ACL Injury/Surgery

[Jax's Mom]

No advice but I wanted to offer prayers!!

[~~KK~~]

It's definitely not a total rupture. It's like the CCL slipped out of place. My vet is a friend and he said if it was his dog, he would wait and do the traditional surgery, which is less invasive. He did say that the ortho recommends the TPLO or TTA (I was a bit in shock when we talked). It's not a total rupture and it happened when he was 4 months old and no limping other than when it happened at 4 months and this weekend. Now, his gait is not normal. You can tell something is wrong, so he needs surgery, but now it's about what and when. He doesn't appear in obvious pain - runs, plays, eats sleeps. I know labs are stoic so I am worried when I see actual limping. The past few months it's just been that he bunny hops if he runs fast and is a bit stiff legged at times, but he does put weight on it. He has no "drawer movement" so that's why my vet felt it was okay to watch and wait until he was 12 months. He wanted to wait until he was closer to full grown so if he did the traditional repair it would not have problems. This is all rather confusing. I want to fix him correctly, but am torn whether an ortho will jump to surgery or a vet doesn't know enough. Right now, I have my vet and his ortho saying different things, essentially. I guess I need a second and third opinion. I can tell though that he is visibly limping again and if he needs surgery now before he is a 1 then it will have to be a TPLO or TTA. *sigh*

[3ChocMom]

Personally, I wouldn't do a traditional repair on a young dog. They are extremely fragile, comparatively, because you are waiting for scar tissue to build up to stabilize the knee. The surgery itself does not do that, unlike with a TTA or TPLO. You would have to be extra, extra careful during post-op recovery. And I will tell you this. Don't think for a second you won't have an "oops" moment or two. Everyone does. Lily's happened the day I brought her home, day 5 post op. I had her on a leash in the living room, thinking she won't try any foolishness while I have her on leash. Wrong! She attempted to jump up on the couch and basically bounced off of it. I almost had a heart attack. She was fine, but that led to me blocking every piece of furniture she even looked at. My point being, you have to think ahead, be realistic about the recovery and be honest with yourself about your dog's activity level.

Quite frankly, I don't understand your dog's issue. I understand he's limping, but the CCL slipping out of place is something I've never heard of. Not that that necessarily means anything, I'm not a vet. But I don't understand why either vet would recommend surgery if your dog's knee is not unstable (this would be determined by the drawer test and you are saying he doesn't have drawer movement). No disrespect to your regular vet and friend, but I would stop listening to him/her and speak to the ortho directly. Because here's the thing. Most general practice vets can perform a traditional repair. They cannot, however, perform a TTA or TPLO. These surgeries are very complex and require specific training and certification. Your vet might do a traditional repair on his/her own dog in the same situation because they could do it themselves. I love my regular vet, but as soon as she diagnosed Lily's limp as being a CCL tear, I said thank you and made an appointment with the surgeon. As much as I love and respect her, orthopedics are not her bread and butter and when you're talking about something like this, I want someone who does this every day.

[Maxx&Emma]

I think the idea of listening to an ortho vet and getting a 2nd opinion are your best options. I do not understand the injury either, as your vet is explaining it. All the Labs I have personally owned and known over the years and I have never heard of this type of injury that I can remember. Unfortunately, plenty of CCL injuries over the years that required surgery. One thing I think you can be certain of, if your puppy is limping, he is in pain.

I sure don't envy your decision, it is heartbreaking for a young puppy. Sending good thoughts your way.

[SnappinSami]

I'm so sorry to hear about your pup. Molly tore her CCL when she was 2 1/2. Our regular vet at the time was useless - didn't even identify the actual problem. We wound up taking her to an orthopedic specialist who immediately ID'd the issue. We opted to do TPLO surgery. The surgery itself went fine. Her recovery was typical for the procedure, made a little easier by the fact that she was (and still is) pretty lazy and wasn't always trying to be more active. The biggest problem is that sometimes dogs feel and act like they're feeling all better, and rush to get back to being too active. It's up to you to make sure that doesn't happen.

6 Years later, with the exception of the bumps at the scar site from the metal underneath, you'd never know there had ever been a problem. She's never had any issues with that knee, never limps on it. It wasn't cheap for sure - the final total with all the x-rays, follow up appointments, etc. - was just under $5,000. Ouch. But considering her age at the time, I'm still glad we chose to do it.

Good luck with your little boy. I hope he has a good recovery, whichever route you decide to take!

[~~KK~~]

Thanks. I am trying to set up an appointment with my vet's ortho. I will take notes so I can better describe what is going on :-)

[~~KK~~]

I talked to my vet this morning about options. He explained the injury. Apparently the ligament that attaches to the bone detached. We discussed all of the surgery options. I am not sure yet what I am going to do. My vet thinks the traditional suture surgery will fix it. If it doesn't, then we can still do a TPLO. He said there is risk that the traditional surgery would not fix it, but it's not as major of a surgery. The risk to the TPLO is that it's much more invasive and when it goes bad, it can go bad. So, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other, I guess.

[JenC]

There is a brace you can get. I can find the link if you want it.

[Berna]

I don't know why many on this board are against the traditional repair. Actually it's not that fragile at all. We did it. Anyone else?

[Kathy W]

Went through thread .... sounds like vet and ortho work out of same building ? anyway can get apt with both to ask your questions ?

Could be wrong did not think ligaments showed on x rays ? .... is it more a luxating patella ?

May want to look into a brace or ask about it at least till dog is full grown and try to limit rough play till later .. work on obedience or something with dog instead to keep mental busy

Yes Berna , RC , last lab had traditional repair ... he was 8 when repair done .

edit to change age , RC was 8 not 8 and a half