cruciate ligament damage in dogs?

Toby (not my dog but as good as my dog – he thinks he’s mine as i take him out for runs a few times a week) has just been diagnosed with cruciate ligament damage on his left rear leg by x-ray today, I dunno how bad the damage is, whether it’s a tear or rupture etc but i’ll try and find out the specifics of the injury from the vet. I noticed it a few weeks ago as was starting to give the occasional hop on his rear leg that progressed into walking with it swung out a bit and taking his time when jumping.

He’s only 8 and pretty fit so i hope the prognosis isn’t poor as he loves to get out wi the bike for a bimble, i don’t make him run when out as that wouldn’t be fair on his teeny Jack Russell legs but he can usually manage an 8 mile bimble comfortably – the vet has recommended dropping a KG from his weight using an Eukanuba dog food (he gets bears at the moment) but apparently didn’t mention anything much else apart from gentle walks till he which could be awkward as he’s never used a lead in his life, but he obviously walks fine on one – he’s just not used to being restrained in such a way.

What should i be looking at to research for his rehabilitation?, some of the online articles are pretty fear inducing.

Cruciate injuries in dog can be managed medically or surgically. In general surgical management is considered better for most dogs, certainly those over 10kg or so. There are a wide range of techniques but they boil down to two categories – a cheaper option where you try to stabilise the knee using an artificial “ligament” in one of a number of formats, or a more expensive option (usually referral to specialist) where you change the shape of the knee and therefore the dynamics of the forces that act through it.

Rehabilitation time for the more expensive option is much quicker. However the outcomes a year down the line are not very dissimilar if the surgery is done by a competent vet. Either way you start with an arthritic and inflamed knee and end up with an arthritic and inflamed knee. The knee will never be perfect i am afraid.

For smaller dogs weight control, anti-inflammatories and exercise management can lead to an acceptable outcome.

HTH.

Cheers clanton – you seem to know what your talking about – are you a vet?.

Yeah i’ve read through some outcomes online and after a year the success rates all seem to fall around the same improvement % for small dogs whether that be for surgery or exercise management, he has no arthritis or inflammation (yet) and at 13kg he’s not overweight or so i thought – he is very muscely and stocky which may give the impression of being overweight.

Poor wee guy – he’s my riding mojo 🙁

I dunno what’s the best option?, our local vet is primarily used to dealing with cattle/farm animals so would it be wise to get a second opinion from the Royal Dick up in edinburgh? – i have a few mates who have had quite extensive treatments for their dogs done up the vet school and they say it’s the best in scotland.

He’s not insured but i’m not bothered about the costs involved as long as it will offer a genuine improvement for toby.

My wonderful collie had cruciate ligament rupture last year. We took him on long walk and at the end of it he was lame. We were referred to Solihull (Willows) who confirmed it.

Two options were offered:

1. Replace ligament by hooking piece of nylon behind the knee and thread it through a hole drilled in the front bone. This was not recommended as the ‘ligament’ is liable to stretch and eventually snap.
2. Reshape the knee through a tibial wedge osteotomy where they cut a small piece of bone from the lower bone which meant the upper bone did not push it out and stabilise the knee. The bone was held together with plate which is still there.

We went for the latter. The poor mutt had limited exercise for about 3 months thereafter. Fortunately I had recently insured him (only got him last year as a rescue) but expect the bill to be around the £4,000 mark.

After recuperation he has come on fine. Long walks are not an issue now. One thing to remember though, the dog will eventually get arthritis in later life as no matter what is done you can’t replace the full functionality of the ligament.

I think I would ask your local vet as to what surgical options were available. If he is insured I would get a specialist surgeon to look at him at least.
There is no perfect solution. Conservative, medical management IS an option. I think it is fair to say that consensus is that surgery is overall better but evidence is mixed.

Sadly I don’t think he will be returning to full function. Some do very very well but long runs next to a mountain bike might be too much to ask for.

It’s interesting to see the differences in dogs and humans.

Happened to my Lab when she was young, this was about 15 years ago now. The vet gave us the option to have surgery or back the what he said was a new consensus of letting it heal. We let it heal and she had a long happy life without any issues.

We’ve got a 7 year old staffy with this problem. At first we thought surgery was the only option but the vet recommended we try physio first. It has been a massive success and she is pretty much able to walk normally most of the time now, although she will never go for a long run again…
Also, metacam works wonders for the pain.

Dogs under 15kg often do well without surgery, but expect to restrict exercise for minimum 6wks.

If the cruciate is damaged, there will be inflammation in the joint already, and there will be ongoing arthritis regardless of treatment choices.

Cruciate injuries in dogs tend to fall into two categories:
Young dogs who suffer a fairly athletic injury (for example foot going down a rabbit hole while running)
Middle-aged or older dogs who tear a cruciate without known trauma because the cruciate has weakened with age.

Sadly, Toby sounds more like the second scenario, where there is a significant chance that the other cruciate will go at some point.

My bro has a young staffy with a cruciate ligament that sometimes pops over the joint and causes her to yelp and hop, he was advised to take her to swimming/hydrotherapy and was shown how to lay her out with legs outstretched and move it back into position, the swimming helps but unfortunately the nearest place is 50+ miles away., apparently it’s quite a common ailment in staffies.

The vet gave Toby metacam at the initial visit two weeks ago but he’s never yelped or whined in pain at all, he just walks a bit slower although he does stare at his leg as if to say “wtf is wrong with it?”.

Cheers for the advice folks, when out on the bike with him I never made him run along side me, I ride at a slow walking pace as he’s always mooching about around the forests, being a small dog it appears surgery would be the last option to try so fingers crossed it will not hamper him too much for short bimbles at the moment till he drops a bit of weight.

We have English pointer seven years old had op on ligament last year had plate insert has recovered ok so far but now other leg showing signs of similar injury. This time same vet who did the op had good results with plasma injections into joint with other dogs so we have tried this option, still on road to recovery, limited exercise lead walks etc!

I have a 14 month old springer who did this three weeks ago! was fine after his walk but when my other half came home later on he couldn’t put any weight on it and growled when she touched the knee etc.

He had tibial tuberosity advancement surgery the day after, so the tibia cut open and a titanium wedge inside to hold the new shape and load path of his knee. The vet informed us that as he is obviously a lively and (very) young dog that this was the best way forwards, we know the joint will be arthritic in later life so we are looking into hydrotherapy etc to control that.

That was just over three weeks ago, and he has been on strict crate rest other than toilet breaks for that time, we did have one complication where the lock wire holding the wedge in place must have irritated him, so he pulled it out of his leg, which was unpleasant to say the least. Other than that he is now allowed lead walking daily, but at a very slow pace to make sure he doesn’t “trot” along like normal. and he now shows no outward signs of the joint causing him any pain.

My 7-yo springer had finished 12 weeks of restricted activities and slow rehab after his cruciate op, so we’ve been building up his free time running in the park since. He’d just got back up to speed and was able to run happily about at last. When we came back from a walk on Saturday he sat down, then couldn’t really get back up, and it looks like he’s injured the other knee.
Still waiting to see if the vet recommends another op. 🙁

Our 2 year old Springer had the Cruciate Ligament fixed at a cost of around £12k-16k, but this was done by an extremely good/well known veterinary surgeon, possibly one of the best. She is now 8 or 9 and has never had a problem since and she works most weekends and competes in working tests, scurries, etc.

If you can get it done, do it. All I can say is thank God for pet insurance!

Our pointer cross tore his a few years ago. He was old (over 10 and 25kg) so we didn’t opt for surgery as we didn’t know what that would do to him. Instead, we went for the rest option but also used Aqua Vet who have underwater treadmills and pools for the dogs to swim in.

3 months of the treadmill and our boy was walking well. This along with walks on the lead built the muscle round the joint so he could take his weight again. After about 6 months he was back off the lead although not bombing round like he did before.

He’s just turned 15 and this saturday we’re having him put to sleep as his whole backend has started to fail him. Best dog in the world and love him to bits. Not having the surgery never held him back. Metacam didn’t work for ours but we did give him “youmove” which is full of omega type stuff to help the joint.

Springer thats had both legs operated on here.
The vet did warn us that the other cruciate would likely go sometime in the future as he would favour his good leg. Almost a year to the day we were back to the vets with his second cruciate injury.
Cost per leg was £2400 iirc.

For a nine year old dog he’s noticeably slower than our 11 month old springer but he’s still quick for an old boy.

Skiprat sorry to hear that happened to one of our first pointers couldnt get up steps the look on his face was haunting sad news best wishes

Does nobody find it odd that dogs get better treatment than humans? I also find it odd that the cost of a ACL repair in a dogs is a few times more than one in a human. The world has gone mad.

@wanmankylung

That’s cos there are many different sizes and types of dog. There’s not that many types of humans; we don’t vary that much. Most probably drugs are more expensive too.

That’s cos there are many different sizes and types of dog.

There are many different sizes and types of humans also.