Torn ACL?

[wren123]

I think my 14 year old lab has torn her acl this evening, she was having a mad five minutes then suddenly went lame.
In leaving her till the morning as she is bright enough in herself, no signs of pain just non weight bearing on her right hind.
I've got a really bad feeling about this though as she has arthritis in one of her elbows, managed with occasional anti inflammatories and constant yumove 360 from the vet.
I'll take her to the vets tomorrow, hopefully I'm wrong and she just pulled a muscle or something and is fine in the morning.

 

[fiwen30]

An experienced orthopaedic surgeon should be able to diagnose a ruptured cruciate through manual manipulation of the joint (‘drawer test’, it’s sometimes called), but occasionally this has to be confirmed via xray. Keep her as quiet as you can, and off her feet as much as possible.

Will cross my fingers for you for tomorrow!

 

[wren123]

Thank you!

I suppose my worry is that it will impact on her elbow arthritis and it may be time to let her go, as a long recovery period will not be fair on her.

 

[fiwen30]

Yes, cruciate surgery and recovery is a long, tough road - my 10 year old is 18 months post-op, and it was a solid 4 months of rehab, and more like 6-9 for full recovery. The silver lining is that once they’re through it with no complications it’s as good as new, and they’re completely sound (bar a now compromised joint, which might require ongoing pain meds). At the time, there was no doubting that we would go for the surgery, but it would be a more difficult decision now that he’s 11.5.

Some people try non-surgical routes with older dogs, but that actually entails a far longer period of more strictly enforced non-movement, especially for larger dogs. Which then has knock on effects of muscle wastage etc., and isn’t a reliable form of treatment, regardless.

I’m going to send tons of good vibes that it’s not the cruciate at all, so you don’t have to worry about these things!

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

Any update? One of mine ruptured his cruciate at 6, then the other as that often happens, unfortunately. He recovered fully, but it took a strict regime. Hopefully she’s just twanged something.

 

[SusieT]

'no signs of pain just non weight bearing' - For future reference non weight bearing lameness is an emergency and should be treated as such - if nothing else for pain relief and to rule out more serious injuries a call must be made to the vet that day.
Not doing this is poor animal welfare - if you couldn't weight bear on your leg you'd have the choice to seek treatment/pain relief- dogs are very stoic and as their care giver it is our responsibility to seek advice/treatment without delay just becauses its an evening / weekend etc

 

[wren123]

@Cinnamontoast, she is bearing a little weight on it today thank goodness, I still probably think she's done her ligament unfortunately.
I remembered I have free online access to vets so I did a video consult on friday night because I was thinking of taking her to emergency vet.
They said as she was showing no signs of discomfort leave her till Monday so I can see her normal vet, she said keep her as inactive as possible.
So I've booked my usual vet on Monday, I've given her some galliprant I have for her elbow arthritis if needed as I'm more worried about aggravating her elbow.

 

[wren123]

Saw our usual vet this morning and it is her cruciate ligament.

He said she is too old to operate, which I totally agree with.
He said the fact that she is already putting weight on it is good, that other ligaments can compensate.
He agreed with me the worry about aggravating her elbow arthritis which is managed with occasional galliprant and yumove 360, so she's had a librela injection and is on Galliprant.
He agreed she wasn't in pain as he has known her 14 years. He's quite positive as she has improved in three days. We have to keep her from going mad but try gentle walks as he said the fact she's reasonably fit and slim help.

So I feel a lot more positive, my main concern is that her last months/years are not spent in any pain.

 

[Red-1]

I had one who did a cruciate. He was young but very big and had already had keyhole surgery on his elbow and a surgery from where his vaccination site got infected as a piece of the bung had been sucked in ?

I really didn't want him to need another operation, despite being insured, and the vet said it was worth trying a conservative approach. He had some weeks on a lead whenever he left the house, even to just go into the garden.

A couple of months later, it was fine. Never recurred.

 

[wren123]

That's good to hear @Red-1 especially as he was a big dog.

 

[TRECtastic]

My beagle is starting physio this week 3 months after pulling his cruciate
He is 9 years old , the vet said they were happy with conservative treatment when he first did it so he was on complete rest with metacam and paracetamol for pain relief. He then built up to 5 mins on lead walking ( he's not an off lead beagle anyway ? ) with regular check ups at the vets he's now up to 45 mins walks and the vet said to start physio and hydrotherapy now
So far he has recovered really well

 

[wren123]

Thanks @TRECtastic, I'm pleased your dog has recovered well and it gives me hope.

 

[Clodagh]

Best of luck with her, I hope she has many more good times with you yet.