Cruciate Ligament

I took my Retriever back to the vet today as she has had a problem with one of her back legs and has been on Metacam and had only leads walks for a week. After another examination the vet now thinks that she has a problem with her cruciate ligament and has suggested an xray next week and has said that surgery is likely. She is ok on her walks and then suddenly just lifts up her back leg as if in discomfort/pain and then will hop on three legs for a short while and then appears ok again. She is just two years old and we naturally want to do whatever is best for her but want to be sure that surgery is absolutely necessary. Has anyone else on here experienced the same problem and if so can they offer any advice, ie should we get a second opinion before agreeing to an op. She is our first dog and we have only used/tried the one vet. Thank you

I've been through a very similar experience.

We took on an overweight border collie just over a year ago. As we started upping her exercise, she would often run back to us on 3 legs.

We went through various stages with the vet. Enforced rest for a couple of weeks (with metacam).

After that, he thought it may be arthritis in her hips. We didn't get an x-ray then but started to give her hydrotherapy. the hyrdotherapist had a good feel and said he couldn't feel any arthritis, so we had her hips x-rayed to double check.

Hips were fine, so then moved onto the cruciate ligament, which is what it turned out to be. In Hoki's case this was less easy to spot because it was an old injury and her muscles had developed around the joint to keep it in place (usually vets can feel some movement in the joint which makes them suspect ligament damage).

More rest to see whether it was a tear that would heal, but in the end she needed the op - turned out she had fully ruptured the ligament at some point before we got her.

In short, the vets can only assess so much externally - they will need to see inside to be sure of what is going on.

If it does come to an x-ray, I would ask them whether it is worth x-raying her hips at the same time, just to rule out anything else (e.g. hip dysplacia).

If you feel your vet isn't explaining each step and your options fully, it may well be worth getting a second opinion, but I would hate to think that a vet would carry out surgery when none was necessary.

If it is cruciate damage, it will depend on whether it is a complete rupture or just a tear. A tear can heal with proper rest and recovery, but a rupture is it ligament completely snapping and that's it.

With small dogs they say that they can cope without an op even if it is a full rupture, but with a dog your size and particularly with how young it is, I really don't think you will have any choice about having the op if it is a full rupture.

Then there's the decision about which op to have...but I'll leave that for another time!

(as an aside, do you have laminate flooring and if so, does your dog slide around on it paricularly when changing direction?)

I owned a SBT that had both op'd on. But it was cruciate ligament. I don't recall him though, running on three then re-using it, all I recall was when it went he'd scream the place down. We had the first on done then the other 12months later went. However he neve looked back once they were done. Hydro pool are brill by the way. See what the X-ray reveals first

Ozzy my Rottweiler had cruciate damage in both back legs, if it is cruciate I would definately have the operation done.

Ozzy could run on his bad legs before the op, but then we saw a gradual deterioration and he would limp intermitantly. I also noticed he developed a 'clicking noise' that you could hear when he walked.

It is difficult going through the nursing period afterwards and trying to keep them off the leg, but so worth it having the op done. I'll never forget the day we saw him run again, words cannot describe the elation we felt at the sight.

If you want to read the posts about him they are here:-

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=24865

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=25424

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=48588

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y29...OzDent0015.flv

Thank you for your replies. Although the vet has suggested that surgery is likely I am now hoping that an xray will reveal a minor injury such as a torn ligament that may heal itself as oppossed to a ruptured ligament or floating knee joint that will require surgery. I will be keeping everything crossed.

Fingers crossed it is something that will not need surgery.

Hi My Katei had the opp when she was 5 and she is now ten, she has arthritise in her front leg but her £500 leg is fine, She loved being ill her leg was all straped up and everyone admired it. When the bandages came off her leg was a bit short so we masarged it every day and slowly she began to touch the floor first with her toes very carfully and eventualy she forgot all about it.
She has never had any more problems with it .

Thank you so much for your mail, its reassuring to know that other dogs have had the op and not had any problems.