Cruciate Ligament Rupture

[LadyTexan05]

Well.........Just came from the vet today, for the 2nd time.....this past saturday my girl kikyo started limping (diag. w/ hd for about a year now) so I took it to be a joint aggrevation, took her in and was given etogesic and strict bed rest........fastforward to monday, significant limp with her, carrying her leg, I said to myself, something isn't right, watch it be a cruciate or ACL.....called the vet he told me to double her dose and call him the next day if things weren't better.......they werent. So since the original vet I took her to was more of a equine/cattle vet I decided to take her to an orthopedic specialist, for more rads since her last ones were over a year old and some better or more extended medication and supportive care. Get there (and they are very sweet people by the way) they take 2 views, one of the hips, and one of the right knee. Sedate her to palpate her joint and test 'drawer' movement.. and guess what........cruciate ligament rupture! Slight one, thank god not a major.
1. Glad I didn't take her back to the other vet b/c he was going to give her some pred and send us on our way.
2. Glad I caught this so now it can be repaired rather than her getting worse down the road trying to treat for an ongoing aggravated joint.

Downside, she needs surgery, not a TPLO, but a extracapular ligament repair which just places artificial ligaments outside the joint.........which is about 850.00, not the worst price range, because I know there can be worse...Has anyone ever had this surgery before, how did your dog recover as far as time, ease of healing etc? Any thoughts suggestions, comments would be appreciated, thanks.

[Anne]

My girl had a partial tear of the ligament. We decided on TPLO surgery as she was young (18 months). We had the same problem with the second knee 12 months later. TPLO again.

The ortho insisted on crate rest for 12 weeks with 5 minute walks per day starting at 6 weeks. Prior to the 6 weeks it was toilet breaks outside on lead.

[Biglou71]

Our girl Sasha had both knees done as well, about 12 months apart. Same type of rehab Anne is talking about. She did fine other than a touch of Arthritis set in this past year right before her passing.

[shannonc]

I had the same surgery done on my guy he was about 18 months. Recovery was slow. We limited him to his crate and slowly worked on more exercise as the weeks went on but in baby steps. A year later we ended up getting the other one done. I was told by our vet that this is common because the dog will start putting all his wait on the other leg while the other one is healing.

[LadyTexan05]

Yeah, seems like pretty consistent stories of healing, I am getting her a support "bottoms up" harness, so that she won't be putting all her weight on the other knee, hopefully that will help. I will get her a nice cushy bed, harness, switch to higher quality food and supplements, and hope for the best, It just kills me to watch her wobble around here. And the outlook is very grimm without the surgery, so it is not an option like it was with her hd since it was very mild, and continues to be very mild in his opinion of the wednesday x-rays. I am very scared, always watched and assisted in surgeries, but never had my dog on the table, I am very nervous. Thank you all for your input, it gave me a better outlook on this and what to expect.

[Barbara Ryan]

Same with our old rotti,but his recovery was only about two months.We never crated him only restricted him to one smaller room.His other knee never blew out like they said it would thank god!Twice aday he went out to potty.That was about nine years ago the cost was $950. at Cornell.He was as good as new after recovery time.

Barbara