I took my dog to the orthopedic surgeon. He blew out both the ligaments in his back legs (within 8 months of each other). A ligament will not heal on its own that I know of. They are strong like steel. My dog had a TPLO (Tibia Plateau Leveling Osteotomy) in both legs, both times it was around 2 grand. I suggest going to an orthopedic. The first surgery my dog had was with a regular vet and the surgery was botched. Leaving me 2 grand poorer and my dog in chronic pain. He had to have a second corrective surgery (his first TPLO) within 6 months of that first surgery the regular vet had done....Im bummed that your dog blew its ligament. Now is the time to have it repaired since they did not have a good surgery before this and either the dog lived in extreme pain or was put down. If you need assistance with this surgery, check for non profits on line, you might be able to get some help with it. Or ask your vet if you can make payments. Good luck, keep us posted

They kinda sorta repair on their own, but not to original strength and the ensuing arthritis will be horrible. Usually the ACL blows because of a minor malformation in the angle of the leg/knee +/- extreme exercise and/or being overweight (not always though). The TPLO corrects the angle and repairs the ligament so (hopefully) it won't blow again. I have seen dogs re-tear their ligament following TPLO, but they have all been overweight weekend warriors. $2k/leg is the going rate at the vet school and the specialty clinic here. Only specialy trained orthopedic surgeons who have learned the technique directly from the inventor can perform this surgery (he patented it), and learning costs quite a bit of money. That's why the TPLO is so expensive.

Thanks Mazer,

I did some more reading and it's scary. I wouldn't want her to become arthritic due to lack of immediate care. I'll go to the vet next week and see what they think. The lameness has been going on for 5 days now with only a little improvement. They need to be quiet for it to heal. She has such enthusiasm it's hard to keep her quiet. I wish I could afford to kennel her during recovery but I know that she would get depressed.

vic

I wouldn't wait until the end of the month to find out what's wrong. With some injuries the sooner they do the surgery the better the chance of healing correctly.

I think the choice of surgery/no surgery depends on the dog's size and age.
My poodle mix, 13 lbs. tore her CL but at 13+ yrs of age and other health problems we chose not to do the surgery. Her walk is now very normal. The vet said arthritis is a certainty in non-surgical situations but in my dog's case she probably won't live enough years for arthritis to be a problem.
Even with surgery, arthritis is still a possibility.

With my GSX, I had the surgery done but is was a simple reconnection of ligament.....cost was around $500.

As mazer said, if you have to have surgery, seek out the specialist and talk thru your options.

TPLO - so that is the name of the surgery technique that an orthopedist would do? Two thousand for a specialist sounds cheap! How would a gp do it differently?

She is not the least bit overweight so that's in my favor. She's a slender Shar Pei. I can totally believe that she has a malformation since her opposite hind leg is odd- looking (has an atrophied look but is never a problem). She's no conformation specimen!!

vicky

Annz, (or anyone else)

How do they find out how bad the rupture is?

She does put some weight on it but it's light.

vicky

Woofman Jack is our 150-lb. tundra shepherd. He had TPLO surgery by an orthopedic surgeon in early August. We had taken him in for a consult on hip repair, and the surgeon x-rayed and examined every moving joint before giving us his opinion ... repair the knee or he won't be able to walk at all within a year. The hip is not great (we've known that since he was two) but surgery for that was not as important as repairing the knee.

Our cost ... partly because Woofman is so large (in fact, our orthopedic surgeon had never done it on a dog this size before) and required two metal plates rather than the typical one plate ... ran $4800.

To us, it was well worth the cost. He can now go up stairs again, and he can run. He's eight years old, so we hope to have another 4 or 5 years with him.

One of my rotti has ACL surgery done on both knees.
Not the TPLO.
I did some checking on the iternet before the first surgery
and talked to this vet and he told me that some dogs
can develop bone cancer 6 months - 1 year after the
surgery, because of the metall plate and nails in his body.
So i picked the regular ACL surgery done bt a vet who is
specialized in that kind of surgery.
The dog is running and playing and going up and
down the stairs.
But i do not let him jump up in the air and land
on all four paws like he use to do before. He is a little chuppy.
Don't wait to long with the surgery. I waited 6 weeks for the surgery ( to long) and the vet had to repair his meniscus (sp) also.
When he started limping on the other leg, about
9 months later, the vet took a X-ray did the surgery right away.
I hope i never have to this again. It was painful for him and me to see him "hopping" around like this on three legs.

Christine :)

Vicki. If you need to keep your baby quiet, go to a whole foods or other holistic - natural type food store and get some rescue remedy. It kinda drugs your dog to the point where they dont want to do anything, I have used it with my dog and with my friends dog who had a spiral fracture to her ankle and was not suppose to get up and move around for 4 weeks or so.
Good luck with your baby. Hope everything turns out ok. My buddy has been doing great and his second TPLO we put in used equipment which costs less, ask your vet about that as well. I also chose not to have my dog on Rimadyl because of the issues with liver disease, that also saved me money. So there are things you can ask your vet about which may save money. My dog has a bit of arthritis in the leg with the botched surgery. Other than that, Ascripton once a week or so when they show signs of pain (panting, toeing, no wanting to go...) On the patent thing, I heard the vet that invented the surgery had died and that is why it is now available to everyone.

vicky,
I don't know how they determine the TPLO type injury, but in the case of my dogs it was by examination and the movement of the joints.

My old hound dog Wyatt had an ACL injury when he was about 5 years old. (He is 13 now) We never did surgery.

My vet said that in order to confirm the diagnosis he could do xrays. But mainly he moved the dogs joints around and checked nerves in his back and spine and said most likely he has torn his ACL. Particularly because of when it occurred; while rough housing with a visiting friends dog. They were running and chasing each other around. And then Wyatt started limping and would not put any weight on that leg.

My dog got a cortisone shot, some anti-inflammatories and we had to limit his movement for a about two weeks. If he did not start using his leg after that, we were to consider surgery.

The vet said if he was a large dog, or a dog that competes in agility or other competition that he would reccomend surgery. But for our pet the cortisone, anti-flams and rest helped him. And he never needed surgery and was just fine.

Thanks for all the information, guys. Now I understand that there are different approaches - I did not know that. We are going to the vet in the morning.

Sounds like the high-end way to go is TPLO and it goes down from there. I'll let ya'll know what the vet says. I learned something - this is the dog that I'm using for obedience competition (albeit low-level) and now I regret not having gotten pet insurance on her. If you're putting time and energy into your dog - it's worth it to have some insurance on her/him.

vicky

Vet says it's ACL and I scheduled surgery for next week. About 600 or 700. If she was a large dog or heavy I'd consider TPLO but she is neither of those. He said that small dogs don't even need surgery usually and she would be considered in the medium range.

So it will have been 18 days from injury to surgery. I hope that makes a difference.

vicky

My 55 pound English bulldog has ACL tear in rear left leg and we've seen 2 surgeons who suggest 2 different corrective proceedures. TPLO ( plate and screws) and LST (lateral suture techniques- adding a nylon cord sutured to act like ligament). TPLO surgery costs $3400.00 and LST costs $1850.00. Bother surgeons are reputable. Has anyone had successful LST on English bulldog or dog of this weight?

I suggest you go with the TPLO. My bull mastiff mix is at 98% of normal. He can run and play as normal, he has trouble only when he does tight turns or circles. Make certain the doc is well versed in TPLO's and you can ask if you can talk with other patients who have had the surgery. I had one vet botch a leg, then we went to an orthopedic, and had two surgeries done, one to correct the first, the two more for corrective (TPLO) work. I would spend the money again in a hearbeat. PS - There are ways you can reduce the cost. Ask for a USED kit, they are not guaranteed, but it is a metal plate and screws...Ask for a different medication than Rimadyl for pain, there are less expensive meds out there. Please e mail me at nfrlprdpr@yahoo.com if you have an more questions. Your dog should do fine. They take awhile to recover, without a cast of anything, and within a couple of days your biggest problem should be keeping your dog inactive.

Jill,
my dog narrowly escaped surgery, but I discussed both options with my vet, leaning towards the TPLO. Both him and the vet tech (who had the LST done on two of her dogs) weren't too keen about recommending the TPLO. They said that the main reason the TPLO is being promoted to vets and clients is that it is supposed to have no incidence of arthritis later on. The surgery is only being done for 6 or 7 years. Dogs that had it done that long ago show equal incidences of arthritis as with the LST.
Just something to think about. Of course you should do what is best for your dog.
Katharina

Actually FYI, my dog does have a bit of arthirtis in his TPLO joints, it is not bad, but it is there which I treat with Ascripton once a week or so, when I notice him groaning too much when he lays down. I prefer the TPLO because it takes all of the weight and work off of the damaged ligaments, and after talking at length with my orth-vet, the recurrence of post operative issues are lower. Of course in my dogs case he had a screw come loose, but that was corrected without issue.