Posted on 02/10/2007 7:10:45 PM PST by Kimmers
My 10 yo lab came up 3 legged lame today, diagnosed with a torn ACL. My vet is suggesting doing a procedure called a TPLO. I have seen pros and cons about this on the net and I was wondering if any FReepers had any experience with this. He is currently on Rimadyl and the poor thing is in a fair amounnt of pain. I do not see either one of us getting too much rest tonight.
Thank you
seems like we have a couple of vets here
Best wishes to your dog!
But as a fellow dog lover, I wish you and your best friend the best.
tough call...
our pomeranian, who was about 9 years old at the time, had that surgery two years ago....she didn't have a torn acl but a similar problem with the knee and was hoping around on one leg...
First- we really trusted our vet who has cared for our dog (Copper) since my wife got her at 8 weeks old...he really suggested it since horrible atrophy can take over the dogs leg...
Second- since she is a pom and, God willing, has a long life, we decided it was best for her...
The operation was pretty expensive ($1700) but well worth it...she doesn't jump up on the couch anymore but gets around 100% and makes the long climb up the stairs when she wants to...
good luck...
Thanks guys....I want to do what is best for my buddy.
Haven't heard about the procedure, but best wishes to your pup.
My Jack had a torn ACL when he was 10. We had the surgery and a year later he tore the other one. He also had a knee rebuilt during the first surgery. When he tore the second one, we had the surgery again and he lived an active healthy life until he was 19. Doing physical therapy on him was pretty entertaining though. lol
The problem with an injury like that is if you let it go, the dog can lose his spirit. We didn't realize our Jack had a serious injury for a long time because he never showed pain and would sometimes run or jump on it. Over time, we noticed he was just not as responsive to many things. By the time we got him to the vet, we realized his problem was no longer just physical, but mental because he was unable to perform.
Jacks aren't like Labs, but a torn ACL is a torn ACL. Our dog's replacement ACL looked like a string of dental floss about an inch long. lol
Good luck.
ping VetvetDoug and ask him.
Thank you, another kind FReeper already did that for me.
Oops, when I say he had the surgery, I mean he had his ACL replaced. I don't know if it was TPLO or not.
I have had a little experience with this, many years ago we had a Shepherd in our K-9 unit that had some type of knee problem and she was retired. One of the K-9 officers adopted her and the department paid for the surgery. She was 4 or 5 I think and had a great nose and we were sad to see her go. 6 months later the guy who adopted her tried to return her to work, she was able to do the job, but the department wouldn't allow her to come back because there was no rules about "un-retiring" a dog. I remember it because we were all pulling for her, but as usual, some jackass who pushes paper and counts paper clips got in the way of a good cop going back to work.
I don't know if this will help or if its even related, but 4 years ago my cat was hit by a car and his hip was broken. They did this operation wherein they removed the ball of the ball-n-socket joint and let the tendons compensate. He was in bad shape for a couple weeks but he made a full recovery and now races across the yard, runs up trees, does all the things he ever did.
I have had, successively, three pairs of male labs since 1967. They're very strong, stoic and stubborn. Which, to me, indicates, at 10 yrs old, this dog needs to be tranquilized to reduce mobility (5 mg meprobamate q D), and/or surgery if the tear is extensive.
The life span is likely to be no more than 2-3 more years and olds labs will chow down and put on weight, especially if minimally ambulatory. If the prognosis from the vet is a long recovery---putting the dog down may be the best course.
That's my $0.02 worth.....
Give it some time and use anti-inflammatories. Etodolac 400mg/day works as well as Rimadyl and is much less expensive. Surgery will often make matters worse, to whit:
I have an 11 y/o chocolate Lab. Nessie got into a fight with two coyotes when she was five and the vet diagnosed her with a torn ACL on her left rear leg. $1800 later she didn't "really" have a torn ACL, just some adhesions. Then came the chronic wound infection that lasted for a year and another vet who wanted to amputate the leg for only $1500. I told him politely to kiss off, changed her antibiotics to what I thought would work, and a month later the wound had finally healed.
Nessie still limps a little, has a classic gray face, and is getting old dog arthritis but she is one of the happiest Labs I've ever known so she is going to live out her years digging after pocket gophers and doing the other things she enjoys so much.
Give it time. Dogs (and humans) can cope with torn ACLs amazingly well in most cases.
I don't have a dog, but I appreciate your writing all that.
Thanks.
Thank you, I was wondering if your Jack still felt like he was in charge of the planet when he was recuperating. I bet he did not let a little thing like surgery keep him down. They are cute tenacious pups.
I am glad he had a happy life for another 9 years after surgery.
Hi there,
One of my dogs, Rollie, had the same problem and I chose to have the surgery performed. It worked well for him - while he lost the ability to jump, he could still get around, climb stairs, and even run and did so till he passed away from complications of Cushings disease in December.
My sympathies, and best wishes for you and your dog.
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