cruciate ligament injury

maxapple

maxapple

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Has anyone had a dog with this type of injury that has recovered without surgery.

My JRT came in hopping about 3 months ago - so I took her to the vet. He suspected a cruciate ligament injury / tear so did X-Rays. The ligament isn't torn, but there was swelling to some parts around her knee. Funnily enough, after manipulating the joint when she was under anasthetic it got better for a while.

Before this she always had a problem with this leg and when on walks would sometimes just hop along on three legs. I always thought it was her pelvis as she has always walked a bit wonky??

Anyway - after the xray, vet gave her metacam & told me to resrict her activity and it was improving - but she has always been a bit lame on it and today looks like she has pulled something again and is now hopping.

I will take her back to the vet tomorro - but can't imagine being happy agreeing to an op. The vet had said she would need to be on crate rest for 3 months (???) - which is just not do-able. We work full time and have a cat flap leading into our 200ft garden that she and my other JRT go in and out of as they please. They come to the yard with me - he runs around and I am keeping her on a short lead to restirct movement.

She would be very distressed being locked in a crate - we got her from someone who had planned to breed from her and she had been shut in kennels and spent all day jumping up and down at the door everytime someone walked by. She gets very distressed if she thinks she is to be left alone and will just jump up and down - which wouldn'd aid recovery! She is also inseperable from my other JRT - and there is no way I could lock him inside the house as he is a very active, outdoor dog.

not really sure what to do next :(
 
Sorry to hear you are having problems. Please don't dismiss the surgery without some serious consideration. It really does give your dog a new lease of life. They are pain free and back to their normal selves in a relatively short space of time. I have 2 rotts and Dexter has had both of his done whilst Sage has just recovered from her first. I know at some point the other will have to be done.
I did not cage rest either of them. They were on resricted activity for 8 weeks and then I just kept an eye on them for the next few weeks. It goes much quicker than you think it will and imo is worth it.
 
Sorry to hear about your dog. Our little JRT has a problem like this in both her back legs, the vet thinks from birth. She had one operated on and recovered fine. The other leg is now causing her problems but we are considering an op on this leg. Only problem is that after the insurance paid for the first op they have said they will not pay for the second op, and vet has quoted £900-£1200. We are currently trying to rest her!! and it seems to be helping. The vet said as she is small she should cope really well. If the problem persists then we will have to really think about another op. Luckily at this time of year she likes nothing better than to wrap herself up in her quilt and sleep, so she is resting it!!
 
My JRT Millie, stretched her cruciate ligament and had an op - she now has a nylon ligament running along side the existing one. It took a longer time than it should for her to recover but I would definitely do it again if she needed it regardless of how hard it was, it's given her a new lease of life and I don't have to watch her hop around in discomfort.

Please don't rule out operating, for your dogs sake not yours. Depending on what sort of damage done I doubt it'll repair it's self.
 
Thanks for the replies - I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow and I guess the op it is. Its good to out my mind at rest with other peoples experiences and know its not as awful as I thought.

Just for the record - its her I'm worried about, not me, but will find a way of helping her get better minus the crate I hope. I hate seeing her in pain so we will have to find a way of getting through the recovery.
 
what a shame, i know how worrying it is, my dobermann bitch did both of hers 2 years ago. she had them operated on and now has bionic legs, (think mecanno). She recovered really well, she wasn't crated,nor we we told to.. I just kept her as quiet sa possible. To be honest, they are not stupid, they know they need to rest and not be a teapot. I put her on the lead even in the garden though just to make sure she didn't run around. I started by taking her out for 10 mins on the lead and she wasn't allowed to be free for 3 months. It went in quite quickly and she coped with it all really well. The hardest part was going out in the morning to the yard and not taking her. Her ops were a week apart and at the time, I didn't dare believe that she would come out of it as well as she has.
Bill for both was £4,600! (thank you petplan:D)

Good luck, hope he heals as well as cara.
 
maxapple said:
Just for the record - its her I'm worried about, not me, but will find a way of helping her get better minus the crate I hope. I hate seeing her in pain so we will have to find a way of getting through the recovery.
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I'm sorry, I didn't mean for my post to sound like you weren't worried about her.

I don't think Millie was crated for long - she's more of a sofa dog than a loon any way :p

My vet recommended hydrotherapy although we never actually got to do it, more because our closest pool wasn't very helpful nor interested. Maybe that's why she took longer to come sound?

Fingers crossed for her :D
 
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