My 9 1/2 year old black lab tore his ACL and is having surgery on Thursday. Any recommendations or thoughts about the surgery, before and after surgery? Really appreciate the help, kind of nervous!
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My 9 1/2 year old black lab tore his ACL and is having surgery on Thursday. Any recommendations or thoughts about the surgery, before and after surgery? Really appreciate the help, kind of nervous!
My aunts lab had this surgery, and she is totally the kind of person who sticks to the vet instructions to the letter - it went great and as far as I know the dog gets out on walks still and she is 13 or 14 years old and had the surgery at 12 or 13. So my advise would be listen to the vet and don't be tempted to let your dog off leash when the vet says no, not even for potty breaks or walking around the house. Also make sure your dog is on the lean side of a good weight.
If you use the "search" function on the forum there should be plenty of info, even after the crash that wiped out everything last year.
Sending good thoughts for your baby.
My dog had the surgery in February. I was very nervous too! It went well and the vet said limited if any arthritis so that's good. Limited activity was the hardest part. My dog was going crazy. I made her a lot of frozen among treats to keep her busy. Watch their weight though because obviously not moving around cause Maya to gain some weight. I only did physical therapy with her a few times a day and all I did was rotate her leg as if she was riding a bike. My vet didn't offer any of the water therapy or anything extensive (although I would have done it) and Maya is just fine! The first week is the hardest. Maya was up all night crying so I ended up taking days off of work to make sure she was okay and as comfortable as she could be. Maya now is like a regular dog again and runs all over the house and is back to enjoying her life on four legs! She still baby's the leg ONLY when she wakes up but then will stretch it out and be fine. It's a rough recovery but it's so worth it.