Please help pup with bad knee options???

Wow where to start... I have two dogs... Rotty/Pit Bull Mixes one male (rommel) and his sister (Ratchet)... they are both a year and a half old.... Rommel (97lbs) Ratchet (84lbs)

Rommel just came back from the vet... and I was just told he has hip displaysia and has dammaged the acl in his left rear leg...

My DR tells me that when he worked down south that one in six people have the othroscopic surgery done...for the knee

He then tells me that that on top of the knee surgery my dog may require hip replacement surgery three years down the road...

Please has anyone had any similar experience or recommendations???

this dog is purely a house pet and the loving companion of mine and his sister... I would value your opinion on this matter I'm so confused on what to do?
will these two surgeries increase his quality of life?
he stated the displaysia caused the knee to be damaged...

Please Help???

For the Ruptured Anterior Cruciate Ligament is it just a partial tear or a ruptured ligament. For one of my Newf's she had a Ruptured Cruciate ligament when she was 5 (poor structure, nothing to do with weight). We had the surgery done as a full rupture cannot heal properly. If it's just a partial tear sometimes rest and low impact exercise will work. The same Newf who tore her cruciate ligament when she was 5 now has a partial tear in the other back leg at the age of 10...this happens as the dog is putting more weight on the healthy leg. Try to keep the weight of the dog down, for exercise swimming is great. Accupuncture is also wonderful and so is accupressure..I have a book at home which tells you the pressure points for each affected area. it's called the complete holistic dog book by Jan Allegretti and Katy Sommers, DVM.
As for Hip Dysplasia, what a shame that your dog has both these ailments. Make sure your dog is not overweight, low impact exercise, consistant exercise (don't go for a hike one day and a stroll the next, be consistant). I chose to treat my Rottweiler with Hip dysplasia naturally and I've had great success which even amazes my Vets who tried to talk me into hip replacement surgery.

For my dogs I give them a Glucosamine supplement called Nutri Aid GCM - which contains Glucosamine HCL, Chondroitin Sulphate, MSM, Vitamin C, Mineral Manganese.
She gets plenty of raw bones with plenty of cartilage, raw meats with all those beneficial enzymes and when I'm not feeding raw I have her on good quality dog food.
I also give her oral Hyaluronic acid, Yucca root (sometime fresh ground root), ginger root (fresh ground at home) - these are natural anti inflammatories which will help both HD and ACL
I make sure she gets plenty of omega 3 fatty acids including organic flax seeds (ground at home), hemp seed oil, fish body oil, and I give her Astragalus to help build up her immune system.

For the HD I opted to manage with diet and exercise, my Rottie is now almost 6 and was diagnosed at 1 1/2 years of age...she is doing great with wonderful flexibility in her hips. With my Newf with the partial tear, I opted to treat this naturally with low impact exercise, good healthy raw/high quality kibble/canned diet...with plenty of extras. She also is doing fine and no more limping.
Good luck

thank you so much

wow thats great advice... thanks for your helpful advice and experience

Your welcome. I know how devestasting this can be. When the vet was explaining to me how bad my Rotties hips were I was so upset her voice sounded like a droning in the background. With my Newf, if she had a full rupture I would definately opt for surgery...the only thing that would hold me back is her age. She has done wonderful with the partial tear, and I'm sure it is mending wonderfully...another thing I meant to mention...if you can avoid climbing stairs try to do so. For my Newf my front door is on ground level, back door has stairs...I avoid the back door.

There is a member here who has a big Golden who had ACL surgery on two legs. The first vet used one technique on the first and they had all sorts of problems. The second vet they saw used an entirely different technique and the last we heard his dog was doing very well. It would probably be worthwhile to do a search on the forum and read those threads.

Renee post made me think of one more thing. The Vet who performed the surgery on my dogs is a well know orthopedic surgeon. I would not take my dogs to a Vet who had only done a few surgeries...check with other people on the success rate.
Just to add, When I had surgery done on my Newf she was 5 years old and easy to keep quite...that is the most important thing after the surgery to keep the dog quite for about 6 weeks. It's much too easy to retear or undo the surgery if the dog jumps up, does stairs etc. The dog must be kept very quite...which is very difficult on a young dog. Most failed cruciate surgeries are due to the owner not following proper post care. A friend of mine had her 2 year old Newf done by the same vet, same procedure...her surgery failed due to not being able to keep the dog quite and settled...very difficult for a young dog. She put the dog in a 8X9 kennel with a roof on it which did not allow the dog to jump up...the dog still managed to jump a little..and when he was taken out on leash walks he tore his cruiciate again by catching a scent, turning and putting his weight on the bad leg. That's how easy it is to undo.