Cruciate ligament injury - does anyone have any experience?

Ravenwood

Ravenwood

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Flyn's hind leg has swollen up double the size and earlier he was not just hopping lame but doing a JRT impression and going on three legs
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It is particularly swollen and most painful around his knee, his hock is also swollen and it runs down to his paw,

I can't find anything in his paw, I can't find any cuts or puncture marks anywhere on his leg, so assuming this isn't poison, and I don't think it is because its not particularly hot, I can only guess he has damaged a tendon on the hard ground
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I have read up what I can find on the internet and unfortunately it would appear that his symptoms are for a cruciate ligament injury. Currently he seems perfectly happy and eating etc, but his leg is just as swollen. I will take him to the vets tomorrow morning - God I am so well known there, I seem to be in there all the time what with Toby's elbows, the epilectic one eyed cat and Flyn's throat abcess
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It would seem that for large dogs an op is essential (Flyn is a Springer but quite a big, well built one) and if this is the case I am absolutely dreading the post op treatment of keeping him quiet - I just don't know how he will cope with this nevermind the cost!

So has anyone had a dog with a cruciate ligament injury, how did it happen, what were the symptoms and if you had the op how did it go? I would be very appreciative of any experience.

Many thanks - what a start to 2009
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There are a couple of us on here who have had/are in the throes of this op. My rotty had his left one done in July and has just had his right one done in November. He went lame but had no swelling at all on either occasion. It is a hugely expensive op, around 3000 each leg, and the post op care is a pin but doable. My dog is just a breed where this type of problem is common so not caused by anything in particular.
The left leg healed like a dream and he is completely sound on it. His right has just been x-rayed and is healing perfectly but he is still lame so hopefully time will improve this.
Fingers crossed for you that it isn't a cruciate problem. Let us know.
 
Three Grand!!!
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Perhaps I will just saw his leg off as he was coping perfectly with three earlier!!!

Seriously though, as your dog is one of the breeds that is prone to this in a degenerative state, do you think thats why it didn't swell? I am guessing Flyn has done this tearing around on the rock hard ground and caused the injury by accident.

I am probably jumping the gun here anyway - I should really wait and see what the vets diagnosis is.

Very glad to hear that your boy is doing well.
 
I was talking to a lady at the vets where we had Dexters op done and she had a JRT. He had done his cruciate playing football. Sorry no idea about the swelling but hopefully you'll get some good news from the nice vet man!!
Yep it is a scary amount of dosh eh? Man I love PetPlan at times like this....don't think they like me much though!
 
my dobermann b1tch had double cruciate op a year ago, they were done a week apart. it cost 4.5k. the hardest thing was the 3 months rest but they soon get used to it. after the first op, she was putting weight on it after a day. she has never looked back. anyway, wait for the diagnosis.
It is a footballer type injury, it's the twisting, turning thing that does it. mine did the second one chasing a ball and turning back fast. she is really active and turns on a sixpence.
Anyway, she had the ops a year ago past november and is doing fab now.
 
Well have the experience of owning a dog that damaged his cruciate and also repairing them on a regular basis!
Is his knee mainly swollen on the inside? Cruciate injuries normally produce a small amount of swelling on the inner aspect of the stifle (called the medial buttress). There is usually (but not always) instability in the joint called cranial draw which your vet will probably check for. If he has a draw then he's definitely done his cruciate I'm afraid. The quotes you've had off here are most likely for a repair via a TPLO (tibial plateau levelling operation) and is quite expensive but not necessary in all cases. Josh, my dog had an "over the top" repair and is now completely sound. He did his in a comedy double act with Daisy *rolls eyes* they both tried to jump a stile at the same time and collided in the middle in a moment that looked like it should have been part of a tom and jerry cartoon, but Josh's leg got caught round the stile and thats how he did his. His case was confusing as he had no external signs - no medial buttress and no cranial draw - but there was crepitus (clicking sensation) in the joint so I knew he'd done something to his stifle - as it happens the crepitus was because he'd cracked his meniscus (little cartilage cushions) in the joint too and had to have that removed.
Anyway I regularly repair cruciates either by "over the top" or with a DeAngelis suture - we charge round about the £450 mark for this depending on the size of the dog. We refer dogs for TPLOs and the local orthopaedic guy charges about £2500 for those.
Anyway you don't know for definite that is what he as done yet and so I would wait and see what the vet says before worrying too much but let me know if you want to know any more about the op etc if you need to.
 
One of my JRs had one of her cruciate ligaments operated on, she didn't have any swelling but wasn't putting weight on her leg. Think it only cost a couple of hundred, 3 tops but then she's small so maybe that had something to do with it.

What they did with Millie was replace her ligament with a nylon one, I think her actual one is still there (could be another reason it was cheaper). She was supposed to be sound after a couple of months or so but in actual fact it was probably nearly a year before she could go on a decent walk without coming back hopping. She's fine now.

One of my mum's HWV had a hock joint swell to double it's size, her's was tendon damage and required some medication and rest.

Don't worry too much until you know for sure what it is.
 
similar to ann-jen - i repair cruciates and we charge around £500-£750 depending on size of dog. we also refer dogs to the local orthopaedic guys for TPLO/TTA and they charge around £3000 a leg.
 
Thank you all for your replies, I am ashamed to say that I missed the vets this morning (they only open for half an hour on a Saturday morning). However, the swelling has gone down, although not completely and he isn't lame at all on it now. I will see how it is on Monday morning and take him along for a check up.
 
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