cartilage operation for my dog - anyone offer advice?

orlao

Kempy, my tuppence worth about cruciate repairs;)

My rottie had both his cruciate ligaments repaired last year, he seems to have been unusual in that both ligaments were damaged at the same time so he didn't show any obvious lameness and the symptoms were that he was "stiff" on his back legs...so diagnosis was slow and difficult! My vet recommended rest and metacalm to see if they would heal but this was before the xrays so we didn't know at that point that the ligaments were already ruptured which obviously didn't help in hindsight.TBH I haven't heard of any dogs that have healed without surgery, maybe in the case of older dogs that are slowing down anyway or where an op would be risky that might work?

It's interesting the theory about wooden floors because I had them installed a couple of months previously but he is also very active dog ( code for hyper:D ) Anyway the hound went to the royal vet college last march for his first op, stayed in for 4 days. When he came home he was on room rest for 2 weeks, out in the garden on a lead for toileting and short walks 3 times a day gradually increasing in length on lead for the next 4 weeks. The plan was that he would have the other leg done in may but but his implant/ plate moved in his leg so he ended up having TWO ops in June, repairing the ligament in the 2nd leg and resetting the plate from the first op:eek: . That time he stayed a week, mainly for pain control ( he had an epidural!) and he was very sorry for himself when he got home. He also had a bone infection in the 2 op leg:eek: which I was warned was a risk but that healed with massive doses of antibiotics over 6 weeks. It was the same aftercare both times but in June I was up and down to my own vets weekly to monitor the infection and the implants.....as I was quite nervous that time!!! The bill came to just over £4000, start to finish which TBH I thought wasn't OTT.

I'm very glad he had the ops, by August he was running off lead again for the first time since January and loving it!!! He hated being restricted and this way he had a very tramatic couple of months but it restored his quality of life:T

Speaking only from my own experience, I can't imagine that a collie is going to be content with limited exercise so I think she probably needs the ops (my vet quoted that 90% chance of the other ligament failing) but while they are big ops the results are generally very good:D and it is difficult when it's not your decision.....

HTH

PS Delighted to hear the other dogs are doing so well:j :j