Good news and bad news (cruciate ligament)

[danyp1]

Hello everyone. 4 days ago I went with Sam and the kids to the lake. Unfortunatly when we got home at night she was limping(left leg). I kept her resting for a few days but it did not seem to get better. I was really concern that it might be her hip since she did not seem to be bothered by the movement of the knee or lower part of her foot. Anyway today I had the xrays done on bot the legs and the hips. Her hips are fine but it seems that she has a partial torne cruciate ligament on the left but the vet said you can hardly see it on the x-ray and she thinks that 1 month rest and pain med ("Rymaldin"?) should do it. Right now I`m happy that her hips at least are in good shape but it will be a long month of confinment for Sam. Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated. The doctor also recommended that I should switch her to a low calorie diet. Eukanuba, Science Diet was some diets she mentioned. Since she will be on restricted exercise for at least 3 month and she is a little overweight for her size.

Any suggestions or info would be appreciated. Thanks Daniela + Sam

[rebelrp1]

Do a search on cruciate ligament tear on this website. I'm going through the same thing, but on both rear knees. There is already a lot of infor posted here. Good luck!

[flyballmom]

Oh good Lord Daniela, not Sam, too. You knew Charleigh had surgery on both knees, right? You saw her race about a year after the 2nd one. The outcome can be excellent, so don't worry too much.

Ligaments can't be seen on Xray, only the arthritic changes caused by the instability of the joint, and fluid accumulation. Did your vet check for a positive drawer sign? Was she sedated? The first thing I'd do is get a referral to an orthopedist, have her examined by him/her, then go from there.

Sorry.

And...not sure what you're feeding her now, but whatever you do don't switch to Science Diet, blecch. Try cutting back on her normal amount of kibble, and mix in canned (low sodium) veggies if she seems hungry. If she's overweight it means she's been getting too much food and/or too little exercise, not the wrong food.

[danyp1]

Thanks for your quick reply. I will try to cut back on the canidea (2cups two times a day is what I feed now) but I think its the treats(she loves her bully sticks.). I was not sure if they have anything similar to canidea but low calorie (I was not keen about science diet suggestion either)?
She examined her foot but was not sedated since I was told it was not needed for diagnosis and xray. I did find it odd since I always thought you can only do the drawer test under sedation.
I will call the vet again for an referral to an orthopedic doc.
Does anyone know a good ortho in san diego area?

I knew Charleigh had surgery on both knees and you are right Charleigh was fast (a beauty to watch.)

[BostonRott]

The drawer test does not have to be done under sedation. Don't know how old your dog is and what kind of lifestyle she's used to, but cruciates don't heal, and a dog living life with a tear is going to have to be a VERY inactive dog. You'll also set the dog up for a long life of arthritis and pain management only goes so far after awhile.

[danyp1]

Thank you for your advice BostonRott. I was under the impression that with restricting her activity for the next few month she would be able to slowly get back to her regular activities. Hiking, 30min to 1 hour walks a day, weekly obedience classes ( a family pets life).

[BostonRott]

Ligaments don't heal, and by allowing a dog to live with a torn CCL, you allow them to live on an unstable joint with bone banging against bone. You can imagine the arthritis that sets up from this, and how painful it will become.

There are several types of treatment available, TPLO tends to be expensive, but offers the most active post-surgery lifestyle. Traditional repairs cost far less, but take much longer to heal and don't allow a dog to return to sport.........not sure about hiking (I'm sure it depends on how much is actual climbing vs. flat trail walking).

Banja's TPLO has healed amazingly well, no one can believe she even had a repair done. It was expensive, but for this young active girl, it was the best choice and she's recovered well.

[lcerizo]

There are some new products on the market that are an alternative to TPLO and TTA in many cases. The results are very successful if petowner follows rehab protocol. It's called the Tightrope CCL and is minimally invasive, cost effective and the complications are less. There are quite a few articles on the procedure if you search the web. It's very good news for dog owners! Especially large breeds such as rotties.

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by lcerizo

There are some new products on the market that are an alternative to TPLO and TTA in many cases. The results are very successful if petowner follows rehab protocol. It's called the Tightrope CCL and is minimally invasive, cost effective and the complications are less. There are quite a few articles on the procedure if you search the web. It's very good news for dog owners! Especially large breeds such as rotties.

Icerizo: I notice you have only posted twice on this forum -- both times in relation to the new Tightrope CCL technique for cruciate repair. Do you have any first-hand experience with this technique? Is there any further information you can share with us? It does sound promising, but doesn't seem to be as widely known as TPLO.