cartilage operation for my dog - anyone offer advice?

cocoluvsmummy

Phew, better night last night, actually slept, and jess has woken up this morning and is putting her foot to the floor today. Seems more herself today though still sorry for herself, i'm dosing her up with everything shes got to make her comfortable and it seems to be working

Shes a cheeky thing, lies there looking all poor me, then rolls onto her back for her tummy to be rubbed and who can turn her down then.. none of us lot, shes got the 3 kids taking it in turns to sit and stroke her.

kempy

Was hoping you could give us an update on how your dog is doing now sometime after the op. Do you now have any advice or tips on care from your experiences for the rest of us please?

alyth

cocoluvsmummy, dogs are a b**ger at times, aren't they - I bet you still fretted all night about Jess, and bless her she's milking it for all she's worth, although wouldn't you! But sounds as if she's got your kids wrapped round her paw, and I can imagine your kids siting stroking her!

Kempy, what would you like to know - is your dog due to have a similar operation? My only advice would be to ask as many questions as you can from your vet, some in particular on this thread haven't had great advice from their vet and have been made to feel a bit stupid in asking, so don't feel and fear in asking exactly what you need to know, and take your lead (!) from your dog - she/he will know exactly what their limits are, in my case as I posted below watching doglet drag her splintered up paw across the garden to have a wee was up there with the most distressing thing I have ever seen in my life, but she wanted to do it and she was a determined little mutt and achieved her aim - a wee in her particular spot! Ask away, me, cocoluvsmummy and JCR are all going through almost exactly the same things with our hounds so we can answer any questions between us.

cocoluvsmummy

Best bit of advice i can give is be prepared before hand, some of the restricions on what your dog can/ can't do afterwards are hard to implement.

Jess was only allowed into the garden on her lead to go to the toilet (not easy when she always likes to be private) in the end i let her off and stood with my back to her. She wasnt allowed on any slippy floors.. so the large expanses of tiled and laminate floor in my house came as a difficulty, the vet advised we buy cheap oddments of carpet to put down, this wasn't very practicle for us so we comprimised by keeping all doors shut (we were also advised to confine her to one room) and this has been hard keeping her to the one room.. i'm used to my more open plan living(still having to do this 6 weeks after because Jess has developed more problems and has been in again this week for more surgery)

we got a cheap single quilt and spread that out on the floor for her, it helps save my carpet from where she has been lying when she cant move easily and is easy to wash, Jess always seems to come home from the vets smelling real bad and it helps to be able to clean the place she lies

we also make little ham parcels with cheap value ham to wrap her tablets in she had 4 different medications initially following the surgery.. now back on them all agin... she think swow im getting all these treats and being a greedy guts even when she feels too poorly to get up will eat the parcels off my hand

above all make sure before you leave the vets have a written list of aftercare instructions and you ahve all the medication you need, be prepared to have no life for a few days and no sleep ( or maybe thats just me being too soft with jess)

kempy

It's my old dad actually that has the dog with the cruciate damage. SHe is one of my pups, I have her mother and sister. They are all beautiful ACTIVE border collies. My dad lost my mum only a short time ago anmd the dog is his world. As such they go everywhere together and him not being able to exercise her properly is killing him. The vet said to rest her as much as possible to see if it starts to heal itself.

When I went along with him ... although I live 200 miles from him... the vet seemed to be making out that the operation would undo any of this healing and mean his strict inactive days would have to start again.

The dog is his soul mate, compoanion etc etc and as such he can't bear to see her looking fed up, struggling or hungry. So of course she is overweight and probably now getting worse. I suspect this is what may have brought on the injury in the first place.

I'm just not sure what advice or tac to take because he is a stubborn man, but she is one of my pups!

Do they heal without an op? How much does the op cost? Are they on drugs and stuff the rest of their life and at what price? If she isn't putting her paw down, is it actually hurting her? I'm just thinking that many dogs survive well enough with just three legs so why not with three and a fourth poorly one? or is it because it is highly likely that the second back leg will also need the op? Well you did say I should ask some questions:rotfl:

It's been a while since I've been to my dads, as my dogs too go everywhere with me but I haven't wanted mine to get my dads too excited and so move around excessively.

Anyway sorry for the essay, but I'm just worried for them both.

alyth

cocoluvsmummy, I feel really bad now, we didn't do any of the things you've done for Jess -we did move doglet's sofa cushions on the floor and wrapped them in a throw, but within a couple of days she was back on her chair, and there wasn't anything we could do about it. I do agree with what you've said about wooden floors though - I think that what's caused doglet's problems - we moved about 15 months ago and the last house had carpets - this one has wooden floors throughout and even though we put rugs down, they still move and I'm sure that's what made her paws worse - just a thought for you kempy.

And I agree with you about the funny smell when your dog comes back from the vets - doglet doesn't smell like doglet when she's been there, it's weird, isn't it - they seem to smell clinical and not like they're your own!

can I move in with you - I want the ham parcels! I hope she's getting better though - how's Monty doing JCR?

alyth

kempy wrote: »

It's my old dad actually that has the dog with the cruciate damage. SHe is one of my pups, I have her mother and sister. They are all beautiful ACTIVE border collies. My dad lost my mum only a short time ago anmd the dog is his world. As such they go everywhere together and him not being able to exercise her properly is killing him. The vet said to rest her as much as possible to see if it starts to heal itself.

When I went along with him ... although I live 200 miles from him... the vet seemed to be making out that the operation would undo any of this healing and mean his strict inactive days would have to start again.

The dog is his soul mate, compoanion etc etc and as such he can't bear to see her looking fed up, struggling or hungry. So of course she is overweight and probably now getting worse. I suspect this is what may have brought on the injury in the first place.

I'm just not sure what advice or tac to take because he is a stubborn man, but she is one of my pups!

Do they heal without an op? How much does the op cost? Are they on drugs and stuff the rest of their life and at what price? If she isn't putting her paw down, is it actually hurting her? I'm just thinking that many dogs survive well enough with just three legs so why not with three and a fourth poorly one? or is it because it is highly likely that the second back leg will also need the op? Well you did say I should ask some questions:rotfl:

It's been a while since I've been to my dads, as my dogs too go everywhere with me but I haven't wanted mine to get my dads too excited and so move around excessively.

Anyway sorry for the essay, but I'm just worried for them both.

kempy, we must have been typing at the same time!

I'll try and answer your questions.

I don't think they can heal without the operation - a guy posted on Money saving arms recently about the fact that his rottie (I think) had the worst case of cruciate problems the vet had ever seen - the operation would not have made any difference and in the end they had to make the awful decision to put the dog down. Putting your dog on painkillers won't solve the problem unfortunately.

Doglet's operation cost £1400 and she took painkillers for about a couple of weeks, but now she's fine - doesn't need any, however by the sound of it cocoluvsmummy's Jess is having a worse time of it than doglet is. From my experience with doglet if she isn't putting her weight on her paw then she is in pain - dogs are incredibly stoic creatures, they can't tell you when they're in pain, but I know that doglet used to whine for hours and it took about half an hour for the painkillers to kick in.

Strangely, one of the guys that I know I met out walking tonight, and he was asking about doglet and he said that he had a dog that was 8 and had a cancerous lump and had it's back leg amputated - within a couple of days the dog was running about like it still had 4 legs - funnily enough he said the only time the dog had problems was when it was runing down a hill and though it still had 4 paws! I think animals adapt to their situation and if your dad's dog did have to have a paw amputation then it would cope fine - but I think that's quite a drastic measure.

Doglet will need her other back paw done, probably next year - I was told by the vets that if one goes then the dog compensates by putting more weight on the other paw, thereby exacerbating the situation.

I absolutely understand how your dad feels, my partner is away a lot and (rather sadly) doglet is my life, she makes me go out walking when I'm feeling a bit lonely, she listens to me ranting about work and if I didn't have her then I don't know what I would do.

Ask any questions you want, JCR, cocoluvsmummy and me seem to have gone through exactly the same operation with our dogs at roughly the same time, so we can advise you on any problems you have. What I would say is to take your guidance by the dog - and your vet obviously.

Actually, just a thought, depending on how old your dad is, is it worth contacting Blue Cross, the charity, and seeing what they say? I know they neuter dogs for people on limited income, not that I'm suggesting for a minute that your dad is, but perhaps because the dog is such a lifeline for your dad then perhaps they can offer advice.

Like I say, ask any question, and I'm glad that the dog is bringing so much enjoyment to your dad. With regards to the weight issue, I'm going through exactly the same thing now as we still can't go out for the long walks now, and doglet sits there with her big eyes pleading, and of course I can't refuse, so she's a bit overweight, and it has to be said so is her owner!

cocoluvsmummy

Kempy... we actually had Jess's cruciant operation done before the ligament itself was completely torn, our vet advised us that it would be better for her in the long run, the operation she had (TTA.. not sure what the abbreviations stand for)he felt was better done earluier rather than alter as there was more likely hood of damage that would be irreversable and she would have more cartlige and arthritis problems in the long term if we waited. Jess also had the other leg done 2 years ago.. it does seem to be a pattern, if they have the tendency to have problems one side it does follow on, after the first leg she was restriced for about 3 months, getting more allowences every week and was back to chasing trains at that point.(we live next to a train line and open fields.. she loves to race along the field by the track trying to catch them)

luckily we have had insurance as the bill is now at £2300, it has made my premiums go up but i now feel i am tied in the the same company as if she has any more probs then it might not get paid if we move companys. once the healing process has taken place the medication stops.. well it did the first time we are still in the middle of a extra slow recovery and set backs this time round.. the medication jess had was strong analgeis for a few days, anti inlamatory analgesia until she seemed pain free.. about a week i think, and antibiotics for a week

our vet was also careful to diagnose that it was cruciant ligament problem, she had an xray, then a arthroscopy (camera into the joint) then her actual repair operation

good luck and keep asking those questions.. also might be worth getting another vets opinion as regards costing.. any vet will tell you likely charges before treatment begins

Alyth.. thanks for your thoughts.. :A and you are welcome to ham parcels anytime.. only tescos value ham though.. not very exciting.. but cheap

JCR

Thanks for asking Alyth, Monty is sooo much better. His wound has healed and I am just waiting for the hair to grow back now. People still remark what a huge wound it is and how awful it looked, but I no longer have to keep an eagle eye on everything he is doing, and he's back to running around like mad and going in water wherever he can find it. I wish all your dogs a speedy recovery.

JCR

I have to apologise I may have given the wrong impression, Monty didn't have the cruciant ligament op, he had an op for a lump on his hind leg, but it was the aftercare that was similar i.e. restricted movement/exercise etc. Good luck to all those again going through the experience.