cruciate repair

Jools1234

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my poor lurcher she crashed 2wks ago and has been lame on occasion since, i took her to work with to see one of the vets tonight and now she is booked for cruciate repair tuesday-the long rest and rehab period will be terrible for her
 
Been through 3 now, 2 on my rotti and 1 on my akita (akitas) was very bad and she had an arthrodesis too (very painful) even for her and she is well hard, however both healed in rapid time but then both mine are very calm dogs.
 
vet is querying a chipped bone that may be catching the cruciate so wont know till tues when they xray and do whats needed.

she is a lovely dog but rest and her do not go together very well and usually she is a wimp but she is only lame on this if she runs or spins so that may make it harder to keep her quiet
 
Do you know what surgical technique they use? This is going to sound like advertising, but I'm genuinely excited about it, having been there with several dogs in the past with varying degrees of success! One of my clients has developed a technique which uses titanium foam wedges , called the Modified Macquet Procedure, which is outperforming traditional surgeries by miles in terms of surgery time, recovery time, and long term success. Might be worth mentioning to your vet - tell him there's an article about it in the Dec issue of Vet Practice mag!
 
Not the same implications as a larger breed, but one of my terriers had a torn cruciate earlier this year. Went with a course of Cartrophen injections and she, having been 10/10 lame, is now sound.
 
The recovery time is crucial, forgive the pun! My springer was remarkably calm and because we were super careful, he recovered fully. Be warned that once one goes, the other tends to also.
 
My boxer had a non surgical repair on a cruciate injury, had a Robert jones splint on for a couple of weeks followed by a large recovery period of restricted exercise. He still has quarterly massages to ease tight spots on his back which are a legacy of the injury and him compensating gait wise, now he is sound as a pound and bombing about the place like a typical boxer :)
 
The recovery time is crucial, forgive the pun! My springer was remarkably calm and because we were super careful, he recovered fully. Be warned that once one goes, the other tends to also.

yes keeping her quiet as she recovers will be really tough-i have got the crate back out and she is confined apart from going in the garden on a lead to the loo

as hers is a caused by a blow to the area not a conformation weakness the other is unlikely to go.
the surgery is being done where i work by a surgeon that used to do orthapedics surgery at the RVC as well as other surgery before and after

i dont know how to multi quote, but in response to the other post about different techniques i dont know what the procedure is called but its putting a suture in to support the cruciate where it should be-or thats whati believe, i will be having a longer chat with the surgeon on monday as i was a bit shocked at the diagnosis as the dog is usually such a wimp but has not been consistently lame, she has just been really clingy so i knew something was not right.

this dog blew one of my terriers cruciates by running into him 4 yrs ago and he was rested for 4-6wks and made a full recovery, research shows that dogs over 15kg fair better with surgery but those under have a good chance of recovery without so not doing the surgery is not an option for her, she is a crazy 23.5kg of very fast, very fit running dog
 
my dobermann, cara, had both legs done a week apart. she was 2 at the time. she was weight bearing the next day. the next three months were difficult but she coped really well. She was a very bouncy, energetic dog but seemed to just go with the flow. I think they just accept things and get on with it.
If one goes, i think there is a 30% chance of the other going too.
Hope it goes well for you.
 
Our mastiff x damaged his cruciate at the beginning of this year, chasing a fox through a wood. We chose the non surgical route, I had the money for the surgery but Murphy was 79kg at the time and it was likely that the other leg would go if he had the surgery because of compensating for the bad leg. Murphy had hydrotherapy twice a week for 3 months and was on strict rest for most of that time, starting to go for longer (controlled) waks towards the end. He is sound now but is not allowed off the lead at all because we don't want him to injure himself again and we are likely to keep him under control for a good while yet. Good luck with your dog, I hope all goes well.
 
thanx dolce, it was an unusual route to take for such a large dog but glad its working for you.
my lurcher is and ideal weight and build for the surgery so surgery it will be, she is just a nightmare to rest so either way it would be tough
 
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