Dog with a torn ligament. Pre and post surgery suggestions?

[kurtis500]

So my 5 year old dog has the CCL tear in his right knee. Lucky for us its only $4000+!

Just gave him gababentin and NSAID is coming up. Any idea what we should expect in the next few days/months? Any surgeons you would recommend in the Phoenix AZ or Park City Utah area?

 

[Nordie]

Not sure which type of breed, but your pup will recover. Just like us that's a long road to recovery. The gabapentin isn't too horrible, but post surgery they're going to prescribe rimadyl. Rimadyl works wonders, but get your dog off of it as soon as you can.

Other then that there's not much you can do. It's not like you can tell your dog not to move around or tell them anything at all really. Just watch it, dogs recover relatively quickly.

 

[Flynryan]

So our shepard was limping bad so my 26yr old took her to Dr for x-rays and was told she needed surgery to correct whatever was wrong (I forgot what it was). He said he would let them know the. decision and when to bring her in.
2 weeks later she was back to normal. doing everything as if nothing had happened. To this day there are no. problems with her and no limping and this is about 1 yr later.
Just saying

 

[SassyRN]

We have a large rottie who blew both his ACL's about a year apart. We tried conservative treatment including a special made brace and there was no getting around the surgery. First one was done in CA and the second was done by Dr. Skinner in Prescott. $3800.00 which included the post op PT. He will never be back to baseline and he continues to get doggy chiropractic treatment but he is definitely better off then before the surgeries.

 

[Dan Lorenze]

So.... You're looking at a TPLO surgery.. 4k is very reasonable with the meds. My Border Collie had a bad tear in one of his knees, the first TPLO was about 7k.. Then when he was about 7 years old his other one went. My vet recommended using their non-board certified surgeon to repair it... So I did it, and he did a great job and that one was about 4k, and my Rusty-boy lived a happy, active life until I had to put him down at 15.5 years last year, breaks my heart... So my recommendation is don't be afraid to use a non-board certified surgeon to make the repair. chances are they will do a great job and save you some money. My dog recovered quickly from both repairs.. Dogs are incredible that way... Best of luck to you and your pup.

 

[DLow]

My Chessie has had both knees done. The most difficult part was his inability to bend his knee for the first week or so due to the bandage and required rest. He’s 120 lb and we would have to lift him to get him on his feet. Surgery was done here in Mesa at my vet’s office (Paws Veterinary). Surgeon will travel. As above, about 4k per knee.

 

[DaytonaBabe]

I was very impressed with Arizona Canine Orthopedics & Sports Medicine. Our situation was different than yours, but Dr. Lirtzman was very good and I felt like I could trust him. Best of luck to you and the pupper!

ACOSM | Arizona Canine Orthopedics & Sports Medicine

www.arizonacanineorthopedics.com

 

[wzuber]

About 10yrs+ ago or so our choc. Lab Reese had both knees injured at the same time. The 1st. Leg was the TPLO surgery. In total it was abt $7k. Her recovery took about 4-5 mos. In total. We had to medicate her pretty heavily to keep her subdued so she didn't hurt herself more. It spendy and difficult to care for but she was 100% afterward, no limping or strength issues what so ever, excellent repair.
Once the 1st surgery healed we had the other leg done. That one we did a "tight rope" surgery where they re-create the ligament stability with monofilament string line. They drill thru the bones and cross weave the line to stabilze the knee joint. Apparently this type proceedure is commonly used on pro athletes to repair their damaged knee joints etc. Aaccording to the vet performing the proceedure. Cost was abt half of TPLO. Recovery was abt 1 mo. and much easier. That surgery was abt 90- 95%. The only issue she had was some limping after heavy exertion from chasing the tennis ball. That beautiful girl was absolutely nuts about the ball. She would tremble in anticipation of the throw.
The pain meds make them constipated so we gave her PUMPKIN PUREE (pure pumpkin, no additives, sweetners etc) with her food to help her with that. Works very well.
TPLO surgery performed by an asian vet @ the VCA hospital off the 5fwy. In Irvine. He was a specialist at it and very good.
The tight rope was perf. By a vet @ the VCA hospital in Upland on Central ave.
He was kind of an arrogant jackass but we just could'nt stomach nearly a year of recovery for 2 TPLO surgeries and the cost. Good luck.

 

[lbhsbz]

So my 5 year old dog has the CCL tear in his right knee. Lucky for us its only $4000+!

Just gave him gababentin and NSAID is coming up. Any idea what we should expect in the next few days/months? Any surgeons you would recommend in the Phoenix AZ or Park City Utah area?

Not sure what a CCL is, but a buddy of mine has a kickass dog named Jacob who tore is ACL a few years back....the surgery (more than yours cost) didn't work. He dables in upholstery and has a few heavy duty sewing machines....so after a few days of studying dog anatomy, stitched up a brace/harness thing out of straps and bungee cords and some velcro. Jacob gets around pretty good with the brace on. They go to the beach every couple days and he runs jacob in about 12" of water...some resistance but not too much, and low impact. Also does about 4 to 5 short walks every day. Up and down the block, about a 1/4 miles each. Seems to keep Jacob on his feet, although he'll never run and jump and play again, but he's in much better shape than he was before and directly after the surgery.

 

[wzuber]

PRE SURGERY......
Keep him subdued so he doesn't damage the other knee. If he's really energetic and plays agressive he will likely injure the other leg because they compensate for the injured leg.....
Ask me how I know.
It's real fuked up and $$$$$
Medicate him if you have to.
Get him fixed asap before your double fuk'd.

 

[boatnam2]

Got a dog off RDP 11 years ago, blew out both knees as a younger dog. Did both knees at same time so we got a discount, $5500 back then. I spent the first 3 days with him in a pen i set up in living room, never really left except to eat and piss. The worse part at first is getting them out too potty, i used a towel around his belly and kind of carried his weight as he tried to walk.

 

[Dan Lorenze]

My experience with the VCA I used once was very expensive. I looked at the bill and it's amazing how much I was nickel and dime'd. This is the reason I won't go back to them. Some Veterinarians really take advantage of peoples emotions. Unfortunately It's a business..

 

[wzuber]

My experience with the VCA I used once was very expensive. I looked at the bill and it's amazing how much I was nickel and dime'd. This is the reason I won't go back to them. Some Veterinarians really take advantage of peoples emotions. Unfortunately It's a business..

Yes they do......
It's their own little racket.
They know we love them like family and they abuse it.

 

[DC-88]

Yes they do......
It's their own little racket.
They know we love them like family and they abuse it.

My last big purebred Rottie, who had been an expensive one already over the years surgery wise still loved to run off leash and play ball at 9 years old. He'd been raised off the leash his whole life, and was running in the field out back of the house when he tore his acl , and was man down for a couple days. Took him to the vet at the end of the3rd day and got the bid to fix, decided to put him down at that point due to the condition of one of his surgically repaired elbows combined with the new injury. A strange standoff then occurred, where instead of coming in with the needle, vet comes back with instructions for certain foods, confinement, etc. She goes on to admit it will heal up fairly rapidly if we can keep him off of it. Sure as shit, he was back to normal in about 8 weeks and lived to 11 where both elbows ultimately shut down his ability to function without major pain which affected his behavior .

 

[jetboatperformance]

I've had an Insurance policy in place on Sebastian for this very reason , My Golden retriever blew out both his knees , lived out life on tramadol (which I believe shortened his organ life)