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
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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Yeah! What great news! Bet you're feeling better! Hope Sky is too!
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
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So we met with two surgeons today. One was recommended by a friends daughter who we thought was a vet, but ended up being a vet tech. Our vet doesn't know anything about this vet, as he's 45 minutes from our town. He seemed OK- it was a small practice, and he seemed knowledgeable and does quite a few repairs- one this week, one tomorrow and then Seanna would be his third. Only problem is we don't know a whole lot about him. He charges $500 for the extracapsular filament repair, and could do the surgery Monday.
We then met with a surgical specialist at the Emergency Specialty Clinic here. She would do the extracapsular also, but prefers the TPLO, although she thought the filament would be just fine for our little dog. She charges $2000-$2500, and could do the surgery Thursday.
The option I think we are going with is to do surgery with the surgeon our vet recommends and said he would send Seanna to if she were his dog. He does a lot of the surgery, would do the filament and does great work. He charges $1200-$1500, but can't do the surgery until March 30th. I like the fact that my vet highly recommends this vets work, and he's decently priced. My husband likes the $500 vet, but I just don't feel comfortable going with a vet nobody knows a lot about. My vet said that waiting until the 30th as long as we kept her contained like we're doing, wouldn't do any further damage, or raise her severity of arthritis in the future. So I think that's what I've decided. I hope Sky is doing better!
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Good luck with Seanna! Yes, I'd probably do what you are doing. The regular vets see the aftermath of the surgeries and tend to know who the good vets in the area are. I hope all goes smoothly for you.
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Good Luck! I would also wait till the 30th and go to the vet your vet recommended.To me it sounds like the safest option!
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Permalink Reply by Sky and Lyla on
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I think you are making the right choice. I would probably do the same thing you are doing in that situation (although the cheaper solution is always most tempting).
I have a little bit of survivors guilt since Sky thus far as dodged the surgery bullet, lol. I am going to get him some rehab though just to help make sure things go smoothly. I've scheduled him to go in to an animal rehab clinic here on Monday for a consultation and then he will have twice a week hydrotherapy on the underwater treadmill. Man, that's kind of crazy if I actually stop to think about it!! I'm hoping that having someone guide me through the rehab though and getting the benefit of the no stress on the joints water therapy will help his recovery go better and decrease the chances of doing things wrong and injuring himself worse.
Good luck Seanna, hang in there!!
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That's funny you say that...I'm looking in our area for a hydrotherapy too! I bought Seanna a foldable wire cage pen to set up for her--you know the ones they set up for puppies to play in? So we've had her in there pretty much all of today, even took it outside for her to sit in the sun and watch the birds and squirrels. It was just getting too hard to keep her from trying to jump up and off the couch, chase the cats, play with our other dog, etc. The only bad part is she can't look out the window. We kennel her at night--thank God I trained her for that when she was a puppy. She hasn't needed it forever, but doesn't balk at all to go in it now. She doesn't like the new "cage". I figured she'd still be able to see us and be OK with it, but she's whined alot today. My daughter is laying in there with her right now! She'll get used to it, and it's in her best interest--even though it sucks for her and us.
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I found a clinic 30 minutes from here that does the hydrotherapy...Yea!! Hope Sky is doing better every day!
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That's great! I'll let you know how Sky's appointment on Monday goes. I'm so sad he's laid up, it is snowing today and Sky loves the snow so much. :(
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Seanna got over the gate to my room last night so was running around all night--doesn't seem like she did any more damage...hopefully she just went out and slept on the living room floor. I tried a new method to keep her out of the kennel all night..so much for that! It's back to jail every night. Let me know what they say on Monday..I'm interested in pursuing the hydrotherapy after her surgery. Good luck! Give Sky a kiss for me!
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Permalink Reply by Jill Usher on
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You know what I don't understand, Jennifer is why I was quoted $2,900 for the braided filament surgery and the small practice will do the filament for $500! OMG! We called Tufts University yesterday, too, because they are in Mass...about 1.5 hrs away from us and they said the normal cost of surgery is between $2K-$4K.
Crazy the difference in costs!
Jill
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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on
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How did Sky and Seanna get hurt?
Is there a body of knowledge about how to reduce the risk of ACL injury in corgis?
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Seanna tore hers, we think, playing outside with our German Shepherd mix. They play pretty hard, and Seanna can hold her own. We have a big fenced in back yard, and with the spring rain the yard is pretty soft, and muddy in some areas. (Hence why they know the word "tub"). She was outside playing with Sage last Sunday, and came in not putting any weight on that leg. So we are pretty sure that it was a "traumatic rupture", and not caused by degeneration. What I've found out in the last couple of days, is that the ACL injuries are more prevelant in certain breeds (labs are number one, and then large breeds), and that in Newfoundlands it's been linked to a recessive gene. So I guess it could be genetic in Corgi's too, but the board-certified surgeon said yesterday that all the corgi's she's repaired have been overweight--but said that's not Seanna's case--shew! Made me smile 'cause we struggle very hard to keep her weight at an acceptable level. So to answer your question: it's not a common problem in corgi's, if it happens to them it's usually related to being overweight or playing where their leg plants and the body keeps twisting....
I had to laugh though...the ER doctor Sunday night wrote that it was hard to evaluate if it was a tear or not due to "her pain level and extremely short legs"....
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