6 months after ACL surgery
Gunny has not made the recovery that I expected. It seems that he cannot run around and play with his friends without having pain later and limping. We had a house full on Thanksgiving and he was very active all day long greeting people and schmoozing but by days end he could barely get up himself. I had him to the vet on Friday and the vet agreed that he should not be having this pain . We are taking him in again tomorrow to let the surgeon look him over and see whats what. Anyone out there with anything to offer from their own experience with their pet's ACL surgery? I know that I have done everything I was told, as far as after care.I bought an expensive glucosamine suppliment that he gets daily . I am so worried that something else is going on that may require further surgery.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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what type of ACL surgery did he have? TPLO or the other one? I've heard a lot of times with the other one the pets just don't recover 100%. Its a long gruelling process. With my first dog they hadn't invented the TPLO yet (this was 15+ years ago) and she had a terrible time recovering and never really got back to 100%. She also blew the other knee, had surgery on that one, then a year or so later messed up the first one again. It was a total mess. My other dog had the TPLO and everything went smoothly and after the 4 months of restricted activity he was good as new, if not better. Good luck with Gunny and hopefully he just overdid himself. Also, a big factor in my second dog's success was his weight loss program. The pups with bad knees or hips are better kept on the skinny side. Don't know Gunny's weight, but being a corgi I can guess it won't hurt him to loose a few pounds to help out the knees.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
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Seanna had surgery in March. She had the extracapsular technique with the "fishing line"...She too limps and is lame after running, playing really hard. I took her back to the surgeon, and he said her leg is great--very, very stable. When he did the surgery, she already had arthritis forming. The old belief used to be to shave all the new bony cells forming, to make a smooth surface. They then found out that this only made the arthritis come back faster and worse than before. So the surgeon thinks that Seanna's bony spur catches on the ligament or tissue, and causes her some pain after. Sometimes she can just get up wrong and she won't put any weight on the leg for awhile. He has no doubt that she is having pain, but we decided that maybe she over-reacts a little--she is quite the drama queen. So we have no activity restrictions, and if she favors it after activity or whatever, we give her 3 days of previcoxx. That's the only difference. We still do the Dasaquin every day, just add the previcoxx to it for a short time.
Unfortunately, the leg will never be 100%, even with the surgery. But the surgery makes it better than without. The arthritis will still form, and it just depends on the dog as to how bad and how fast it comes. Let me know what your surgeon says--I'm interested to hear! Good luck!
Jen
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Permalink Reply by Diane Burda on
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This sound very much like Gunny's situation. He had the same kind of surgery, with the " fish line" , in June. The doc mentioned perhaps having some bone fragment being the reason. I assume they will x ray again when we go for our visit with the surgeon later this afternoon. Your input has put my mind somewhat at ease because I am worried that something more might be wrong and another surgery might be necessary. What is previcoxx? Is it a steroid? What are the risks? How old is Seanna? I keep beating myself up thinking that I should have opted for the more elaborate TPLO surgery and he would not have this problem. But whats the use of that, right?
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Exactly! Don't worry about what could have been....I went with the less expensive surgery because all vets said that's what they would do if it was their dog. Plus, it was a $1000 difference--which isn't that big of a deal, but the thought of actually cutting bone and rearranging everything grossed me out. And if she was just going to blow the other one later, my husband would disown me for spending $5000 on a dog. (I would give any amount of money, but he's a little different...:-)...). Seanna is a little corgi, and was overweight at the time. She was 29# at her heaviest, and we have her down to 23# now, with a goal of 21#. It was my understanding that the TPLO advantage was just that they couldn't reinjure it in the future, but that the arthritis would still form.
I totally freaked the first time she injured it and wouldn't put weight on it, which was 6 months out from the surgery. I had the "oh no here we go again" feeling. But she really has done well. The Previcoxx is a non-steroidal, kind of like Aleve or Ibuprofen for humans. (Which, you CANNOT give to dogs). She gets a 57mg tablet for 3 days if she favors it, and then goes right back to normal. No exercise restrictions. The only risk of the previcoxx is stomach bleeding with long-term use. Seanna is 3 1/2 now, and we're pretty sure her rupture was trauma related...she was playing in the backyard with our shepherd mix when it happened, and so far her other leg is totally stable. Keeping our fingers crossed on that one! Another corgi member, Jill Usher, has a corgi that had the tight-rope procedure done about the same time as Seanna. He needs his other leg done in the spring, but is kinda having the same symptoms periodically as ours. Hang in there--it kinda sounds like it's to be expected. Let me know though how it turns out!
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Oh I need to know what you are doing for the weight loss. Gunny was at 30lbs when his knee blew...he too was just playing with a neighbors puppy. He made a quick darting maneuver and cried out in pain. would not put weight on the back right leg . I had him to the vet the next day and surgery one week to the day.We got his weight down a bit after surgery but the lack of exercise now is making weight loss impossible., He is at his top weight of 32 pounds and I am only feeding him 1/3 cup of dry low fat Innova mixed with a heaping tablespoon of canned California Naural twice a day I try to watch the snack bones and he might get one or two per day. ( he won't eat just the dry without some wet mixed in) Tell me what you are doing to get the weight down. We really need help.
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For my big dog that had the TPLO we got A TON of weight off with the vet prescribed Hills R/D. In doing some research I have found that Nutro Natural Choice Lite dog food is the lowest calorie food you can buy without a prescription. It is just a tad higher than the R/D but probably about $20 to $30 cheaper a bag. May be worth a try switching to a different food. I found that with a lot of the premium dog foods I had to feed almost NOTHING and my dog still gained weight (a mix of canidae platinum for senior overweight dogs and a steriod is how my dog got so heavy to begin with). We switched his food and his weight just melted off. It was amazing, he was on restricted exercise for 4 months after the TPLO but we still managed to get about 15-20 pounds off of him (he was 150 to start, he was at his ideal weight of 125 at the end). We actually had trouble keeping the weight on him with that food and switched to a maintenance diet after that.
We also kept him on a glucosamine/chodrotin supplement and he got rimadyl (like previcoxx) for a few days on his bad days. As he got older we had to give rimadyl twice a day and add in tramadol, but he suffered very little pain from his surgery leg, more hips and shoulders that bothered him.
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The biggest thing we did was cut out snacks of people food. Do you have a place near you that does hydrotherapy? Seanna went twice a week for 8 weeks, and that not only helped with her rehab and making her leg stronger, but it helped get a pound or two off during her "low key" periods. We are diligent about walking now--we do a minimum of 20 minute walks at least 3 times a week. Now that it's winter she'd run the whole way if I let her. (I'm too old to do that now!) She gets 1/3 cup of Taste of the Wild Healthy Stages twice daily--but we just switched to that. She was getting Wellness Healthy Weight. (Same amount). She also gets a Wellness Snack twice daily, or some home made biscuits (Jane gave us the recipe when we adopted Jackson). I know some people use canned pumpkin or green beans mixed in with their food, but Seanna would never eat the green beans. She LOVED the pumpkin however. She finally eats carrots, and likes bananas. Everyone on here has GREAT suggestions as how to get the weight off, but the biggest thing I did was cut her amount way down (I was WAY overfeeding her), exercising, and cut out people food. Hope that helps!!
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Well we just got home from the vet visit. $190. later.... Xrays showed that everything looked good. Doc checked out hips and feet too..all looks to be fine. He said there wan't even any real sign of arthritis. All good news. He suggested we do a two week round of Rimadyl(sp?) 1 pill twice a day. He thinks this should make him more comfortable and help with any inflamation. I am not one to give meds easily( I'd rather do the holistic approach) but unfortunately we do not have holistic vets in Youngstown Ohio. We also do not have a hydro therapy place. I would be all over that in a heart beat. There is one in Akron Ohio about an hour away, but in the winter that trek can be nasty. anyway .. thats the story. I am grateful that there wasn't anything major discovered today. We will focus on geting his weight down . Have a follow up at the vet in 2 weeks and will ask about their prescription weight management food. Thanks to all of you for your input.,I love love love this site and all the Corgi owners here. Wishing you all Happy Holidays and Healthy New Year!
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I hope everything goes OK. Seanna has been very maneagable, even if she's not 100%. Let me know how the weight goes!
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Gunny is back to normal a year after ACL surgery. His weight is at 30lbs....we walk( when it is cool enough)...he is back to doing his running circles around the basement and family room and anywhere else he happens to be when I say "Run"! It was a long healing process but thankfully he is walking and running normally. No sign of a limp.
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Permalink Reply by Kristie, Rocky & Izzy on
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Same with my Izzy it took that long as well. But is now running full speed. I worry about her injuring herself again if she doesn't slow down at times!
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I am the same way! When he starts running around outside with the same pup he was chasing when the ACL tore last year I am very nervous....I tell them both to slow down....last summer was horrible and I do not want to see him go through anything like that agian!
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