FBR: Cruciate Ligament Rupture

austxgrl

Has anyone had a dog who ruptured their cruciate ligament?  If so, what type of surgery did you opt for?  What was the recovery time?  Can you recommend the surgeon?  Any other info? Thanks!

amycathy

Hi! I am not familiar with this particular surgery but I know that the lead surgeon at the animal trustees of Austin is fabulous and does special surgeries like this on a regular basis. You might give them a call and they can answer questions for you and give you a price. Call the spay and neuter clinic.

Amy 

 

 

angelaggie

We had an Aussie that had to have both back knees done. We had the TPLO. We had it done at Texas A&M. They recommended the TPLO because of the size of the dog. The TPLO was a bit more expensive but had longer lasting results. For small dogs they said the minor surgery works just fine. The surgery itself wasn't bad, it's the rehab after. Crate confined and very little outside time and then certain exercises. Once her leg got back to normal her other CCL ruptured. They said that happens about 50% of the time. So back to all the crate confinement and rehab.

L L CG

We did a TPLO at Animal Trustees.  It's a weird place, I'm not gonna lie.  You don't get to meet the doctor, they just take the dog from you in the waiting room, do an x-ray, and then someone comes back and tells you what the doc recommends.  A TPLO at Animal Trustees was less than half the price of a TPLO elsewhere, which is why we chose to use them.  Some of the office staff are really mean but I felt the care was good, the surgery went great and our dog is doing really great almost 3 years later.

The recovery is a ***.  A huge, ugly, skanky ho of a ***.  It's awful if you have a very active dog like I do.  Keeping my dog still after the surgery was almost impossible, which, in addition to her size, was another reason why we chose the TPLO.  We also adopted a rescue at the same time with a broken leg that was repaired the week before Daisy's TPLO, so I might have memories of the compounded pain in the ass, but the TPLO wasn't fun.

It worked, though, and I've sent friends to ATA to get their dog's leg fixed.  It's by far the best deal in town and they do good work.

virginia&alan

Our corgi had hers replaced in '03 and she's still going strong (she's almost 14 now).  I believe they used shark twine to replace the ligament, but it's been awhile and the details are a little fuzzy now.  Westlake Animal Hospital did the surgery, Dr. Bradfield, I think?  They said it was likely that the other knee would fail, but surprisingly, it's still holding out (as is the one they replaced).  I'm sure the prices have increased, but at the time the surgery cost around $800 or so.