Hi all,

Anyone out there have any experience of their pooch having stabilising surgery for a ruptured ACL (Anterior Cruciate Liigament)? Our 8 year old Border Collie has been carrying this injury for a few months now and despite medicating re inflammation etc and resting him extensively for the past few months, it is not improving. He has been a very active athletic dog and it has been hard to slow him down but we have persevered but without the desired outcome. Took him to a specialist yesterday (who does not do surgery) and now we know. Surgery is the only option it would seem (TPLO - tibial-plateau-leveling osteotomy) and it is expensive, no surprises there. Have been advised that surgery will be around $3000. Any feed back from dog owners on the board who may have experience of this would be appreciated.

It is what it is and it and yes, we will have the surgery done. I guess I will just have to pick up another couple of shifts...

Thanks

i recommend taking him to the ontario veterinary college for the surgery, though it would involve back and forth travel for the checkups. It's cheaper than the private clinics and he'll be well taken care of.

After the surgery he'll need a further 8-12 weeks of rest with only small leash walks so he can pee/poop etc till the bones heal.

After around 8 weeks they'll want to repeat radiographs to check on the fracture healing. One the bone completely heals he can gradually resume normal exercise. He'll be able to walk/run normally once fully recovered.

You should be aware that if one leg has gone, there is a decent chance (cant remember the exact percentage) the other will too.

i hope that helps

Our dog had this op many moons ago, although she is now in the dog park in heaven, she recovered fully from the op. She was about 9 when she had it done, I have to say I didnt think she would pull through the first night, but she did. The big problem we had was she got very depressed in the weeks that followed, she couldnt understand why when she got into the fields on the edge of our village, she had to stay on the lead. I cant remember the time frame they gave us for keeping her walks under control, I took her back to the vet with the depression, it was the sadest sight I ever saw, after checking her out he gave her a weeks reprieve on the control walks, and she was able to run free again. Depression gone.

Arthritus set in a couple of years after the op, but that was controlled with drugs in the end.

Good luck with your dog, I hope all goes well.

A friend had a dog with this. He had the surgery and healed well. The main problem was keeping him on a leash afterwards to stop him running. You have to do his physio too and he won't be impressed by that.

Our Border Collie managed to snap his ACL chasing after a thrown stick. The only solution is surgery and it cost us £1500 a couple of years ago. He is old and arthritic now but the fix has held. Be warned however that this can indicate that the other side may be weak as well and prone to breakage. We treated him very gently after this incident.

Thanks to all, much appreciated. Takes a little to get ones head around it....surgery next Thursday....

not as much as when you snap your own ACL

Good luck.

Indeed, have a colleague who did that back in December

However I still feel for my little guy's pain and the fact he has to have such an invasive surgery....

not as much pain as i felt that fateful day that ended my playing days nor the subsequent two knee reconstructions that followed or the protracted rehabilitation

As it happens, my vet said that ACL failure in dogs is a non-traumatic injury, so hopefully any discomfort would be minimal. My Collie certainly didn't want to stop chasing after his stick even after his leg stopped working. He seemed to be in no pain at all.

I suppose it all about opinions as it can be difficult to measure exactly how much discomfort is involved for the dog. Our guy has a very high pain threshold (as we know from past problems) however we do know that after a reasonably long walk, he favours the leg concerned considerably and it's usually two or three days of comparitive rest e.g. short walks, no stairs etc, before he uses the leg again to any degree at all, and even then, for short periods. On balance we know that it is very uncomfortable for him as at one point after a day walking around the yard etc, nothing too strenuous, he was actually in pain when I checked the leg. His inactivity over the past month when the injury troubles him speaks for itself. I believe his quality of life has been impacted to a fair degree, him being a dog who has been used to lots of exercise, be it 5 Km walks through the bush, catching frisbies, using the tug chord etc and generally running around as he pleases as we have a large yard area. This he no longer wants to do to any significant degree, it being restricted to short periods of what would be concidered 'normal' activity for him. On that basis, despite the expense involved, we have decided that he has the surgery in the hope that the discomfort he currently experiences can be negated and that he can resume the quality of life he had before the problem arose. We can but hope.

Thanks for your interest.

Blue tore her cruciate ligament playing on the beach when she was 3 we were recommended to go to an orthopaedic surgeon in Duncan who said she should have a different op than the TPLO ... I think it was a TTA?? She was almost 120lbs at the time & he seemed to think it would be a better option for her (plus it's about $1k cheaper ) she did very well, but was NOT impressed with being in a doggy playpen to limit her movement ... physio was slow & steady & swimming was highly recommended.
Hope your pooch does OK

Best of luck with the OP.

Many thanks!

We looked at both options (TTA & TPLO) Best advice we have had from more than one source is to go with the TPLO. This is before we were referred to the surgeon . As Laymen that is all we can do, research, seek advice etc, then make a decision.

Will try to update as he progresses after the surgery, as I am sure their are other dog owners out there who will want to ask the same questions in the future regarding their little guys (or gals) should they suffer a similar injury. It would seem it's not that uncommon.