My dog injured his ACL. Surgery or no?

[mooncancook]

My dog just tripped a cord at home while play running and started limping a week ago. Took it to vet and found out it's ACL tear. Vet suggested surgery, but said I should read up about ACL injury and surgery first. I called and scheduled for a surgery in 2 weeks anyway.

Now I read up a little more about ACL injuries in dogs, I start having second thought. I read that small dogs may not need surgery, and that I should give it 8 weeks to see if it heals on its own before deciding. Surgery is very expensive and I know the recovery is difficult and painful. I think I'm going to cancel surgery for now and give it more time to see if it heals. It'll be a difficult task to restrict my dog from playing.

btw my dog is a 2.5 yrs old 22lb bichon, big for a bichon, but still a small dog. Any suggestions? experience to share in dealing with ACL injuries of your dog?

 

[bignateyk]

That sucks. Did you ask the vet if any harm would come from waiting to see if it would heal on its own? If it won't make things worse I would definitely do that before plopping down several thousand on surgery. A coworker of mine spent like 4 grand after his medium sized dog tore his ACL.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Might be worth the money to get a second opinion.

 

[ss284]

I'm not a doctor or a vet, but waiting might make things worse. Ligaments will shrink and generally lose the elasticity that they are needed for if they are not attached and actively being used. ^A second opinion is a good idea^

 

[Capt Caveman]

I've not had personal experience but know several people who had it done to their dogs. Did you go to your regular vet or see a specialist? Either way, I would get a second opinion.

Rest and no surgery is an option. Issues maybe that it may not heal 100%, develop scar tissue and cause the dog to limp/pain.

Surgery - there are several types of surgery that can be performed, I would research each type and question your vet(s) about each

Good luck!

In the meantime, crate your dog and walk him/her on leash(even in the house) to prevent him/her from running.

 

[mooncancook]

I'll ask the vet in the follow-up coming next week. He's a regular vet, but he said he'll bring the xray film to a specialist to take a look at it. I'll see what he tells me, and decide if I need to go directly to a specialist for a second opinion. The surgery for small dogs are cheaper, it's the nylon string kind and cost about $1300.

 

[Electric Amish]

We had this happen with our Pit mix. She has had both knees surgically altered with a TPLO surgery ($3600). She's about 75lbs and is doing really well about a year after her last surgery. If she has been laying down a long time or is cold she will limp a little, but once she is up and about she runs and jumps without issue.

My doctor said the TPLO surgery is the best better than trying to replace the tendons, but that may be just for my dog and a smaller dog may do fine.

Take what you read about TPLO on the internet with a grain of salt. There are a lot of wackos out there. You need to make your own decision about your dog and the risks.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

my brother had a Yorkie of similar size. He tore his ACL, and the vet pushed for surgery. My brother got a second opinion and fouind out that the MAJORITY of dogs who have the surgery re-injure the tendon again. He ended up not doing it, and the dog showed no ill affects after time.

 

[HAL9000]

I wouldn't ask people in this forum, they'll probably say shoot it and upload a photo.

 

[shiner]

I wouldn't ask people in this forum, they'll probably say shoot it and upload a photo.

This thread is about a dog, not you.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Any suggestions? experience to share in dealing with ACL injuries of your dog?

If you have the surgery done, make sure you keep the dog on a leash while it is outside and still recovering. My dog Houdini (RIP girl) tore her left rear ACL at 7 years old. We got it surgicially repaired. About 4 weeks after the surgery, my father let her out the back door and she jumped off our deck when only three of her legs could really support her. When she hit the ground, her right rear leg collapsed under her and she couldn't get up. The result? A torn right rear acl and another surgery.

I'll never regret shelling out the case for the surgery. I loved that dog like it was my own kid. And she lived until she was ~15 (pretty long, for a border collie).

 

[Brigandier]

If you're dog's in the playoffs, make him play through that shit. If you have a long off-season go for surgery.

 

[Turin39789]

Our chow mix (~50lbs) tore hers about a month ago, the vet has us on a supplement. She's going back in for another checkup in a few weeks, but he talked surgery at the first visit. She has some good days and some bad, but is still limping. As others have said there are a few different ways to do the surgery, he said it will cost around 1k for the whole deal, there are specialist in town who do the other methods if needed but then you are getting into 2500 territory.

Oh and the great dane stopped wanting to walk around and just wants to sit, so his hips aren't feeling good, has a vet appt in 8.75 hours.

 

[HAL9000]

This thread is about a dog, not you.

I might be a dog!... :hmm:

 

[mooncancook]

Our chow mix (~50lbs) tore hers about a month ago, the vet has us on a supplement. She's going back in for another checkup in a few weeks, but he talked surgery at the first visit. She has some good days and some bad, but is still limping. As others have said there are a few different ways to do the surgery, he said it will cost around 1k for the whole deal, there are specialist in town who do the other methods if needed but then you are getting into 2500 territory.

Oh and the great dane stopped wanting to walk around and just wants to sit, so his hips aren't feeling good, has a vet appt in 8.75 hours.

Let us know how the visit result go. Even if she has a good day, from what I read you still have to make sure she does not get to run or jump and avoid long walks. The rehab is very timely process, with surgery or not. Swimming is good for rehab, they can exercise while not putting strain on the injured leg, but it's hard to find a dog pool.

 

[CRXican]

Dogs are tough, I would wait it out and see how she does. They do have 3 other legs after all.

 

[Hacp]

I Would suggest rest and a diet. Feed the dog less. If the legs have less weight to support, he might not even need surgery.

 

[John P]

OK, I'm no expert.... and I can't believe nobody has mentioned this.... but can you really tell the dog has a torn ACL from an X-Ray?

As far as I know they only way to tell if the ligament is actually torn is with an MRI and/or manipulate the injured joint. The vets can't manipulate a limb/ligament of a dog like they can in a human - obviously the dog doesn't understand it when you ask him to hold still, he'll pull back, move around, etc... So, the dog needs to be actually put under/knocked out to manipulate the joint.

When my dog hurt it's leg years ago I took her to a specialist. He agreed with the regular vet that she most likely had a torn ligament (I don't remember which one, could have been an ACL). However, when they put her under and manipulated the injured joint he decided it wasn't actually torn and would heal on it's own (which it did).

So, in a nutshell, definitely see a specialist to see if it actually requires surgery.

 

[mooncancook]

In the X-Ray the vet just need to confirm that is no other problem and that no joints are out of position. the ligament tissue is very hard to see, but a slight difference between left and right. The vet manipulated the joint and found less resistant to shearing motion (not sure if that's the right word) on the injured leg. I'll see what the vet say next week, I may take him to a specialist.

 

[lykaon78]

Our 8 year old cocker spaniel tore both the ACL and MCL in her rear leg. Surgery was $1800 but that included all pre-op and post-op care for the rest of her life (on that repaired knee anyway).

Because it was both ligaments the healing option was not a possibility and leaving her that way would have led to severe arthiritis in the other joints as she would over compensate.

I don't regret the decision for surgery. It took 6 months for her to return to semi-normal. She no longer bounds up the steps and can't jump as high as she used to but everything else is fine.