Allowing ACL to heal

[MissMay]

Caveat- dog has been seen by vet and I'd on pain killer and anti inflammatory

I have a 7 year old terrier who tore her right acl 9 months ago and all in it cost us 2300 as out of hour vet to pain medicate on a weekend (bankl holiday of course!) X Ray, surgery and then post surgery assessment and x ray.
She came fully right on it thank god and cause no issues since.

Now my fear is she has done her other leg. She is on anti inflammatory since Friday to see If it's something else as it came out of nowhere she woke up with a limp and no obvious cause. Otherwise she will be getting an x ray on Tuesday.

Now my question is at the moment I simply cannot afford to pay another big surgery bill as I am not working b and my car needed money which hit the lump sum savings.

The vet mentioned previously about possibly allowing it to heal itself and I'm wondering people's experience of this?
She is a very quiet dog who took the 6 weeks inforced rest really well and wouldn't be the dog who charges around the place or jumping on furniture etc.

I'll obviously speak with the vet but looking for real life experience and knowledge of allowing it just to heal itself?

 

[fiwen30]

ACL’s don’t ‘just heal’, to start. Non-surgical management is not recommended by the majority of professionals, now that there are other options available.

In most cruciate cases, the 2nd leg will go within a year of the first, so this scenario is unfortunately very common.

When an ACL is ruptured, the entire joint is compromised. There is no longer a ligament to stabilise the knee joint, which means that the femur and tibia are moving against each other in ways which are painful, unstable, and unsustainable.

The idea behind letting an ACL ‘just heal’, would be to keep the dog completely immobile in a crate, until the joint has built up scar tissue by the body responding to the trauma of the damage. This scar tissue cannot be compared to surgery, as it’s formation is uncontrollable, unreliable, very easily compromised during the process, and can never be considered a ‘complete’ recovery the way that a surgically rebuilt joint is.

This immobility in order to attempt to wait for scar tissue can take months, or even years. A dog which is not allowed to do any exercise, as to mobilise a compromised joint would be to undo and scar tissue formation, will very quickly lose muscle mass and tone, which not only impedes recovery and rehab, but also creates other difficulties throughout the body, as the dog attempts to compensate for the damaged joint.

You end up with a dog with full body muscle wastage, and a joint which is still damaged and compromised.

I’m sorry, I’ve been through cruciate injury before and I know how expensive and difficult it is. But surgery really is the only ethical option for ACL rupture, and as you’ve seen yourself - the recovery is complete in weeks, and the rehab will be easier once both knees have been operated on, and are fully sound.

I couldn’t in good conscience go a non-surgical route for an ACL, on the basis of not being able to afford the surgery. It’s too major an issue.

 

[Clodagh]

I’m the opposite to Fiwen, with a small dog I would not operate, unless for some reason it was so dire there was no option.
I’ve seen border terriers have both surgical and non surgical treatment and the outcome was better with the non. The recovery time was not much longer either.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

My first terrier, bless her heart, tore her acl. We had it operated on on vets advice. Back then it cost around £500. Op went well, recovery went well but she was very stressed at the vets after the op so they asked us to collect her early! A year or two later the other one went. Vet this time said we could have op, which had now doubled in price, or we could rest her, as we would have done during rehab had she had the op. We opted for rest. She recovered absolutely fine and had no more issues with either. I think in small dogs rest works just as well as op. In bigger dogs you'd probably need the op.

 

[MissMay]

She is a small Yorkshire terrier X Jack russel who to be realistic does not particularly enjoy exercise!
So the rehabilitation and rest was not in anyway a problem with her.

Interesting that your vet also suggested the rest for a small dog Mine mentioned it in passing but first time around we went straight to surgery but its tje fact its second time round and I know she coped so well with the rest and rehab

 

[Flowerofthefen]

She is a small Yorkshire terrier X Jack russel who to be realistic does not particularly enjoy exercise!
So the rehabilitation and rest was not in anyway a problem with her.

Interesting that your vet also suggested the rest for a small dog Mine mentioned it in passing but first time around we went straight to surgery but its tje fact its second time round and I know she coped so well with the rest and rehab

I thought surgery was the only option first time round, that's why we went for it. I would choose rest again if I had to!

 

[Nicnac]

Have her scanned and speak to your vet. Very common for 2nd to go after first as others have said. In a big dog operation is only option but there may be other solutions in a very small, quiet dog if not ruptured. Never know a quiet JRT so must be the Yorkie side that keeps her calm.

 

[Prancerpoos]

I am in week 14 of recovery for my dog after TPLO surgery for a small tear on her cruciate. Non surgical recovery was not an option as she is a big dog, but the vet did say that sometimes it can heal itself in very small dogs. I think I would be worried about how much it would be hurting the dog in the mean time, but the op just cost be £5k, so I can see that that would not be manageable for everyone.