Cruciate Ligament

[Labyrinth]

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]

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]

Originally Posted by corgipower

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]

Originally Posted by Labyrinth

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.

[PoodleMommy]

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]

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]

Originally Posted by elegy

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?

[PoodleMommy]

Originally Posted by Labyrinth

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]

Originally Posted by Labyrinth

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]

$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.