Anyone with experience of cruciate ligament damage?

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I.M.N.

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My 1 year old GSD went very lame on Monday after playing with another dog. I took him to the vets and the vet suspects cruciate ligament damage, he's going in for x-rays tomorrow to confirm. I'm after any experiences people have had with their dogs or dogs they know, did they have surgery? do you know which of the two surgery options they had? I'm only asking as my vet's are rather 'throw everything at it' and though through my own research it seems like surgery is the only option I just want to make sure I'm as informed as possible.

Thanks in advance.
 
One of mine has had a TTA - as I understand it the other options are TPLO, tightrope/suture/leader line type replacement or conservative management. The conclusion I drew from speaking with my vet and considering the research was that the latter two I would only consider for a <10kg dog or if cost was an obstacle, leaving little to choose between the TTA or TPLO. My vet does TTA in house so that was that.

She has since returned to full function including competitive agility and sled dog racing. :)
 
The vet said the TTA would be the one he went for, due to age and size of dog. What was the recovery time and what did it involve if you don't mind me asking?
 
Ours had the TPLO about 7/8 years ago and she was very active again (greyhound) after the recovery period which was, if I remember correctly, about 4-6 months on the lead. It never bothered her again.
 
She was back to pretty much normal exercise levels at 12 weeks post-op. 'Pretty much' because daily walks were back to normal but she jumped medium rather than large height and avoided wraps/twisty pivoty type movements in agility for about another 4 weeks after just to be cautious. She had the op in April and came back into sled dog training in September as normal.

First physio and hydrotherapy appointments were at 4 weeks, at which point she was having 10-15 minute lead walks four times a day, by 12 weeks she was doing half an hour on the water treadmill and was signed off for return to normal walks.
 
I have 2 rotties and sadly they have both had 2 TPLOs. They were on house rest for 8 weeks for each surgery but returned to fully active functioning dogs after recuperation. In each case there were issues after surgery where it was decided the plates needed to come out on one leg. A short period of recuperation and they were fine. Apparently this is a rare occurrence. I guess I just have "those" dogs!!
 
My 5year old male Doberman 37-39 kgs had this op last year, I went for the TPLO after an hours consult with the surgeon at Langford who are my vets and he does 5/8 ops a month. I thought if I was having that op I would want him so went for this, my dog is Insured but they had a special offer on for £1,750.

They kept him in for 3 days which is normal procedure with him and they rang me several times a day with updates, it all went well and the surgeon was very pleased and I was to go back in 10days to have his stitches out. Thats where my problems started as he kept getting his cone off and getting to his stitches, I couldnt put a muzzle on as I was afraid he would rub it raw. I literally shut myself in the kitchen all day with him to stop him getting at his stitches. I bandaged all his legs and sprayed with bitter apple, he was in a doggie onsie and on calmers but still he kept getting his cone off and getting to the op site. Then a very good friend told me to put his travel harness on and tie his cone to that, to my utmost relief it worked, once the op site was healed he could then go for his follow up xray and that was all good so he was given the go ahead for his hydrotherapy. The hydrotherapy was a god send because he had lost all his muscle tone and I was so concerned for his mental well being and he loved it, it started off very slowly and once or twice his surgeon and vet popped in to see how he was getting on. To see him now it will be a year in July/Augustyou would be hard pressed to see what leg was affected. He is on the golden paste I make from Turmeric and Ive no doubt that has helped him.
 
Thank you for all the replies, it sounds like there should be a fairly positive out come, which is reassuring as it was horrible to think at only 1 he could spend the rest of his life affected.
 
my 3 yo GSD had a TAA (with titanium wedge) in august. its been slow going - initially she improved but kept having problems if she did any thing more than gentle work work in hydro. Turned out the pin and something elsewhere causing issues and they were removed a few months ago. shes just strengthened enough now to be sound when trotting. Im in kent and locally the op was 3000 +vat per leg - i took her to phoenix vets in Surrey (amazing vets) for half that price. she came home the same day.
 
I.M.N. said:
My 1 year old GSD went very lame on Monday after playing with another dog. I took him to the vets and the vet suspects cruciate ligament damage, he's going in for x-rays tomorrow to confirm. I'm after any experiences people have had with their dogs or dogs they know, did they have surgery? do you know which of the two surgery options they had? I'm only asking as my vet's are rather 'throw everything at it' and though through my own research it seems like surgery is the only option I just want to make sure I'm as informed as possible.

Thanks in advance.
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yes our NI got this and needed surgery on his ligament - needed a long time off and never really regained his strength till he went on the hydro.

Def hydro is the way to go after it made a tremendous difference
 
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