Cruciate Ligament Surgery

[monkeytrunks]

We just got home from two weeks of a blissful, peaceful holiday to find that when we picked up our dogs from the boarding kennel there had been a little accident that morning. Apparently when they were washing my dogs - a male Bullmastiff and female Dobermann - the dogs were playing afterwards and the 53kg male barrelled full on into the 32kg female and injured her hind leg. We took her straight to the vet and now she is booked in to get a cruciate ligament repair surgery on Thursday. I admit I was and still am in shock about the whole thing, especially as we also got home to a smashed window and a heap of unpleasantness involved with that. I even walked straight outof the vets forgetting to pay the bill. After searching various sites I am even more confused about the surgery than before. I am going to see the Vet Monday and have a bit of a discussion about it all (and pay the bill!) and would like a little advice and direction about the questions I need to ask! I keep reading about the different types of procedures and I don't know which one is the one my dog is going to have!!! Do I need to crate her or can she be restricted to a small pen? Don't judge my vet badly as she did take the time to explain some of it at the time and they have all been fantastic since but I really was that devastated and shocked it just went in one ear and out the other! Especially when I realised how bad the injury was and how much it was going to cost! It was just horrible seeing my dog so happy to see us and obviously so hurt. :p

[jadesamara]

We just got home from two weeks of a blissful, peaceful holiday to find that when we picked up our dogs from the boarding kennel there had been a little accident that morning. Apparently when they were washing my dogs - a male Bullmastiff and female Dobermann - the dogs were playing afterwards and the 53kg male barrelled full on into the 32kg female and injured her hind leg. We took her straight to the vet and now she is booked in to get a cruciate ligament repair surgery on Thursday. I admit I was and still am in shock about the whole thing, especially as we also got home to a smashed window and a heap of unpleasantness involved with that. I even walked straight outof the vets forgetting to pay the bill. After searching various sites I am even more confused about the surgery than before. I am going to see the Vet Monday and have a bit of a discussion about it all (and pay the bill!) and would like a little advice and direction about the questions I need to ask! I keep reading about the different types of procedures and I don't know which one is the one my dog is going to have!!! Do I need to crate her or can she be restricted to a small pen? Don't judge my vet badly as she did take the time to explain some of it at the time and they have all been fantastic since but I really was that devastated and shocked it just went in one ear and out the other! Especially when I realised how bad the injury was and how much it was going to cost! It was just horrible seeing my dog so happy to see us and obviously so hurt.

Hi MT. I can't offer you many questions etc, but I can offer some support. Our female Dobe (yes, believe it or not our girl got the same injury!) tore her cruciate ligament somehow on our property. She was about 6-7 when it happened, I think. We lost her 31/3/10 aged 14yrs, 1 week, so it obviously didn't impact too much on her life! We did have a few troubles after the surgery though. The wound didn't seem to heal at all in the first week, and started swelling and looking inflamed. We took her back to the vet, who prescribed antibiotics for infection. Another week after that, I took her back yet again. Things were not improving. He agreed, and decided to "go back in" and give it a clean out. It turns out her body was rejecting the implant. He removed the prosthetic part, and instead tightly sutured the ligaments and ? (stuff). It was hard to understand at the time, and so long ago, but I believe he wrapped the part tightly with the nylon so it wouldn't move.

Anyway, we kept her quiet (hard as we had another dog the same age), and she healed pretty well (albeit scarred from the numerous openings). She did develop arthritis in that knee pretty early on, though. But overall, it was fine. Once they are on their feet and mobile, you will see it would be the best thing you ever did for her!

Good luck with it all. Fingers crossed for you that she makes a speedy recovery. Keep us informed!

[Golden Rules]

No a crate is not absolutely essential, a pen will be perfect. My 32kg dog was just confined to two rooms for 6 weeks and only went outside on lead for toilet trips.

If you do a search here for 'cruciate', you will come up with lots of threads and great information.

Good luck with the op, and let us know how you go.

[monkeytrunks]

Thanks heaps for the replies and support. Fantastic to hear from a fellow Dobie owner too. My girl is only 4, but she is not really full on active like most Dobes (although she does love doing zoomies) so I am hoping her temperament will help her recovery heaps. I have heaps of those Bunnings wire cages so plan to restrict her using those. And no playing with her boisterous mate for some time!

I plan to have a good talk with the Vet Monday once my head has cleared a bit so that I understand it all. I did do a search of the surgery before I posted and that is partly why I was further flummoxed. Everyone was talking about different types of cruciate surgery and I wasn't sure which procedure my dog was up for. Either way I will get more info on Monday and appreciate you sharing your experiences in the meantime.

[silentchild]

My rottie had the surgery about a year ago. She had the TPLO surgery done by a specialist who came very highly reccommended to us. After the surgery she was very tired and we supported her back end with a towel whenever she went toilet as she had difficulty walking & also found it hard to negotiate steps. Her leg was also pretty swollen for a while. We also took her for hydrotherapy sessions and lots of massages to help the recovery. Now she is fully healed and running / jumping like it had never happened! Also, we didn't use a pen or crate, she simply lay in her bed all day. All we had to do was make sure she didn't move around too much, which was easy as she didn't really want to move anyway! You may need a pen or crate tho if she is going to be by herself for periods of time.

Anyway, that was my experience - it was worrying, expensive and with a lot of back & forth trips to the vet but it all turns out fine in the end. Good luck to you and do keep us updated!

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

Ruby our mixed breed recently had the cruciate op...our local vet did the surgery and the results have been fantastic. Ruby was completely lame in the leg prior to the op and while it's taken a while, she's now using the leg about 85% of the time. She had rimadyl post-op followed by cartrophen weekly for 4 wks and will repeat in 6 mths or so.

We chose the lower cost option due to Ruby's size and prognosis and have been very pleased with the result.

She was crated for the first week home. Restricted to lead walks to toilet for the first 4 wks. We still carry her up the stairs though she can walk down most of the time. I recommend crating over anything else, as they need complete rest in order for the wound to heal up properly. Ruby's looked a bit manky so we took her in after 3 days but it was all good.

Talk again with your vet about the options as there are several different types of repair, some of which are more suitable for larger breeds than the option we chose for Ruby.

[Tassie]

That's relly bad luck.

No personal experience, thank goodness, but from what I've heard/read - at 32kg your girl is likely to be a good candidate for TPLO - the more expensive option - but one which may well be preferable.

Unless your own vet is experienced and knowledgeable about orthopaedics, it might be worth seeing an ortho specialist, to explore options before you make your decision.