CCL Injury #2

[mikimm]

Our Sofie Sue, 4 year old rescued rottie/GSD, had TPLO surgery on the left for a CCL partial tear at around Christmas time. Now, after sailing through her recovery like a little champ, she's injured the right side. We're currently awaiting the verdict from the orthopedic vet who is reviewing the x-rays. But it looks like it's another partial tear according to our regular vet. Darn it! Now, I know that there is a really high incidence of injury to the opposite leg in dogs that have a CCL tear. And I also know that there seems to be a genetic component to CCL injury in rotties particularly. But weirdly enough, it seems as if beginning to learn to herd sheep was what we were doing when this first cropped up. She got passed her herding instinct test in September. This also happened with another rottie boy that we had (who died last year of lymphoma ) . Anyway, has anyone here heard of an association with herding and CCL injury? And will Sofie be able to herd again?

[hcelsa]

Any activity that involves twisting, turning, changes in direction and speed will put a dog at risk for knee (and other) injury. Agility, flyball and herding are all such activities. Also the more overweight and more out of condition a dog is the higher that risk of injury will be (more torque, less muscling to support etc).

As far as being able to herd again that will depend on the dog and how well they recover, and whether the owner is willing and able to keep them in tip-top condition from that point on. I know quite a few dogs that returned successfully to agility, flyball and herding competition post TPLO repair.

[mikimm]

Hi HCElsa, Thank you for your reply! Actually you know Sofie Sue as we were working her at Ewetopia with you last summer. It's really heartbreaking to have to face surgery with her again. But we're dedicated to doing the best we can for her. We had her in swimming for therapy as soon as she was cleared by the vet, but then this cropped up. The vet had to repeat xrays today because the films were too dark for the ortho vet. So I guess we'll hear next week and then get her fixed as soon as possible. I really really want her herding as soon as she's ready. She's such a hyper thing and it's so hard for me to get her to work with me as a team. Herding (and swimming actually) are the only two activities she seems to love and that she's tolerable with. Sounds horrible, but she has been a real project dog from the beginning with her abuse/neglect history. I really attribute herding to settling her down a bit and making her a more "fun" dog to live with.

[mikimm]

Well, Sofie had her third consult with the vet about her right leg. The initial xrays went to the orthopedic vet who said they were too dark. So our vet did more xrays. Her drawer test was questionally positive. The second round of xrays went to the orthopedic vet who said the knee actually didn't look like there was a problem...if so it was maybe a partial tear they said.

But, the ortho vet wanted our vet to check her hock because it looked like a little swelling or "something." I asked flat out if it looked like it could be Osteosarcoma (paranoid with our history of cancer in 5 dogs so far...none with OS though). He said no, it didn't look like that. More like maybe a sprain. So he re-examined Sofie and was unable to elicit either a pain response or anything. And meanwhile her limping has decreased so that it's nearly nonexistant unless she overexerts.

Our vet wants to "keep an eye on things." No surgery scheduled or anything. Soooo, I guess we'll resume swimming and try to get her in condition to herd sheep again. See what happens. If she becomes lame again, we'll go back to the vet. I feel an overabundance of concern here because I hate uncertainty. But on the other hand, it's a relief to not have to gear up for another TPLO and its aftermath.