Cruciate Ligament

Labyrinth

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#1
I got Abby in to the vet today because she was still limping. The vet checked her out and says that it is her ACL. She also broke out in hives last night so the vet gave her a shot today and gave me some Prednisone pills to give her for about 10 days. He said he does not want to schedule surgery until after her allergies clear up.

She's a very active dog, and he says it's the jumping that did it. She doesn't jump as much as she used to, but I'm trying to keep her from jumping at all right now to avoid aggravating it or causing problems with the other leg. Is it okay to let her climb the stairs and race around with the other dog if she wants to? She doesn't hesitate in doing these things, so I'm honestly not sure if I could stop her anyways. I just want to do whatever I can to minimize any pain and keep her from straining her other leg.
 

corgipower

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I wouldn't let her race around with the other dogs. As for stairs, it probably depends on how bad the injury and how she handles stairs - if she walks up them calmly or if she leaps up them and skips a few on the way.

I hope she feels better soon. I'm currently dealing with a ACL injury on one of mine. Not an easy injury to manage. :(
 

Labyrinth

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#3
I wouldn't let her race around with the other dogs. As for stairs, it probably depends on how bad the injury and how she handles stairs - if she walks up them calmly or if she leaps up them and skips a few on the way.

I hope she feels better soon. I'm currently dealing with a ACL injury on one of mine. Not an easy injury to manage. :(
She's been taking the stairs pretty slowly lately, but I had a feeling her playing with the other dog wouldn't be a good idea.

Will she be okay to resume normal activity once she heals up from the surgery? I'll still discourage jumping at the fence, but I'd like for her to be able to jump up (and off of) the bed again on her own.
 

corgipower

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Will she be okay to resume normal activity once she heals up from the surgery?
Check with the vet on that. It can take from 2 weeks to 2 months and there may be physical therapy that can or should be done. It depends on the injury, the surgery and the dog as to what the recovery involves. If the injury isn't too severe and if the surgery is done as needed and the recovery procedures followed, there's a good chance for full recovery and her being able to resume normal activity.
 
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#5
Elle had CL surgery at about a year old... healing time was close to 2 months and she had physical therapy... however, once she was healed she was able to go back to normal activities and now (at almost 4) you would never know she had the injury.

I would limit her now so she doesnt do more damage until the surgery... I KNOW easier said then done... you will not be able to stop her from moving completely obviously. Until Elle's surgery and while she was healing she only go outside time on a leash and inside we tried to keep her as quiet as possible. She still walked up the stairs a lot and tried to play, you can stop them all together.

Hopefully everything goes well with Abby... dogs can recover very well from this surgery... do everything the vets says and she will be good as new soon enough!
 

elegy

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#6
What type of surgery are you going to have done? Luce has had both of her knees done, which sucked. She had the suture-type repair on the first one and her recovery time was a solid four months, and she's still not right on it. The second time she had a TTA and recovery period was 8 weeks I think, though she FELT really good at a couple weeks out. She was completely restricted until recheck xrays were done. TPLO has a longer recovery time because there is more bone healing to be done.

You are absolutely going to have to figure out how to restrict her post-surgery. Personally I would allow stairs and disallow racing and chasing with the other dogs.

Technically Luce doesn't have any restrictions per her surgeons, but if she does too much she really pays for it later. Sometimes, though, I just let her be a dog and rely on the pain meds to keep her comfortable afterwards.

The Yahoo group Orthodogs was really helpful to me while I was going through this stuff with Luce.

Oh, also, if she's overweight at all you want to get that off ASAP.
 

Labyrinth

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What type of surgery are you going to have done? Luce has had both of her knees done, which sucked. She had the suture-type repair on the first one and her recovery time was a solid four months, and she's still not right on it. The second time she had a TTA and recovery period was 8 weeks I think, though she FELT really good at a couple weeks out. She was completely restricted until recheck xrays were done. TPLO has a longer recovery time because there is more bone healing to be done.

You are absolutely going to have to figure out how to restrict her post-surgery. Personally I would allow stairs and disallow racing and chasing with the other dogs.

Technically Luce doesn't have any restrictions per her surgeons, but if she does too much she really pays for it later. Sometimes, though, I just let her be a dog and rely on the pain meds to keep her comfortable afterwards.

The Yahoo group Orthodogs was really helpful to me while I was going through this stuff with Luce.

Oh, also, if she's overweight at all you want to get that off ASAP.
I'm honestly not sure what type of surgery, I really didn't know there were different types for this procedure.

She's a very energetic and athletic dog that is about 42 pounds of solid muscle so there are no worries with extra weight. I'm already pampering her like crazy, and I cringe every time I see her hobbling around. I can't wait to get this done so we can move on to recovery. Her hives are almost completely gone, so I'll call tomorrow and get it scheduled.

Is $1,000 typical for the cost of this type of surgery?
 
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#8
Is $1,000 typical for the cost of this type of surgery?
Thats just about what we paid for Elle's surgery... however, the physical therapy was included at our vet which included a session on the water treadmill, plus a session with the person showing us all the different exercises and what we needed to do with her.
 

corgipower

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Is $1,000 typical for the cost of this type of surgery?
From what I've heard, yes. I've heard of people paying $2,000 and more for it.

The more you can restrict movement the better. Crate her or keep her on a down stay as much as possible.
 

elegy

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#10
$1,000 is extremely cheap. Nobody in my area is doing them anywhere near that. Luce's first knee was just shy of $2k and her second one was just over.
 

Athebeau

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#11
One of our Newf's about 7 years ago tore her ACL and we went the surgery route for her. There was a lot of down time for her, lucky for us she was a typical Newf that just liked to lay around a lot anyway. After surgery you have to make sure the dog has the time to heal so if you have a hyper dog a crate is going to be your solution and leash walks only. If your dog has a tendency to jump and get excited on the leash train for proper walking now instead of waiting till after the surgery.

With one of our current Newf's Dylan our Vet gave us the option of a brace instead of surgery. The brace was cheaper, plus there is no down time. The dog can still do all their activities while recuperating (for a Newf, if you do agility and sport then no they won't be able to do normal activities). Dylan can still go for hikes with his brace on, he did not have to be crated, he can run and play.

Currently we are doing hydrotherapy with him. He is on a good glucosamine supplement and always has been. He is also getting flexxil which is an excellent supplement/anti inflammatory. He gets some acupressure and massage as well. He seems to be healing quite nicely and the Vet is quite impressed. A lady from another dog forum I belong to went with a brace before our Newf ruptured his ACL and she too had success and she has a sporting breed so not laid back like a Newf :)

Here are some pictures of Dylan with his brace on.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j263/AtheBeau/beach0923074.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j263/AtheBeau/pokerrun08063.jpg

Getting out of the truck
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j263/AtheBeau/magnum826.jpg

Oops I almost forgot, the lady from the other forum encouraged me to join this yahoo site to talk to other dog owners going through the same experience and what they found worked best.

ConservativeManagement : Canine Conservative Management

It would be a good idea to log on there and talk as they are a great support.
 

Barb04

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#12
I have gone through both types of surgery with 2 of my dogs.

Please don't let your dog walk up stairs; it will make the acl tear worse.

The surgeries I had ran from $1,200 (suture) to $2,700 (metal pin). Your dog will need recovery time as well as a certain therapy to follow after both types of surgeries.

After complete recovery from both surgiers (3-6 months), they can resume normal activities again.

T
 

Labyrinth

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#14
Abby has been doing really well with her recovery so far, I'm very proud of her :)

She got her cast off last Tuesday, and the vet was surprised that she immediately started using it with only a very mild limp. He said that she's looking better than 99% of the dogs he sees that close to their surgery. I'm still restricting her from running, jumping, and rough housing with the other dog and ferrets for the time being though. It's been exhausting for me, and a bit frustrating for her but she's doing so well I think it's only a matter of time until she can play and use the stairs on her own again. We go back in a few more days to have her stitches taken out and to discuss her therapy. The doc told me last week that since she's already dealing with it so well that therapy may end up being as simple as taking her for some short walks :)
 

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