Cruciate Ligament
Sky seems to have torn his cruciate ligament on the left hind leg today. Nothing is official because he needed to be under sedation to tell for certain, and we didn't do that today. Probably in the next couple of days. I was curious is anyone else has had this happen to a dog and what your experiences were. Did you do surgery or no? How much did it cost?
Last month's Whole Dog Journal talked about alternatives to surgery, but it seems they are not any cheaper than surgery (which the vet today said could range from $1500-2000 and up). I am concerned about the effectiveness of such surgery and about how long I'm going to have to PBJ to pay for it! My mom is not encouraging. Her words were "it's a dog, if it's going to be that expensive you need to just put him down." =(
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Beth on
-
Yes, my parents' dog had the monofilament (the vet says he likes it because it's easy to fix if there is a problem later).
Their vet said that most of the time when a dog blows one, the other goes soon after, but in their case he was almost positive that the injury was purely mechanical and the other one seemed sound. That was a couple years ago and she's still healthy in the opposite leg.
-
Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
-
Seanna definitely ruptured it. We go to talk to the surgeon tomorrow and possibly surgery Thursday. Our vet recommended the extracapsular technique since she's a small dog, and said this is what he'd do if she were his, but she has pretty steep angles between the femur and tibia, so he said the surgeon may recommend the TPLO. I'll let you know--hope Sky is doing better...keeping you guys in our thoughts!
-
Permalink Reply by Sky and Lyla on
-
Sky is at the vet today, I actually made a quick vet swap after my regular vet's receptionist was quite rude to me yesterday (that isn't the first problem I've had with them). I was at obedience with Lyla last night, and my instructor overheard me talking to another student about Sky and about the vet issues. She pulled me aside after class and said that's not the first account she's heard of people having trouble at that clinic and referred me to her personal vet. I was able to get an appointment this morning, so now I'm just waiting to hear.
The lady I was talking to at class last night though works at a vet clinic and also breeds/shows Labs (ACL tears are very common in the Labs apparently). She said she hates the TPLO and would never do it on one of her dogs. Other people seem to love it, but if the vet suggests that for Sky I want to really talk about the pros and cons. This lady I'm sure has seen a lot of dogs with torn ligaments and said she would only have the extracasular done if it were one of hers.
Let me know when Seanna's surgery is!!
-
-
Glad you got in to a different vet. I totally go by my instinct with a person, and if I don't get a good vibe, or they are rude, then it's off to see someone else. I absolutely adore my vet, and wish he would do the surgery, but he said today that ethically he just can't--that he used to do them but now he just wouldn't do enough of them to be good at it. I trust his opinion, and even though the TPLO is the "gold standard" of repair, he thought the filament would be just as good. And a lot cheaper, which is making my husband a lot happier! I'll let you know more tomorrow....:-)
-
-
When my parents had their dog done at an orthopedic surgeon, he said he prefers the filament surgery because if something goes wrong later, it's way easier to just cut it out and start over. Or something like that; I'm talking from memory and got the story second-hand from my parents, who were the ones who actually talked to the surgeon.
-
-
Interesting, I just found this:
"There is no definitive study evidence showing that tibial plateau leveling osteotomy, or TPLO, is superior to the extracapsular method in large dogs, in fact, the University of Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s leading veterinary hospitals, will not perform the TPLO procedure as the cost/risk risks do not outweigh the benefits."
http://dogkneeinjury.com/extracapsular-imbrication-surgery-traditio...
UPenn and Cornell are the two top veterinary hospitals in this part of the country.
-
Permalink Reply by Alice on
-
I left a comment regarding the cost on the blog you posted, but as far as the actual surgery, my in-law's Corgi has had it on both back legs ( about a year apart) and he's been great. When they had the first surgery the vet told them many times if one leg goes, the other will too so they were not terribly surprised when the second ACL injury occurred. They are very happy they had the surgeries done and feel the cost was worth it.
-
-
Good news! I just picked Sky up from the *new* vet (I think I'm going to get along with this one better, I hope anyway) and she doesn't think he has a tear. She thinks he may have tweaked it or maybe even torn it very slightly, but not even enough that she could tell a problem today. In fact, she kept asking me if I was positive it wasn't the opposite leg because the other one felt a little loose to her but the hurt one felt normal. She just recommended crate rest for the next two weeks and slow exercise rehab after that. If he goes back to three legs again he has to go back for Xrays, but for right now she thinks he's good. Keeping fingers crossed!!
-
-
Great news!! Congrats!! That's so good to hear...hopefully some crate time will fix him right up and he'll be good as new. Poor Seanna...her leg is so sore today--the vet said it would be pretty painful because he manipulated it alot today. She was whining earlier--even though she's on the pain meds. I can tell she doesn't feel well 'cause she won't eat! Which has NEVER happened, as all of us corgi owners can attest to! I'm glad to hear your news, and glad you found a vet that you like. I'll let you know how Seanna does, and let me know how Sky is doing too!
-
Permalink Reply by Susan Temple on
-
That's great news! Good to hear you like the new vet too.
Rescue Store
Stay Connected
FDA Recall
Canadian Food Inspection Agency Recall
Groups
We support...
Badge
© 2024 Created by Sam Tsang.
Powered by
