Cruciate Ligament Injury - Is Surgery Always Necessary?

An interesting website for anyone whose dog is suffering from Cruciate Ligament tears or ruptures.

http://www.tiggerpoz.com/index.html

Had that site bookmarked a long while back...
Would be intresting to hear if anyone followed the info fully....

My 7 year old pointer damaged her stifle three months ago. Vet suspected cruciate damage. On reading around (including the website you linked to) and talking to my normal vet we tried to restrict her for 8 weeks, but it just got worse. We went to a specialist who performed a TPLO, as she had totally ruptured the anterior cruciate.

I'm now regretting having waited before going for surgery, as Saba will have done more damage to the joint, and she had also torn the meniscus, so some of that had to be removed, which will mean more arthritis down the road.

I think it is right to be cautious about surgery, but in this case I regret having been swayed by websites like this one. It played on my natural anxiety and fear.

Saba is recovering well, but it's only 4 weeks since surgery, so early days yet. She is already a LOT more happy than before surgery.

Anyone had any success without surgery?

Saba is making

I am afraid that websites like this can be dangerous.

If you talk to osteopaths, chiropractics, vets, doctors etc ie the people who SEE injuries like this in humans and animals extremely regularly they will tell you that conservative treatment does not CURE the problem.

Extreme caution advised.

I tried to treat a cruciate tear conservatively in my Dobermann. I spoke at length with the owner of that website and he was very helpful. The specialist we saw also advised to try conservative treatment and to treat my Dobe as if he had had the surgery. He said he was not really happy to do a TPLO at that point as my dog looked completely sound to him on the trot (he had been restricted prior to the appointment), although he could see on xrays that there was fluid and swelling around the ligament site. He did tell me that it would be unusual for the joint to stabilise enough with scar tissue in a large breed, but thought it was worth a try.

I restricted him heavily for 6 months, treated him as if he'd had the surgery - no jumping, no playing, very short lead walks, etc etc. There was no hint of lameness throughout the 6 months but then as soon as I started to let him off the lead we ended up back at square one!! It was a completely pointless waste of time and I would most definitely not do it again! He then had to have a TPLO done anyway, and of course I then had to repeat all of the restrictions, building up walks, etc, that we'd just spent 6 months doing.

He does have arthritis in that knee but then they get arthritis in the joint anyway, even if they have the surgery straight away. I can't imagine his injury got much worse over the 6 months as I kept him so heavily restricted. It was definitely a total waste of time though - thankfully he was a trooper throughout!

I would no way trust a website like this! My boy torn his right cruciate ligament about a year and a half ago, my vet didnt deal with these types of injury so I was referred to a specialist.

The specialist was amazing, he told us all about the dangers involved in the op, the recovery process, xrayed all my dogs joints to gauge the level of already present arthitus he had (as he was 12 when this happened). In no way did he try and make us feel we had to have the operation, he told us the pros and cons of if we did or didnt have the op. He showed us the xray and explained how he would do the op.

He gave us follow up appointments to make sure he was healing well and told us that if we had any concerns then dont hesitate to ring or bring him in.

Apart from a bit of outward swing on the leg as he runs, you would never know he had anything done. His activity levels are the same, he does everything he used to.

Surely leaving a dog 8 weeks without treatment would be painful? Mine was literally on 3 legs for nearly 2 weeks before we could get him in for the op.

I actually attended a seminar on this about a week ago held by Mr Duncan Midgely BVMS Cert SAO MRCVS. It was fascinating.

His view in short was that surgery is the only real option. Conservative methods more often than not do not work and most dogs treated this way (with rest and medications) are generally just prolonging the inevitable and that most dogs treated this way still end up needing surgery.

The faster the diagnosis and surgery performed the better chance you have of success and the dog regaining full normal use of its leg, the longer its left the higher the failure rate.

I agree. I left it too long, and I regret that.

Zarah, I feel for you having gone through 6 months of conservative treatment for nothing. Did you speak to the website owner afterwards? From our experiences, it sounds like his site might be making dogs and their owners suffer in vain.

While I'm with all of you TPLO lot, how long after the op did you let your dog off the lead? Saba is raring to go, just 4 weeks after her op, and I know that's way too soon, so I'm battling to keep her calm.

I had the same problem with mine. Its best to ask your vet about that one. It wasnt until we had our follow up appointment after surgery that he told us when we could try letting him off lead, as each dogs recovery is different.

Thanks DG. I just had the follow-up x-rays, and everything is healing well. Given Saba's loony nature the vet doesn't want her off-lead for another 5 weeks, but i have to gradually increase the amount of walking and trotting.

I have just ordered one of those cani-cross belts to save my back and shoulder!