Anyone else here dealt with a torn ACL on a dog? We've been dealing with this now for nearly 3 months. It's been stressful and trying. We've progressed to the point where crates aren't needed most of the time and he (Dominic, our black 6 year old cocker spaniel) feels like he's mostly okay. He wants to do normal things like run and jump but he's not allowed just yet. Most of the things in my house have boxes or "stuff" in the seat, stairs are blocked off, and my husband has been sleeping on memory foam mattress toppers in the living room floor. I used to work at the vet's office and saw these surgery dogs go home often but I had no idea the depth of the care involved. Our vet says injury to the other leg is a high risk going forward as well. It's changed our life so much so I can't imagine doing it again. As to how he injured it? I suggested we go up to the game room to watch something on the big tv, we gathered our dinner, drinks and dog treats and he go so excited, he leaped and took 3 stairs at once, and cried. We knew immediately it was not good. It was something so normal and so simple.
My pup (11 y.o. Bichon) has had knee surgery twice. First one was do to her patella/kneecap being "loose" ... which we discovered as a puppy. Second one she tore something. Back legs. She "runs" so funny now as she tends to hop with her back legs vs. using one then the other. Keeping her from jumping up while recovering wasn't easy. We mostly kept her inside a baby play-yard. She still jumped up against the sides.
Oh man! That's rough! I have no suggestions. I hope you find some things that work and aren't as stressful for you!
Oh poor baby. We took a dog through heartworm treatment - another no activity event. It is hard. Hope he heals quickly!!
Oh no, poor baby! We've been through the ACL surgery 3 times. Once for my first dog. And twice (both knees but not at the same time) for my second dog. Here the ice on the sidewalks is sometimes just too much and the dogs slip and that's it, torn ACL. Once I had to carry my 85 lb labrador retriever home from the walk after she was injured, and I was completely worn out. I remember recovery taking a long time and having to keep our dogs calm during the recovery period. Hope it heals quickly and completely.
Yes the hardest part. He thinks he's fine. We are using a calming med but we lowered the dose and he gets so hyper. He told us a month or so ago he was done being in his kennel. Just not having it anymore he said. He's very vocal! lol Thank you! I doubt the rum intake of Jack Sparrow will be trend I can continue for much longer so I am hoping the fall/holiday season will bring some peace and also help me get my house back to normal. Oh yes, this is another hard one. I have only had one dog that went through a heartworm treatment, a dog we rescued from a shelter to help find her a home. She was an easy dog though. So I remember her recovery being super easy b/c she was such a calm, friendly dog. Oh man, 85 pounds, I don't think I could have managed that. We are lucky we don't have much ice here (texas) because my two crazy cocker spaniels... they slip on the tile floor like it's ice. I can't imagine actual ice, lol. It really is such a common injury though and dogs often injure one knee and then it's weaker so they other eventually gets injured. We are going to do our best to prevent that but it's a worry every day. BONUS, the other cocker spaniel is at the vet for a dental which she has to have every 3 months (sometimes I just shake my head like wth)... she had a broken tooth. It was a small one thank goodness but I realized immediately when it happened. She's small and leaped out of the jeep one day on her own AS I was shutting the door. I hit her with the door and she fell flat on her face. She is supposed to wait so I can come around and let her out. I felt horrible and now knowing this whole time she had an injury from it, geez. Thank goodness its an easy fix but I never get out of the jeep now the same way.
It's not too scary... make sure and ask your vet if you need a calming pill. We are using Trazadone. Now I don't know what's safe off the top of my head with heartworm treatment and it's not a cure all calm medication. Depends on the dog/age/activity level/how well they behave (haha)... but for the most part it helps Dominic not be AS up and at 'em. He usually is running and jumping. You will need a crate if you don't have one and a comfy bed. Dogs are supposed to stay in the crate almost all of the time especially initially with heartworm treatment.
OH man, I'm so sorry. Our bulldog puppy Nelly partially tore her ACL on both sides last year- we're not even really sure how, but she was at a friends house while we were out of town & I think she just played too hard with her dogs. Thankfully her vet said we could keep her inactive & let them try to heal as a first option, then surgery if they didn't heal. Keeping a puppy inactive is SO incredibly hard. Thankfully she was already crate trained (and we were all home due to distance learning & working from home thankfully!) So far so good- but ever since she's a bit slower- even though the vet says they healed okay based of exam/xray. It was also discovered going through all that, that she has pretty bad hip dysplasia. For now she's on meds but if it becomes worse enough- she'd need complete hip replacements! Oh vey. And our older bulldog, Lucy was just diagnosed with lymphoma (most likely stage 3/4) and depending how she does on meds, only has a few months left with us. We're devastated. She IS doing well on the meds & has started eating more & as a side affect, her arthritis is not as bad. We're determined to give her the best last few months of her life.
Someone told me they have changed the treatment and it does not require as much watching. Previously, they gave them a low dose of arsenic and there was a fear of blood clots forming from the dead worms. The low activity was to prevent any blood clots from traveling to the brain and killing the dog.
Our cat had shoulder surgery and we were supposed to keep him in a shower for 6 weeks. Instead we had him in a bedroom, with a mattress on the floor where my daughter would sleep. He still jumped on to and off the window sill, so he walks with a little limp, but we really couldn't imagine keeping him in a 1m x 1m shower for 6 weeks so I think it was fine.
I've not dealt with that kind of injury before, but since getting Piper almost a year ago, we have had her to the vet numerous times. It's so hard to keep them quiet and restrained. Sending ((HUGS)) to you and hope your baby gets better soon!
I am so sorry Dominic and your family has been struggling with pet care. It's so hard. When Annie got attacked by another dog she was not allowed almost any movement in the first few days. It was so hard.
@Kat and @BevG We are at the beginning, and apparently they caught it early - Stage 1. He's on an antibiotic for 30 days right now. No restrictions yet, but I've read that when he gets the shot in 45ish days, then I'll have to restrict activities. We have a crate, but he hates it. I'm hoping the low activity means he can lay out during the mornings when it's just him and me. He likes to lay at my feet and chill.
Work on making that crate the most amazing place he can be in the next month. Mine hates his too but he did okay there for a while. This morning he was pawing at it to come out so I had to get up at 6:45 am when Scott left. I do think Stage 1 is a fairly easy recovery. Thank you. Dogs can be so hard, you don't ever want to see them hurt, or in pain, and they can't really tell you. Well they can if you "listen close" but there is a lot of guesswork. I mean, I've had dogs in and out of here for years, 5 of our own at first, and one lived to 18 but for whatever reason these current two are so spoiled and plagued by problems I would have never expected. I wish I could get inside their heads and help fix some of it. We are basically funding our vet clinic at this point, lol. Scarlet will always have to have sedated dental cleanings every three months which is 500+ each time. She gets these mouth sores, some condition they get sometimes. Leave it to us. I hope Piper is okay now and less frequent of a vet visitor! oh wow, now that I've never heard of. I'm glad it worked out without that. I couldn't imagine keeping my cat in the shower. Well I don't have cats now, my husband says massive no's to cats now, but we had 5 at one point. I couldn't imagine locking one in the shower. Cats would be even harder to keep quiet than dogs.
Dude - she's expensive! I think we are funding our vet clinic as well. When we got her, she had horrible breath, and found out that she had several teeth that needed to be pulled. It was pricey for sure. I think she's settled down quite a bit, but she's a sensitive soul and sometimes her moping can be misconstrued as illness - won't be falling for that one again. LOL
We got an update yesterday at Dominic's recheck for his leg. He has swelling most likely from a reaction to the sutures. The sutures are supposed to be permanent to hold the knee stronger in place. 7% of dogs have a reaction. Leave it to us for that to happen. I mean, we feel really down about it. Another surgery, 2 weeks in a cone, continued restrictive activity (which Dominic is really done with, he feels okay he thinks)... We could be looking at 1-2+ more months of restrictions. We have zero open seating in our house. Everything is blocked with a basket, a box, or whatever we could find so he won't try to jump up. Scott is still sleeping in the living room floor with him. It's like having sort of organized chaos at all times in your home. Even our patio furniture is blocked so he can't jump up. I can't just sit outside when it's cool and enjoy the breeze, read a book, etc. I know it sounds like a pity party, and it feels like it but he is healing well. The question comes how it will hold without the suture. He is young, active, and clumsy. The vet thinks it will hold but we will know more next week. And he reminded us to be prepared. His other leg will likely have the same problem. It isn't a matter of if but when. We have been like this since July. I've lost track of how long that is. lol
Would a baby play-yard work to contain him? I have one similar to this one that I bought when my GK were babies and we've used it for our pup. https://www.amazon.com/Evenflo-Vers...keywords=playyard&qid=1633118629&rdc=1&sr=8-7
Unfortunately no. We have a crate we used for the first 2 months of recovery but he was done with that. He barked (even on the calming meds) non stop until we let him out. He's very vocal about things. We looked at extended gates and something like this for dogs but they are super expensive and he has already taken down the one gate we do have. We had one on the stairs and he pulled it down and went upstairs and got on the bed. We got lucky that day he didn't hurt his knee worse. It's a hot mess.