Has anyone’s pet dog had a torn ACL repaired?

[LuauLounge]

Our 100lb 7 year old German Shepard tore his ACL chasing a tennis ball. He goes in to have it repaired in a couple of weeks. Anyone have any experience?

 

[endobear]

Poor guy... He will be fine.
My 1st Rottweiler "Endo/Endobear" blew hers at 3 years old. About 100+lbs. Strong runner. I lived about 2 miles down a dirt road and she ran it in front of the Jeep almost every day on the way home from work. She loved it. She loved to run. The 1st knee she blew out chasing me back country snowboarding. Cost me a fortune at 23 years old. Hard part was trying to keep her from running during recovery.
Stopped running her down the road and backcountry at that point. She would still run my 1 acre fence line though and ended up blowing the other knee out about a year later. Cost me another small fortune.
She was all good for the rest of her life after that. I did stop letting my rotties run so hard after that.


It's very common that they blow the other knee within a year so have your check book ready.

 

[LuauLounge]

Poor guy... He will be fine.
My 1st Rottweiler "Endo/Endobear" blew hers at 3 years old. About 100+lbs. Strong runner. I lived about 2 miles down a dirt road and she ran it in front of the Jeep almost every day on the way home from work. She loved it. She loved to run. The 1st knee she blew out chasing me back country snowboarding. Cost me a fortune at 23 years old. Hard part was trying to keep her from running during recovery.
Stopped running her down the road and backcountry at that point. She would still run my 1 acre fence line though and ended up blowing the other knee out about a year later. Cost me another small fortune.
She was all good for the rest of her life after that. I did stop letting my rotties run so hard after that.


It's very common that they blow the other knee within a year so have your check book ready.

Thanks for the info. Yep, it’s not an inexpensive procedure, but it’s really sad watching him limp with a tennis ball in his mouth.
If you see he and I on a street corner with a cardboard sign, stop and say Hi.

 

[Mack]

I had a dog that was scheduled for the surgery vet said would never be back to normal and the night before high dollar surgery she stopped limping around and started chasing ball like nothing was wrong. So make darn sure it is needed before flushing several thousand dollars down the drain

 

[Socalx09]

Bosco tore his ACL about 2.5 years ago. I always knew he would blow a knee. He was heavier than any of our other labs we had before. That problem has since been figured out and he has lost over 20lbs.

My mom warned me about hard it was with keeping the dog in a crate for weeks and mobility. Her lab tore hers back in the early 2000s and it was more invasive of a surgery. They have since improved the surgery as they told me he would be walking the next day with assistance with a towel or sling under their belly. We didn’t have to crate him and with good pain medications, it went really well. Keeping them on their bed is probably the hardest part. Ice pack on the legs a few times a time and a massage. I believe they ask you to move the knee to stretch it pretty quickly after surgery. After a period of time, you will walk the dog in half circles, figures 8 etc. definitely do this as it’s their physical therapy. Bosco still doesn’t like stairs like he use to though. I believe it was around $3600 since it was through our vet and we had to wait about a week for the rotating surgeon who performed it at our vets office. They mention that the other acl will likely blow at some point. I have since saved up half of that surgery fee for whebthat day comes, I hope it never does.

The vet recommended he take

Nutramax Dasuquin Hip & Joint Soft Chews Joint Supplement for Large Dogs​

Daily.

 

[17 10 Flat]

There are 2 types of repairs. Daughter had her dogs ACL repaired. One repair is more intrusive. She went with the lesser route. The more intrusive repair is quite a bit more $$$. Her dog has been fine since. Took her about 9 months to trust her rear leg again. Syed away from stairs. Now it's all good up down no problem.

 

[Riverbound]

my last Rottweiler had both done first went when she was a out 2.5 years old. second was about 3 years later. there are two different surgeries available. we went with the more expensive because she was always a big girl. 130lbs +

 

[wzuber]

Our chocolate lab blew hers out chasing the tennis ball of course. We had both surgeries done. 1st. was TPLO=$7K
The other was the tight rope surgery $3k
This was back in 2009.
TPLO-tibia plateau leveling operation-
this is most invasive and longest healing time duration. ( 6mos +/-) they cut part of the top of the tibia off to allow the femure bone to sit more securely on the tibia.
Tight rope-
they use monofilament line and drill threw the bones and then weave the line to replicate the muscle to stabilize the joint. This type surgery is common in athletes that damage their knees. This is less invasive, heals quicker (1 month +/-)
and less expensive.
They both worked well the rest of her 8 years of life post surgery. She would limp some on the tight rope leg after over exerting herself chasing that god damned tennis ball. Lol
She was lean and healty and lived to chsse the ball. She was totally worth it and we loved her as much as life itself.

 

[seanroberts]

Our dog just had this last October. She had been walking on 3 legs. Like others have said hardest part is keeping them from running and going fast for months. She’s great now. Cost 4k, but it’s worth it.

 

[DLow]

My Chesapeake Bay Retriever has had both knees done and then a third surgery to remove the hardware from his right leg. 120 lbs of fluff. Left knee hardware has stayed in. It’s tough on the dog but 100% worth it. This was done between 2 and 4 years old as many others. He’s a little limited on mobility and can’t sit like a normal dog. You have to make sure you do some physical therapy for them. As stated before, get the dog on glucosamine and meloxicam will be their friend as well.

 

[27Daytona]

I had a dog that was scheduled for the surgery vet said would never be back to normal and the night before high dollar surgery she stopped limping around and started chasing ball like nothing was wrong. So make darn sure it is needed before flushing several thousand dollars down the drain

Similar story. I have a Lab that the Vet told me she would never be able to run again and would always walk with a limp without ACL Surgery which costs approx $2000. She’s almost 9 years old so I was kinda apprehensive about putting her thru that so late in life. I did some research and what I found was if it’s not a complete tear it will heal over time with enough rest. We basically didn’t take her for any walks or exercise for approx 6 weeks then gradually started having her walk just around the block every other day for a few months. Six months after her ACL Tear she had no limp. One year after her injury she’s now back to running after tennis balls and she goes on 5 mile walks routinely with no issues. Vets are in business to make money. Your pet is their money vehicle!!

 

[Bajap1]

Our lab had TPLO on both legs 6 weeks apart...17k. Thank God for pet Insurance.

We babies him kept him in our bedroom confined to a small area. It's a chore, he's still babied 6 moths later, mostly are own fear of another injury.

There is a Facebook page dedicated to TPLO for dogs, allot of horror stories.

My advise would be to take it slow slow slow afterwards to avoid another injury.

Good luck

 

[nameisbond]

I had two Rottweilers that had the surgery. Worked well on both.

 

[OCMerrill]

I had a black lab that tore the first one at 9. We treated her with meds as we were advised to not do any surgery because it was not a complete tear.
She actually seemed to get along ok and a couple years went by no issues, back to jumping off boats, chasing a ball, etc. Then when 11 yrs she ran out to greet her favorite mailman and snapped the other one. There was not much of an avenue to repair this due to her age.

Sigh....

 

[Husqy510]

My yellow lab had his 2nd TPLO surgery five weeks ago and he is recovering well. 1st couple weeks was tough, but he was already crate trained so that wasn't an issue. He is doing well now and has a follow up tomorrow. With any luck he can go back to swimming this weekend

 

[regor]

Just had one of mine done.

She’s back to normal and ready to wreck it again!!

 

[wzuber]

Just had one of mine done.

View attachment 1360468
View attachment 1360469

She’s back to normal and ready to wreck it again!!

She looks like you just said....zooomies?
She's a rarrin to rip, just cut her loose...

 

[wzuber]

How many dogs are on sedatives to keep them calm and from injuring the joint/muscles?

 

[92562]

When we had our 120lb black lab, he detached his ACL when he was about 7. The doc said that he could have a specialist come in and do it for $4,000 or, he has a method that he does using fishing line for $1,500. Since he was older and becoming less active we opted for the budget fix. Worked absolutely perfect until he passed at 13 years old. Were he younger and more active, we would have gone the specialist route.

 

[BoatCop]

Our 8 year old Basset Hound, Bailey, was set to have the TPLO done, but they found liver and kidney enzyme levels were off. Referred to an internist, found major issues with gall bladder (removed). After we brought her home, she stopped eating, drinking, playing, etc. Back to the specialist, and found everything internal was shutting down. Came up with several plans, none of which guaranteed even partial recovery, so decided it was time to help her across the Bridge. That was only 6 weeks ago. We're still torn up.

If you have your dog(s) on any kind of arthritis/joint medication, such as Rimadyl, pain meds like Tramadol, or pretty much ANY meds, long term, get required blood tests and monitoring. We believe that the long term use of such medication caused her liver/kidney damage & other internal issues. But sometimes, even that isn't enough. Her readings (every 2-3 months) were safely within proper ranges, even a few weeks before this, and they spiked in a very short time.

 

[PlanB]

I had a dog that was scheduled for the surgery vet said would never be back to normal and the night before high dollar surgery she stopped limping around and started chasing ball like nothing was wrong. So make darn sure it is needed before flushing several thousand dollars down the drain

Same thing happened to our dog. He was schedule for TPLO surgery and the vet said let him do what he wants because he can't hurt in any more than it already is. We took him to Havasu and by the end of the trip he was running around with no limp. He is 12 now and never had surgery.

 

[GETBOATS]

Our GSP, Jack is always on the move with acrobatics that cause him to come up lame every now and then, just so much energy! He seems the lay low for a few days a shacks it off. Hoping this trend continues.

 

[Bajap1]

How many dogs are on sedatives to keep them calm and from injuring the joint/muscles?

Mine

 

[n2otoofast4u]

GSP

First one done at 7yo second was done a year later. My neighbor is the vet for all the local police departments, she’s a badass!! She gave 2 options, but suggested the “fishing line” one both times. The last one was done almost 4 years ago now, and he’s still going strong. Only oddity is that he cannot sit anymore, he has to lean against something so he can kick his feet out a bit.

 

[GNEnsrud]

A number of years back, our 70-lb GoldenDoodle tore her ACL. Had it repaired, surgeon told us that odds were good that she would do the other one as well. 6 months to the day, and just as she was starting to really get back to being active again, yep…. tore the other side. Shot story: she’s had both done. It was a tough few months for her, and it really took a full year for her to be truly active gain. A few years later she is back to being just as active as ever. as she’s getting older, we see some stiffness in her knee, and it’ll probably someday be tough for her to deal with, but we feel pretty good about having these procedures done. She’s now 11 y.o., still runs, chases frisbees, and is fully healthy.

 

[jperog]

Went through it twice with my Presa. Big dogs need to be walked and not encouraged to run "as much as they love doing it", its self destruction in many cases.

Joe

 

[LuauLounge]

What we spend on boat, cars, guns, kids, dogs and not necessarily in that order.

 

[Devilman]

Our collie/heeler mix had a torn one, on left rear leg, it eventually healed without surgery... Later he tore the right rear joint and we had the "fishing line" type surgery done. Followed the vets instructions to a T during recovery, but the repair failed.

 

[jetboatperformance]

My Boy Woody (Golden retriever) blew out both running the fence line with the neighbors Border Collie , estimate then was 6k a side <Woody could walk OK and lived out his life to 10 on Tramadol and Meloxicam He was always "Woody" but never the same

 

[Livewire Fabworks]

We had a pug that had this octopus stuffed animal that he would hump until he dropped. Long story short he blew his knee out pumping. We did the surgery but being a pug, they are lazy as hell and keep him from trying to run around was not an issue. Couldn't get him to run unless it was after food or the octopus. The stuffed toy magically disappeared while he was in surgery.

 

[Mandelon]

Paid $2000 for one our cats to have a hip repair. Ugh. Its only money.