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Post by scrappintoee on Aug 14, 2015 17:47:50 GMT
Anyone have experience with this? The main reason I'm asking is because our Foster doggie needs her ACL repaired; but the Vet hasn't been able to do the surgery because we have too many rescue babies with more acute needs, we've been inundated with so many new doggies  Also, he only sees our rescue babies 2 days of the week, (he's gotta see allll his others the other 3 days!) ....he is obviously VERY busy with all the other rescues! I love that he provides ALL their care, meds, & surgeries to our rescues at 50% off ...very generous! Since he diagnosed her over a month ago, we have her on crate rest and for pottying, short leash walks----which she hates! She used to love chasing squirrels! I can't believe it took me SO long to do some research on the possibility of healing it non-surgically !!!! Not saying it'll work for her case, but just now I was doing some reading. I'm gonna ask the vet if some hydrotherapy & exercises would help...He doesn't have hydro, but I know one awesome animal hospital that does. We would be willing to pay for it ourselves; our rescue is already strugggling financially!!! . Also, our president told us in her recent report that we have FOUR on a waiting list for ACL repair (ours being one of the four). But as I said before, the doggies with more acute / life-threatening problems need their care first.... |
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Post by gailoh on Aug 14, 2015 18:00:49 GMT
First off thank you so much for caring for these pets...
I do not know about the problems you are talking on but from what you are saying it is worth a look at least...hope it works for this pup and if it does maybe the others would benefit as well...
hugs...let us know how this turns out with an update please...
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Post by Merge on Aug 14, 2015 18:08:31 GMT
Is it a complete or partial tear? Our dog had a partial tear and the vet gave us the option of keeping her comfortable with some pain meds and keeping her on crate rest for a couple of weeks. She healed completely and is just fine. The vet indicated if it had been a complete tear, surgery would have been the only option.
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Post by mirabelleswalker on Aug 14, 2015 19:15:56 GMT
My dog had a complete tear and they said we had to have the surgery. The recovery is really difficult and long, and we had to go to physical therapy, but she is doing really well now.
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Post by jackietex on Aug 14, 2015 20:54:02 GMT
I think it also depends on the size of the dog. Small dogs are frequently treated with complete rest in a crate, but I don't think that usually works with larger dogs. Maybe you could start a GoFund or something.
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Post by gale w on Aug 14, 2015 21:29:33 GMT
I honestly don't know if our dog's was a complete or partial (must be partial because surgery wasn't our only option). Our dog is getting laser therapy and it's helping immensely. She barely limps at all most of the time. She went twice a week for 2 weeks and is now going once a week for a month, then will be reevaluated. It costs $80 for 4 sessions here (or $25 for one).
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Post by AnastasiaBeaverhausn on Aug 14, 2015 21:41:00 GMT
Yep, been through it twice on the same dog. First time, we had to do the surgery. Vet suggested water therapy to help her strengthen and recover. He wanted us to drive to the Gulf of Mexico and let her swim every.single.day. At the time, we were a 2 hour drive each way to the coast. We actually put her in the pool a couple of times but the vet wanted her to have the waves help strengthen her. What do people do who don't live near the ocean?! Anyway, we did everything else the vet said but about a year later she needed the other leg replaced. She put so much strain on the other one while the first was healing that the second one went. Both surgeries were successful but she got very arthritic after them and it was very hard for her to get up much.
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Post by blueeyedpups on Aug 14, 2015 21:42:35 GMT
Ours had a partial tear, and due to her age (11 at the time), we decided to not do surgery. We kept her calm for about 8-12 weeks and then we tried hydrotherapy. The hydrotherapy helped so much! She is now 14 years old and can jump and run just as easily as her sister.
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Post by scrappintoee on Aug 15, 2015 10:50:48 GMT
Thank you, everyone!!!! I'm going to call and find out if it's complete or partial; but I'm pretty sure he didn't specify. He did a manual exam, but said he'd need to sedate her to get more accurate info. Poor baby, I hate that she hurts, and had hoped he'd put her on meds while waiting for surgery; but vet said that makes them think they can do more, which can end up hurting them more.... |
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Post by snappinsami on Aug 16, 2015 18:48:28 GMT
When our last Lab, Molly, was 4, she tore her CCL. Our vet gave us the option of TPLO surgery (that would cost around $5K) or letting it heal on its own. We chose the surgery. We based it on the fact that she was young and (we thought at the time) had a long life ahead of her. The surgery went great and she never had any problems at all with that leg again.
My mom's last Akita, Portia, had the same injury when she was 5. Their vet said that they could do the surgery, it would cost $5K, and the leg would mostly likely become arthritic later in her life. OR they could let it heal on its own, and it would likely become arthritic later in her life. They chose to let it heal on its own. The recovery was probably longer than with the surgery, but she also didn't really have any problems with it later on. And yes, it because slightly arthritic, but so did her other hind leg that hadn't been injured.
You can probably go either way. But either way, her activity level will need to be closely monitored and curtailed during her recuperation. Big (((HUGS))) to your furbaby!
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Post by chlerbie on Aug 16, 2015 18:58:13 GMT
This happened to my brother's dog and they elected not to have surgery. Monty didn't even do the total rest thing and healed up really well. This was about 7 years ago and he's been just fine.
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Post by mirabelleswalker on Aug 16, 2015 19:36:30 GMT
One thing that the vet told me when we had our surgery is that once one blows, there is a 40% chance that the other one will within the next year. So if you decide not to have the surgery and the other one blows, you essentially have a dog without any working back legs.
Our dog is 8 and we had the surgery. As awful as the recovery was, I'm glad we did it.
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Post by onlywork2scrap on Aug 16, 2015 21:15:59 GMT
My last lab had TPLO surgery. We were told if a dog is under 25 lbs they don't do the surgery because the leg does not support as much weight as a heavier dog does. We were also told there is high probability the other leg would have to be done. That did not happen to her.
Thank goodness there are good people taking care of dogs waiting to be adopted.
ETA- Sorry, I should have made it clear I realize this is not the same surgery, but just a comment about TPLO. I wasn't sure if weight is a factor for this particular surgery. Hope whatever is determined the outcome is good.
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Post by mirabelleswalker on Aug 16, 2015 21:26:42 GMT
My last lab had TPLO surgery. We were told if a dog is under 25 lbs they don't do the surgery because the leg does not support as much weight as a heavier dog does. We were also told there is high probability the other leg would have to be done. That did not happen to her. Thank goodness there are good people taking care of dogs waiting to be adopted. They don't do the TPLO surgery, but they do a different surgery called a lateral suture. My dog is 5 lbs and that's what she had. |
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Post by Dori~Mama~Bear on Aug 16, 2015 21:49:34 GMT
I have known of dogs recovering from Torn ACL injuries without surgeries. It does take time and a lot of rehab. You could do some hydro therapy your self if the dogs are smaller. You would need a large water trough from a farm supply store and then you would need to make a sturdy frame to hang a harness from so that you could put the dog in harness and lower her into the water without her touching the bottom. I had to do this with Gadget when he injured his hip and needed extra rehab for his hip but he is very small so it didn't take much to rig something for him. I know that the true hydro therapy pools at the vets are much better but if you have more than one dog that needs the rehab you can rig something up to at least get them into the water swimming in place. We also put Gadget in the hot tub with us. We lowered the temp down to 99 and sat across from each other and let him swim from one to the other of us. This really helped him. In fact we still do this. I also put him in there when I am in there by myself. He swims a few laps around the hot tub and when he is done I towel him off and let him sun bathe while I am relaxing. He loves this and helps with his hip. He had the ball of his hip removed and he runs on 3 legs when he is running full speed. but most of the time he uses the leg when walking and running around on the carpet or grass when he is not full speed. but if it wasn't for the rehab we did for him he wouldn't have as much use. Our vet is the one who told us about the large trough for water therapy.
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