Pets
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
CCL tear experience?
in Pets
Has anyone's dog had a partial CCL tear? The vet thinks that is probably what is going on with Bella. She was on anti-inflammatory meds for about a week and now she is not limping, but still favoring that leg a bit. She also sticks it out to the side when she sits. We are still trying to restrict activity as much as possible, but I was wondering what the chances are of her recovering from this without surgery? How long would it take to heal?
Re: CCL tear experience?
The summer before last Charlie had a partial tear in his back left leg. He was limping, licking it, and not too pleased about me touching it. Our vet put him on Rimadyl; a glucosamine, chondroiton and MSM chew; and restricted exercise for a few weeks. He healed up in about a month or so (if it hadn't surgery was our other option as well), but we have since then restricted how much running he does (very little at this point). We do long walks, but I keep an eye on him. When he's had a really active day, he'll start to get stiff.
We now do glucosamine and salmon oil plus vitamin E.
My dogs have had both knees repaired surgically.
When the second one was still a partial tear I knew it was going to tear completely, eventually. WIthin a few weeks it did and she had surgery that week.
The CCL does not repair/heal. Scar tissue forms to stabilize the joint. Surgery helps that process along.
I would much rather have the surgery done than restrict activity for weeks/months, have it tear anyway, and have to restrict for months again following surgery. But that's me. A lot of people go the conservative management route.
Unless your dog is very senior, I recommend surgery. It does not heal. Scar tissue forms eventually, which stabilizes the joint, but that can take years. It is a huge quality of life difference. The dog can do almost nothing now AND is in pain, but after the surgery and recovery, they are almost as good as new! My dog had the surgery is September, was going on short quarter-mile runs by January, and now joins me (and pulls me!) on our longer thirty minute runs. Without surgery, she would be sitting at home not allowed or wanting to do anything!
You can visit a few surgeons, and go with the one you are most comfortable with. My dog stuck her leg out too, and part of her therapy after surgery was sticking it back in when sitting.
Boylema keeps all the links for this topic. If she doesn't post soon, try paging her.
Haha here I am!! Sooner than I'd like (see next post by me)
Here's a link...w/other links
http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/63762823.aspx
Please feel free to PM me if you have any futher questions, I know I could answer your questions directly, but for the sake of re-repeating myself for the 100th time, I'll just let you read the above & then contact me if you need more info!! GL!!
Hi! My 9 month old lab Elli is 2 weeks post-TPLO for a complete tear of her CCL. However, we are pretty sure the injury started about 6 months ago with a partial tear. We did kennel rest and various meds for about 3 months after her second injury, which completely tore her CCL. Elli was not improving from the rest and the meds, so we got a second opinion, and that is how we ended up doing surgery.
The type of surgery you do (if any) depends on the breed, activity level, and age of your dog. What does your vet recommend? HTH! Good luck with everything!
Definitely if Charlie wasn't a very old dog and with years of running ahead of him, we would have gone the surgery route.
Good luck! I hope you and your vet find a good, healing solution.