12-16-2016, 08:44 AM | #1 |
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Anyone experience their dog tearing an ACL?
I have a 5 year old boxer. She is limping most of the time now. I took her in and was diagnosed with a torn ACL in her back leg. They offer a couple options. Lateral Suture or TPLO (metal plates) surgery. The cost of these surgeries are between $1400 to $3500. Some opt to do no surgery, but I can't stand to watch her limp around. Anyone experience this?
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12-16-2016, 08:47 AM | #2 |
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Yes, it happened to our 11 year old lab in December 2015, we took her in immediately for the surgery. It was around $2k for the vet bill.
Sorry to hear, hope she gets better soon. Cheers, Chad |
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12-16-2016, 08:57 AM | #3 |
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Sister's Rotty had to have surgery. Ran them about $4k.
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12-16-2016, 09:31 AM | #5 |
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My 6 year old lab experienced this, we did a less invasive approach, joint meds, physical therapy, and muscular laser therapy.. Although he is not 100% he is very comfortable, he can walk, run, and play. The lateral suture are not for medium to large sized dogs, they are meant to stabilize the joint while scar tissues builds up to "repair" and stabilize. The TTA and TPLO are the only procedures that are typically recommended for large dogs like labs. But they are both pretty invasive, saw off part of your bone, insert metal implant, to relocate and redesign joint. The recovery process is a lot longer. Realize these vet specialists/surgeons like to push the TTA/TPLO as they are higher cost / higher profit surgeries for dogs. Generally there is still a ~50% success rate roughly from my research.
http://www.breckenridgeanimalclinic....-tplo-surgery/ |
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12-16-2016, 09:34 AM | #6 |
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My Golden Retreiver tore both the ACL and ACL on his right hind leg and the MCL on his left hind leg (each occurred in separate instances over a few years). Surgerical repairs each time helped him continue to run around like an idiot for many years, though he did get pretty sore after some time and would need to stretch it out after a good run.
My cat broke his ankle 2 years ago and ran up roughly 15k in emergency visits, surgery bills (3 separate procedures), and radio graphs over the 2 years of treatment and follow up. The worst part of that was keeping him in a caged in pen for 2 months or more after each surgery. If you love your dog, you'll get it the best care and make the finances work as needed. Care Credit is a great option for paying out vet bills with various no interest periods depending on the total cost. Good luck!
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12-16-2016, 09:36 AM | #7 |
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My boxer did this at about 4 years old, the vet said there was two routes to go, isolate the dog in his crate for 6 months in the hopes that it would heal or surgery. Did the surgery, nasty scar but the dog had great quality of life for 6 more years.
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12-16-2016, 09:56 AM | #8 |
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I will probably go with the lateral suture. The vet said it should be fine since she is about 52 lbs. I am being told to expect a good chance that the other leg will tear.
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12-16-2016, 02:04 PM | #10 |
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This is why i didn't get my dog neutered until he was done growing. Athletic dogs in particular have a higher chance of ligament/tendon damage due to longer bone growth as a result of being neutered at a young age. Apparently the hormone to notify the body to stop growing is eliminated when neutered at a young age and bone growth continues past muscle/ligament/tendon development. Levers longer than their connective tissues puts more stress on those connective tissues. When this happens to athletic dogs that are prone to quick movements and running fast their chance of muscle/ligament/tendon damage increases.
That said, dogs were designed with 3 legs. The 4th is a spare.
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12-16-2016, 02:08 PM | #11 |
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Not an ACL but my Westie had a luxating Patella (trick knee). Started acting up at 2 and his knee would lock up every 3rd or 4th step. Definitely a quality of life thing, surgery was about $2.5K that included his therapy. They did a great job and he has never had an issue since (knock on wood).
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12-17-2016, 05:03 PM | #12 |
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Our previous German Shepherd tore her ACL and we had it repaired. Can't remember the cost but she was literally as good as new after the surgery. I would definitely recommend having it done to improve the dog's QOL. We couldn't stand watching her limp around and being sad all the time.
That being said, we have another German Shepherd that is about 9 years old and my wife literally just picked up another German Shepherd puppy as a Christmas present for our kids. She is on her way home with her right now. Here she is: |
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12-17-2016, 05:17 PM | #13 | ||
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My dogs are very active, and for the recovery time needed, I couldn't keep them still. That's a major operation and for an older dog (4-8 years old), that could be considered to. Mine are 1 and four and if they tore an acl, for either a surgery wouldn't be an option. A 4k bill or six has been paid by me over the years. I've also put down a dog for 2500 since I knew he wouldn't have been happy while recovering. Buying a dog is easy, loving a dog is effortless. Letting go is horrible but at times it's not about us.
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12-19-2016, 02:12 AM | #14 |
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Not a dog but my buddies savannah cat tore it jumping on the refrigerator, 3K later he's all good, in my opinion, if you have it set aside pay for the surgery, its better safe then sorry.
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12-19-2016, 10:52 AM | #15 |
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My 7yo Airedale Terrier tore her left hind ACL and MCL clear through. Had an artificial ligament put in it its place. Surgery cost $3500 I used Care Credit. 0% financing for 12 months. Approximately 6 months post surgery she was doing excellent, almost no limp what so ever. She was playing in the back yard with our other dog and tore the other side, apparently it is very common as they shift their weight to the better side, but it puts more stress on it. This time it was only a small tear in the ACL, but she needed surgery again. Not so bad this time, $1200, but it still sucked. I bit the bullet and just paid for it out of pocket. But now about 1 year post surgery's she definitely has a pronounced limp and can't get up and down the stairs as well as she used to. She also runs with both rear limbs together. She is not in pain but it sucks to have to see. For quality of life I am still glad that I had the surgery done.
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12-19-2016, 10:20 PM | #17 |
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I've had this happen to 2 of my dogs. If you can afford the surgery - do it for the dog.
You must consider how you'll handle the recovery however. The must be kept calm and immobile until the ligament can heal. |
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12-20-2016, 08:14 AM | #18 |
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our lap/pit mix tore hers when she was three. chasing chipmunk through the juniper bushes on our hillside. took her to vet and at the time, $4k for surgery wasn't in the cards. We nursed her for a few months, carrying her up and down the steps. Within 9 months, she was back to chasing her brother around and hunting chipmunks.
Then my wife made me rip out all the juniper bushes and redo the retaining wall at the bottom. She's now 9 and healthy as can be. |
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12-20-2016, 08:41 AM | #19 |
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You should understand that dog ligaments are not repaired like humans, they only mobilize the dogs knee either by shaving the bone or screwing a metal plate or drilling nylon string through the joint. The knee builds up scar tissue to take the place of the ligament. When my 5 year old pit bull tore both I wrapped the knee to limit movement, carried her up and down stairs and gave her joint supplements, the final result will be the same scar tissues as a 5,000 surgery. You should limit activity as much as possible for 8 weeks, a year later and my dog is running again, no more limping.
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12-21-2016, 01:38 PM | #20 |
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If your dog is around 5 years old, I'd probably go the surgery route if the vet advises it.
My dog was 8 when she tore her ACL, but the vet advised against surgery since she was older for a Chow. We had to limit her activity in the house, keep her from getting excited, and had to limit walks for a few months. It took about 2 months to return to taking walks, and it was a gradual increase over several months, and close to a year until she seemed 100% on that leg again; she seemed to fully recover though and had a good few years after until she passed away earlier this year.
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12-21-2016, 02:10 PM | #21 | |
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My primary vet said they think my dog has a torn ACL, but didnt do xrays just the test and by feeling...so went for a second option at a specialist.. (VRC in Malvern PA..Awesome if you in the area) they did some xrays and it wasn't a torn ACL, actually teh ACL was in great shape... but his hip joint pops in and out easily, I forget the technical name for it. He poped it back in place and my dog walking fine.. it did happen again when he jumped in the air for the ball landed funny but it eventually went back in on its own. Thank god becuase hes active to and the recovery time for the ACL is crazy and hes too nuts to be that patient.. I would recommend a second option, they have specialist for dogs..even a dentist...my dog had a freaking root canal done lol |
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12-21-2016, 02:27 PM | #22 |
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If you're sure it's torn, opt for the TPLO. If the dog was MUCH lighter than 50lb I'd say the lateral suture would be worth it, but 50+lb is a lot of weight on the joint. Also get a 2nd opinion if you're not sure. Luckily we have Cornell Medical center in my town which is one of the best in the country, and they have an absurd amount of experience with these procedures.
My bulldog was diagnosed with a torn ACL, luckily I had insurance. The bill was $4500, brutal. But it's an extremely common procedure and aside from having to carry him up and down my stairs for a couple months (he's 70lbs), he recovered flawlessly. ALSO - do not discount what Whinodez said. Before I opted for surgery, I tried a combination of anti-inflammatories and strict rest for 4 weeks straight to see if it began to repair itself. In some dogs it does. Unfortunately mine didn't, so we had to go forward with surgery. I still get nervous the other one will go, general consensus says there's a 60%-90% chance the dog tears his other ACL within 1 year of having the surgery done on the first one. I am at one year total. Also look into joint medication supplements to give the dog with his daily food. I use TerraMax Pro hip and joint and I have seen a HUGE difference in the recovery time. My bulldog is 4.5yrs old and he's jumping higher than I ever remember before. I was SO freaking down after he tore his ACL.....I had no idea how I could possibly go through with a 4+month rehab....I was terrified he'd never run again. But it really wasn't that bad at all. Now Brembo can run like the wind once again!
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