Thats great news! Have you thought about hydrotherapy? This helped my dog a lot, he lost a few pounds and it strengthened his muscles without putting weight on his joints.

My dog initialy did the damage in April 10 but wasnt operated on until Oct 10, this is not because I was trying conservative management it was because it took this long for diagnosis, first lot of xrays concentrated on his spine, hips and pelvic region due to how he landed. Second lot of xrays still did not show anything even though 2 of my own vets examined them and they were also sent off for second opinion at Orthopeadics, they said it was probably due to it being too early after accident for any changes to show on the xrays.
When he was diagnosed we went to a Orthopeadic centre in W.Yorks the surgeon examined him took detailed history including his normal activety levels she recommended the TTA for him so he could return to normal activety levels. She said why he had intermitent lameness was due to scar tissue building up over a period but it only took a wrong turn for the scar tissue to tear and in a large breed the dog unless restricted to lead all the time will require surgery. The TTA was recommended due to his size, activety and the 92+% success rate, his other stifle showed no sign of wear and tear so would unlikely ever need to be done. He had to be caged for 12 weeks, first 2 weeks just out for toilet breaks and needed to be kept on lead in both house and garden
I followed their advice to the letter, is off lead exercise was delayed until March due to ice/snow making conditions not safe, but he his back to normaly now
http://www.torvet.co.uk/publications...ta-handout.pdf

Thanks DG...our nearest hydrotherapy place is an hour and a half away, and Saba's not great in the car. I was thinking of trying to get her in the pool here, but she is so scared of getting out of her depth that she risks doing more damage through panicking.

Wildmoor..sorry to hear about your frustrarting time getting a diagnosis. But glad that you have eventually got a good outcome. Thanks for the link. It is good to have such a clear programme of rehab. Interesting that your dog had a TTA, rather than TPLO. My vets here didn't offer that as an option, because they don't think it has been tested well enough. Looking at your practice's experience, it sounds like that was just a way of saying 'we don't know how to do it'!

I was offered the TPLO and TTA but choose the TPLO as the vet was very honest saying he had more experience with doing the TPLO.

Its a shame about the hydrotherapy, I think your right not risking putting her in a pool yourself. Im sure she will make a good recovery without it

I think it is important to take the advice of vets and professionals in these cases rather than rely on websites such as these. My GSD suffered a partial cruciate ligament tear a little less than 2 years ago. She was toe touching on the injured leg - very severe lameness. With excerise restriction the lameness would disappear only to reappear when worked again.

The vet was of the opinion that the tear was caused by trauma, rather than a degenerative condition, and had a chance of healing without surgery. Therefore, he was reluctant to operate without trying conservative management first and referred me to a physiotherapist.

To cut a long story short, 5 months after diagnosis, intensive physio and hydro therapy and no surgery, my dog was back to unrestricted excerise, agility and Schutzhund, and the leg is still sound, pain and limp free.

So for SOME dogs, and SOME types of tear, conservative treatment can and does work.

Hi. Have been doing reading on net today and have just joined "Dogsey"...

Just after Christmas last year my JR started limping in park after I threw a frisby christmas present for first time! He is 9 and has always been in good health. On examination by Vet it was diagnosed as a probable torn cruciate ligament rear leg. I was advised that conservative treatment works well with small dogs. So the routine restricted activity and meds etc. After several months built up and he was limp/leg up free...

Until yesterday! He has not been out for 2 days now, trying to restrict activity (which makes me feel really mean) and is mostly walking around house with one leg up.

I have today been reading about operations and the risk scares me - I know this sounds a bit dramatic but my dog is now the only family I have left! I really loathe the idea of opting for an operation. Am going to make appointmet tomorrow for vets but would be grateful to hear what anyone thinks? Thanks.

Welcome to the forum! My dog was 12 when he had his operation, I was dreading it like you but I dont regret it at all. Hes always been an active boy and carrying on without the op wasnt an option for me. Altimately it is your choice, you need to think what is best for the dog in the long run.

Hope that helps, good luck at the vets

Rocky tore his cruciate in 2005 and although we tried strict rest and it appeared to get better, in the end we had a Slocum TPLO operation. He's a big heavy dog tho, and it was always a bit of a gamble trying the strict rest option.

I think Dawn (Borderdawn) has had success with smaller dogs (Border Terriers) so hopefully she'll spot this and chime in.

I would suggest getting an xray done to see the extent of the damage - and then decide on a course of action

Hi and thanks Dog Geek.

One major thing i think about is the different opinions on conservative management/treatment. I wonder if people have heard if smaller dogs do really respond better than larger dogs? I certainly remember the vet saying that they normally advise straight away an op if it is a larger dog.

Any comments appreciated. Thanks

I think your right in the fact that smaller dogs respond better than larger dogs, i guess that will be the weight factor. I've heard that vets generally like to see what happens with conservative management rather than go straight into the op. The best thing you can do IMO is to see what your vet says.
Are you insured? My dogs costs of op and treatment cost about 3/4 grand, luckily he was insured. I would get the vet to xray him to see the extend of the damage, however my vet said that sometimes this is hard to see on an xray.

The fact that you have already tried conservative management and has been unsuccessful, I would be considering the op. I would be constantly paranoid about it happening again even if it did get better again. Thats just my opinion though, you know your dog better than anyone else.