SubscribeDog Knee Surgery Costs – Cost of Repairing a Torn Dog Knee Ligament
As a pet owner, one of the worst things that you could ever imagine happening is having your dog become injured to the point where it is painful for him/her to walk. When our dog tore her CCL (comparable to an ACL in humans) she couldn’t put any pressure at all on her leg. It was terrible to see, especially considering the fact that she was always such an active dog prior to her injury. The good news is that with dog knee injuries, there are many surgical repair options, just as knee injuries in humans, there are many repair and rehabilitation options.
When it comes to the cost of surgery, that is really going to depend on 5 major factors:
- First and foremost, the type of surgery that you choose will be the biggest factor in determining cost. Here are some common types: TPLO, TTA, and Lateral Fabellar Technique
- The veterinarian performing the surgery can substantially increase/decrease the cost. Believe it or not, just like human doctors, veterinarians also “specialize”, so if you go to a vet who only does dog knee surgery and knee repairs for dogs, chances are the price will be higher than if you go to your typical veterinarian.
- Unfortunate, but true, I’ve come to learn that your location will greatly affect cost. I live in southern California, and we paid almost twice as someone in Texas who contacted us about having the same surgery performed on their dog.
- The type of dog that you have. This effects the cost primarily due to the type of surgeries that are available, as larger breeds typically have less options available, through some veterinarians will perform any of the 3 techniques mentioned above regardless of the breed of the dog.
- The final cost, that can be partially controlled by the owner is the follow-up visits, medication expenses, food expenses, care, rehab, etc.
So I’ve given you the factors, What is the Cost??? The thing is, there really isn’t a set cost for the dog knee surgery, or knee repair. To give you a range, I’d say that you could expect anywhere from $1,000 all the way up to $5,000. $1,000 would probably be the very low end of the spectrum and $5,000 would be the very high end. I’d like to say that the average dog knee (CCL) surgery would cost you around $1,500, but depending on the factors above, it really can fall anywhere in that range. Ours was about $2,500, then after all the follow-up office visits and medications were factored in, our final cost was probably closer to $3,500.
If you and your dog are unlucky and this happens to you, I’d recommend shopping around before heading in for surgery. Obviously, the first choice would be your primary care veterinarian, but don’t be afraid to ask them if they have any recommendations (even if they are capable of performing the surgery).
As always, I hope this information is helpful, and I always love to hear comments, so don’t be afraid to drop a line below.
Image by jstar.
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Pretty nice post. I just came across your site and wanted to say
that I’ve really enjoyed browsing your posts. In any case
I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon!
I have a English bulldog. He just got his diagnosis of a torn knee ligament. Which vet. did you go to. I live in ca.
thank you
joanna
Hi Joanna -
We made an hour drive to go to a vet in Simi Valley, CA. I can’t remember the name of the vet off-hand, but they had a surgeon who flies in once or twice per month strictly to perform CCL surgeries. We felt very comfortable after meeting and talking with this vet, so we didn’t even take our dog anywhere else. That and the fact that they had someone cancel a surgery, we ended up getting her right in.
I hope this helps, let me know if you’re in the Simi Valley area and I can dig up the vets information for you.
Take care, and best of luck!
Is the name of the doctor Gary Brown. He is in fallbrook.
joanna
Our bullie had the surgery about 3 1/2 weeks ago.. Sutures are out and he’s feeling better.. during the days, we keep him confined in the kitchen and away from our other bullie so he can rest. Today I left them for about 2 minutes and when I turned around, both of them had jumped on the couch. Can this cause more damage? He seems fine and didn’t yelp.
The vets name was not Gary Brown. His name is Dennis Crowe. I thought I had his business card, but I cannot find it. He was not based in California, he just flies in once a month to perform surgeries.
I hope this helps.
Hi Christine -
We had a couple scares just like this. It’s tough trying to keep an active dog inactive, and they always find a way to get into something or do something that they’re not supposed to. In our case, our dog took off after a cat while out front going to the bathroom. We were terrified that she would have reinjured it, but everything turned out fine. In any case, I’d recommend that you take your dog in to have the vet take a look at the leg if your dog shows any sings of discomfort (more then previously).
Best of luck in the recovery!
Kenneth
I was curious which procedure you chose for your dog and how your dog is progressing since the surgery? Lastly, what type of dog do you have?
My dog, 7 yr old Golden, was just diagnosed with a torn CCL and our vet recommended the filament on the outside of the joint to secure it with an estimated cost of $ 2,000. I am just trying to get a cost comparison and idea of the successfulness of the procedure. I live in Chicago, so I would think that prices would be simiar to CA.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Stephen
Hi Stephen -
We chose the traditional surgery, actually, when we elected to get the surgery, we didn’t even know that there were other options available. I believe the “filament” that you mentioned would be the same as that used in the traditional repair.
We have a pit bull. She was about 60 lbs. at the time of the injury (which was way overweight for her build)… she was a fat & happy dog. She now ranges between 42-45 lbs and gets around great. She is happy and runs around when we let her off the leash at the park.
$2,000 is not bad for the traditional surgery… especially in/around large cities!
Best of luck to you and your dog!
PS – I absolutely love Chicago! Great city!!!
I really enjoy browsing the site because the information is quite helpful.
My little puppy had similar problem as mentioned in the article in the website.
I hope somebody can help me solve the problem with my dog,
It happens when the day I got home after work, she started to walk with three legs and problem with her back left leg with the knee in flexion. I thought she hurts her knee somehow while she is jumping around at home, then I took her to the vet for advise, the vet is unsure about the problem cause by the pain or the ligament torn, so that she gave us some pain killer for the dog and recommend us to return after a week, but after three days, the problem remain and sometimes feels a bit worst.
Is there any comment according to my pet situation, please help…
HI Allan -
I think rest would be the best option for your dog. Try keeping it confined for a week or two, then return to the vet to see if there are any improvements or suggestions.
Dear Kenneth,
Thank you for your advice, she put her on pain killer and the problem still remain and then we went back after a week. The vet said that the problem is causing by the dislocated stifle (Knee), she said the dog require a surgery to stablize her patella, I wonder is that the only solution to the problem in a long run, would that cause any left behind problem after the surgery or it is a quite common surgery for little dog.
Please give me some advice again, my wife and I struggling on attending the surgery or not?
Many thanx and appreicated,
Allan
Hi Allan -
To the best of my knowledge, this is a more common problem in larger breed dogs, however, smaller breeds have also been know to tear/rupture their CCLs.
After our dog having surgery on her torn ligament (almost 3 years ago) I am an advocate of surgery, however, every case is different and that is something that you and your veterinarian should discuss.
I hope this info helps, thanks for visiting our site.
Thank you so much for your comment.
We will take her to the vet tomorrow for further discussion.
Allan,
Our miniature poodle just had it’s 2nd knee operated on a year after the first (he’s 2-1/2 now). Apparently the knee cap problem (patella luxation) is common in smaller dogs.
Our surgery was ~$2600 each time. This consisted of:
- deepening the groove the patella rides on
- detaching the tendon that retains the patella and attach it lower and pinning it in place.
If this isn’t done, supposedly you can have big arthritis problems later on in the dog’s life. Another vet said that dogs are basically 3 legged animals, with an extra leg – as in it’s up to us to decide to do it or not. For larger dogs it’s done no question about it. For smaller dogs, it can go either way.
That said, with this 2nd surgery, we’re into week 5 post surgery and somehow our dog has injured himself and is walking on 3 legs again. Hope it’s temporary – we’re going broke.
I HAVE AN 8YR OLD GOLDEN WHO IS SCHEDULED FOR SURGERY TOMORROW, AND
I TELL YOU I AM THE ONE WHO FEELS LIKE HE’S HAVING SURGERY. I AM
REALLY STRESSED ABOUT THE SURGERY. ARE THERE GOING TO BE PROBLEMS,
WILL THE RECOVERY GO WELL, WHAT TO DO AND WHAT NOT TO DO.
I JUST HOPE “WE” CAN GET THROUGH THIS WITHOUT “ME” HAVING TO
SUFFER. MY DOG, GOLDIE, MEANS THE WORLD TO ME, AND HAVING TO GO
THROUGH SOMETHING LIKE THIS IS JUST UNREAL. OH, DID I MENTION
SHE’S SPOILED “BEYOND” ROTTEN? EVERYTHING WILL WORK OUT,
I’M SURE, BUT I’M JUST A LITTLE APPREHENSIVE. I KNOW SHE
HAS TO HAVE THE SURGERY, SO I’LL GET OVER IT AND EVERYTHING WILL
BE FINE. CIAO!! THINK OF US.
Hello,
my golden has a torn CCL and I live in the Chicago area. Wondering if anyone could recommend a good surgeon that can work out a payment plan? I have consulted a few and simply cannot afford it at this time. I do know about the care credit,but doubt that i will be approved for a credit card. How long can I wait to have the surgery? Any info on the topic will be extremely appreciated. Thank you
Hi:
I have an 11 year old, 15lb Yorkie. Last year he was diagnosed with a luxating patella, stage 3 in his left knee and a stage 2 in his right knee. The vet recommended surgery for the left knee, but when he went under anesthesia and they took x-rays, they decided it was less severe that they thought (more like a stage 2-3) and they decided to not continue with the surgery.
So last week he injured his leg running across the yard. He didn’t seem to be in any pain (and he never was with the LP either), but he wasn’t really putting weight on it. We took him in today and the x-rays showed that he had a torn CCL in his left knee. He is scheduled for surgery Thursday to repair that as well as the LP. I am wondering if because of his age, and the almost impossible task of keeping him from running and jumping for 60 days, is there any benefit to waiting, or what are the possible outcomes of opting out of surgery?
Karen,
We had a bad experience with the filament in our 65pd 1 yr old. 1st off being a puppy he ate his stiches and ruined the 1st filament. 2nd filament did not take and his knee cap popped out. We finally have done the 3rd surgery which is to use a piece of his tibia bone. He is still recovering so its hard to say, but I highly recommend the more agreesive surgery taking a piece of the bone. Explore ALL Options.
Thanks for the info. I came across many dog owners that complained about the re-injury of the same leg, or the other leg within months of the first surgery. I’m sorry, I hope your next course of treatment is the answer.
We decided to get a second opinion and we opted to not have surgery and to try a leg brace. The brace was expensive and was hard to get on our dog. He didn’t move at all for the afternoon, so we removed it and decided to try it the next day. At this point a few weeks had gone by since the initial injury and he was bearing weight on it and was totally back to normal, running around, chasing our other dog. Through research I did find out that there are alternatives, and eventually scar tissue forms anyway, which stablizes the leg and is the end result of surgery anyway. If he was in pain at all, we would have proceeded with surgery no questions asked, but besides not putting weight on it, he was completely normal and happy.
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