chance of rupturing the other because all the weight is on the other leg. Surgery was a success. I kept her lean and walked daily as soon as I got the go ahead from the vet.

8 months later she did rupture the other leg. The vet did a modified ACL repair for $850. Again, surgery was a success with a full recovery.

I was a single Mom at the time and maxed out credit cards to pay for the surgeries.

Abbie later developed arthritis in her front legs. I had her put down at age 10 1/2 yrs when spent her days depressed and only getting up when she had to eat and go potty.

I don't believe a ruptured ACL can heal on its own and I feel it would be cruel to force a dog to live with the pain of the bones rubbing together with any movement of the leg. It would be humane to have the dog put down if surgery to repair is not an option.

Good luck to you in your decision. It is a tough one for sure.

 

[chickerdoodle]

Oh, been there, done that. Sorry you have to go through it.

Have you checked out Care Credit? The surgical specialist may have the information and application. Care Credit offers FREE interest loans for a specific time--usually 3-6 months. The veterinarian chooses how much the clinic will pay Care Credit for your business. That's what we did and paid it off without paying any interest. Dentists also carry it.


We have a super athletic Belgian Malinois who tore her cranial cruciate ligament while working for military. Since they couldn't be certain she could continue active duty they put her up for adoption--she was only two years old. We fell in love with her and took her to a specialist and had a TPLO done. We had a stem cell injection done in the other knee as that one was mildly injured to hopefully prevent surgery. The stem cells healed the one knee and allowed her another 1 1/2 years with no problem but we still had to have another TPLO done on that one. Now both knees are EXCELLENT but we paid a total of $11,000 for both knees.

It cost us a little more than usual because of the stem cell treatment and to have the plate removed because she got an infection the second time around.

The biggest hassle was the recovery. Ugh. We had to put her in a covered pen (4x4) to limit her to just a short leash walk to go out to potty for a month, then increase the time of the walk for the second month slowly increasing excercise if she handled it without pain. She also no longer had to stay in the pen all the time. After three months she could do most things but not allowed to go full speed for long or jump too often. At four to six months--anything she wants as long as she stayed sound. Now, she runs at a gazillion miles an hour, jumps, catches Frisbees, runs two miles, etc., no problems whatsoever!

Worth every penny to us for this magnificent family member

Big dogs typically need to have TPLOs if they are active and athletic as they will invariably injure it again and again and arthritis occurs in the joint. Sorry

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

that happened 2 times with our dog and we had a choice to do surgery or wait it out with pain pills to see if it heals enough on its own. It has been about 2 years since the last time it happened and she has gotten older and doesn't run like she used to...... xrays also show bad hip joints

. Every now and then she will start to limp again and slow down, but over all she has recovered well.

 

[showme31]

When my shepard/chow mix was 10 years old she tore hers. So off to the vet, he refused to do surgery on her due to her age. We did a round of Rimadyl and she didn't seem to have any pain any longer. As she aged I could always tell by her movements which leg was her problem. My sweet Bizzy passed a couple of weeks ago at the ripe old age of 15. That leg didn't slow her down until her last day with us.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I've been through it with two large dogs now. My best advice is to get the surgery done for her and while she is recovering (takes a couple of months) keep her crated and leash walk her. It may seem extreme, but it will ensure that she doesn't hurt the other leg while the bad one is healing. It's a royal pain, more for us than the dog, but it's worth it in the long run when you consider what the surgery costs. Both of my dogs recovered beautifully from their surgery and they
continued to live pain free. One died of old age but I still have the other 100lb. lab mix. At ten (she had the surgery when she was 8 mos. old) she still chases rabbits and crows and shows no signs of stiffness.

 

[saxet]

Quote:
The only experience that I have with ACL surgeries is about 15 years ago, with a dog with a repaired ACL, but who became increasinly grumpy because she remained limited in what she could do, was prone to re injuring herself and became dog aggressive on account of the constant nagging pain (that the owner did not know about)
I would suggest that you ask the vet what quality of life you can expect post surgery and what you can do to keep her pain free. I don't know if they have advanced since (probably) or if the surgery that I know of, was just a pretty sad case to start out with, or maybe they botched it and the owner never knew.

@ ShowMe31. I am sorry for your recent loss.