Tough decision, to operate or not.

GBNI

My schnauzer had this exact injury in March. However, she is 13 (well, 12 at the time) and has a heart murmur so surgery was decided against as it wasn't worth the risk.

It is a long road to recovery (partial in this case) I knew it would never come 100% right due to her age but the vet assures me she isn't in any pain. Exercise was restricted, weight has to be carefully managed as well. No jumping allowed, carried up and down steps etc

She walks with quite an odd gait now, not quite limping but just not quite right. A small amount of muscle has built up to help support it. She is still mad, runs about etc but her walks are now more limited in distance. I find when she's been lying down for a long time she is properly lame when she gets up and will carry the leg until it has worked out more.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

*zippy*

Similar to above really we have a miniature schnauzer who has had it on both legs at different times. The first time she was 4 she slipped on a wooden floor and our vet said they don't recommend operating for small dogs, I was a bit surprised so we got a second opinion who also agreed to just do complete rest. Her second one went a few years back. It was hard we carried her to the garden to go to toilet and then straight back to rest, I can't remember how long that went on for, but I remember the vet saying afterwards we had rested her for too long which had caused her arthritis, but they'd never explained when to start exercising just sent us off saying complete rest. Like already mentioned we got her weight down and keep her trim.

She's 12 now and doing wonderfully, not 100% with the arthritis so she gets a bit stiff after sleeping and we are careful exercising her not to over do it, but although it's something we're always mindful of she walks normally and runs around like she thinks she's a puppy The vet recommended a joint supplement, which she's been on all these years that helps and I bought a magnetic dog collar at the time, I didn't tell DH I'd got it, but he commented as soon as he saw her how much perkier she looked so I'd like to think it helps.

Hope all goes well whatever you decide, not sure what I'd have done either if we'd have been given the choice x

jumpedtheshark

orlao wrote: »

I'm not sure if it's the same for small dogs but I was told by the RVC that with big dogs, once the cruciate goes on one side it's something like 90% of the time that the cruciate ligament on the other leg will fail with in the year...something to talk about to your vet maybe? You might be prepared to consider one op but two?

I was told the same about our big dog, but have gone over 3 years without either the operated-knee or the other failing. Unfortunately, this has meant keeping her on leash (with about 1-1.5m of non-flex leash to allow her to sniff) when anywhere but our garden. Some might think that not letting her run free detracts from her quality of life, but she's a big dog and now almost 9 years old, has an underlying health problem, got an infection during her last recovery, and we didn't want to put her through it again if we could avoid it.

Paradigm

Person_one wrote: »

So he's booked in for the op next week, dreading it but I think I'm doing the right thing.

An operation is something we all dread but you can take some comfort in the fact that a complete rupture can't heal itself & left untreated will cause significant damage to the joint.

Get any doubts out of your head... once it ruptured the only choice was surgery, there is no other treatment.

You've done the only thing you could have

Paradigm

Has he had the op?

sheramber

my !!!!! had a partial rupture of her cruciate. The orthopaedic specialist said aia could leave it but it would eventually rupture- maybe in six mnths, maybe six years. However, in the meantime arthritic changes would be occuring in the joint.

I opted to operate and she had TPLO surgery where a piece of bone is cut off the top and it is is reversed to make the knoee alignment level. I tis held in place with a metal plate, which can be removed later if it causes problems.

She had her op two yers ago. I followed the vets rehabilitation instructions to the letter- very important. the surgery is the easy bit, the recuperation is the hard bit.

She had no problems and after 12 weeks she was signed off and back to normal exercise. We also started back to agility with the specialist's encouragement, taking things gently to begin with.

She also bounces through the sand dunes.

As the specialist said she cannot damage the cruciate again as it is not there and once the break in the bone heals it is perfectly strong just as a human broken bone heals.

He has operated on a working police gsd which returned to full working service after the surgery.

I would not hesitate to have the surgery done again if the other one goes ( 60% chance according to the specialist) but so far all is good.

Paradigm

I wondered why this thread hadn't been updated, now I know!

I dunno what this board is coming too, it seems you can get PPRd for breathing wrong.

Hope it went well P-One.

MadamMim

Paradigm wrote: »

I wondered why this thread hadn't been updated, now I know!

I dunno what this board is coming too, it seems you can get PPRd for breathing wrong.

Hope it went well P-One.

Why hasn't been updated? Have I missed something?

KxMx

Much as i'd like to comment, discussion about banned users isn't permitted.

Paradigm

KxMx wrote: »

Much as i'd like to comment, discussion about banned users isn't permitted.

I'm shocked, not