Cruciate rupture
 

Anyone have their dog rupture a rear leg cruciate ligament and have to endure TPLO surgery? Just wondering how the recovery went.

I never had a dog that damaged or tore the ligament but I know a couple of guys who did. The dogs recovered but it takes a while.

She had the surgery last Friday and still isn't walking on the leg. Great vet who wrote the book on that surgery did it so I have hope she will make a full recovery. In the mean time I am sticking real close to her to make sure she doesn't try to jump up on furniture or climb stairs.

That is the problem with dogs with heart, they still try to do things. On the other hand, who wold want a hunting dog r any other dog for that matter that doesn't have heart.

She has a lot of heart and loves to run. I think she did it late summer chasing sticks I throw into the water. She loves to do that then started to limp some off and on. It was a partial rupture then one morning I went out to get the newspaper in the dark and she always goes with me. I have a long driveway with an orchard between the house and road. She saw something in the orchard and took off. Limped home and went under the knife a month later. Sucks because she is the best dog I ever owned and I have had a few. She is a mutt with a cross between a Lab and a Catahoula Leopard dog which is often used as a herder or a hog hunting dog. She came as a 4 month old orphan from Hurricane Katrina in NOLA.

I hope your Vet sent you to a re-habilitation center.
The key words following surgery are " FOLLOW THE RE-HAB PROGRAM TO THE LETTER.

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We live on an island about 40 miles one way from the surgical vet. They have a rehab center there at that clinic and he said when we go for the stitches/ staple removal he will determine how she is doing and go from there. He does 4 or 5 of these same operations per week and helped to develop that particular surgery so I have some confidence in his expertise. He gave me some things to do on a small scale while she is recovering. Still pretty sore for her with some swelling which he said would be the case. I had the human version of that type of problem many years ago from a sports injury and can only imagine how much pain she is in. She is a tough dog though and just went over and got one of her balls to play.

Suzi, out toy poodle ruptured her cruciate ligament in February, 2015. Then her knee cap slipped and it was back to surgery in early March.

We worked with Suzi's leg and encouraged her to put weight on it but she refused. Then we started telling her "put your leg down". After about one month of reminders she began walking on four legs. At first she limped a little then the limp went away. Suzi has been walking well since about mid June. We gradually increased the length of her walks. She currently walks up to one mile but is not allowed to run.

Glad she is doing well and walking. Fannymae still isn't putting any weight on the leg but seems to be getting ready to try.

Never have, but I hope your dog has a speedy and complete recovery.

Thank you. She is a sweet dog and it breaks my heart that she is hurting. I would rather it was me.

Our 6 year old intact male yella Lab tore his right CCL in January (diagnosed with exam by my Vet as well as MRI).
I decided to try Cold Laser -- just to see if it might work.
If it didn't show improvement within 6 weeks, we would have had it repaired surgically.

Luckily, I have a Cold Laser that I use on human patients in my office.
I would take the laser home every evening after work and laser his knee.
Lasering him every day might have been "overkill", but "too much" wasn't going to hurt him but there was no timing protocol, as I couldn't find anyone else (Vet or human doctor) who had done this, so I lasered him daily.
He was "3-legged" for three weeks and then began putting weight on the tips of his toes. In a couple more weeks he was "flat foot' walking. Still had a bad limp during that time, he was limited to walking for potty breaks only.
After 2.5 months post-injury, we took him out for swimming every day.
After another month, we let him run short distances.

Long story short : At 3 months post-injury, his knee was 100% stable.

The only problem is the significant muscle atrophy that accompanies these injuries. at 5 months post-injury) I lasered him 3 times a week for muscle regeneration. He is running 6 to 8 miles a day, training, running hunt tests etc. The muscles have regained well over 98% of their original size.

If you can find a Vet who uses the ERCHONIA laser, have them get ahold of me and I can give them the "Pulse rate" sequences that I used.
It would have to be an Erchonia, because I don't have experience with other brands.

Go to www.erchonia.com/ and look at the "doctor locator" page to find someone near you who has the Erchonia Cold Laser.


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Just brought her home from getting the staples and stitches out. The surgeon says she is doing fine and we have to keep her on a leash to make her walk rather than hop on 3 legs. Good range of motion and starting to put weight on the leg. It has been 2 weeks since her surgery. She is happy and back on her food willingly.

i'm glad your dog is doing well.

Thanks Falcon.

Good news.

Thanks OT. Hope she can run around soon and be back to normal.

Just don't let her do too much to soon and have a setback, as it will take a while for her to get her strength back

Thanks TG..she is right here on the couch with me. Kind of pissed though. We had the staples taken out yesterday and we found 2 that they missed this morning. Looks like another 80 mile round trip on Monday back to the surgeon. I should charge them mileage.:mad: