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I had posted a few articles about our dog Roxy on another blog of mine and I was getting some great feedback from all of my visitors, so I’ve decided to put together a site specifically dedicated to torn/ruptured cranial cruciate ligaments in dogs. We all love our pets, so hopefully this site can help provide those who need it with information that will help them make informed decisions for ther best friends.
How it Happened
We took our 2 dogs to the beach and our 2 year old has a tendency to run full speed at just about everything he sees. Roxy, our 5 1/2 year old (at the time) American Pit Bull Terrier, was digging in the sand as she always does when our other dog came in full force and ran straight into her. She immediately came up lame, not even putting any weight on her right rear leg. She’s had slight hip problems in the past causing her to move slowly and limp, so we took her home and let her rest overnight to see how she was doing the following day. Unfortunately, her condition was the same the next day, her rear leg just dangling, and she was unable to put any pressure on it, so we took her into the “Doggie Emergency Room”. If you care to read more, you can find the long version of How Our Dog Ruptured Her CCL.
Diagnosing the Injury
When it comes to diagnosing the initial injury, there are many different factors that come into play that you’ll want to keep in mind; did it happen suddenly, or has the dog been limping for awhile. Do you have a veterinarian that you trust, or are you going to a new vet based on a recommendation? These questions and more are answered in our post about Diagnosing a Cranial Cruciate Ligament Injury.
Our story about the diagnosis process can be found at this link: Diagnosing – Torn/Ruptured Cranial Cruciate Ligament in Dogs Stifle (Knee) Joint. And as I’ve said many times before, if I knew back then what I knew now, I definitely would have done things differently, but in the end, I’m very happy with our outcome.
Surgical Options
When deciding on the best surgical option, it is always best to consult with your primary care veterinarian due to the fact that every case is different, and the type of surgery may heavily depend on the your dogs age, activity level, weight, etc. When repairing a torn/ruptured cranial cruciate ligament, there are typically 3 options for dog knee ligament repair:
- Traditional Repair – Lateral Fabellar Technique
- Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO)
- Tibial Tuberosity Advancement (TTA)
- Tightrope Surgery (New Procedure)
Day of Surgery
Once we selected the type of surgery that we wanted for our dog (actually, prior to surgery, we didn’t even realize that there were multiple surgical options) we scheduled the surgery and moved forward. The toughest part about taking our dog in for surgery was not feeding her for a full day prior to the surgery (I think this may be why she now is food dependent). Most vets will ask you not to feed your dog for 24 hours prior to surgery, in case their is a problem with the anesthesia causing the dog to vomit or become nauseous.
Post-Op Rehab & Recovery
This is definitely the toughest part of the entire process. I know that many have a hard time deciding on the type of surgery, or even whether or not they should get surgery for the dog, but if you do elect to have a knee surgery for your dog, the recovery process will typically be the toughest and longest part due to activity restriction that must be imposed on the dog, and in most cases, this type of injury happens to very active dogs.
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I have a Havanese that has just been diognosed with a torn ligament on his rear left knee. The vet said that the only way to fix is surgery.
I have a lot of concerns, but highest on my list is the fact that he is 14 years old. Have you heard much from any owners that had the surgery done on older dogs?
I have a Havanese who is 8 and just had surgery on both hind legs for Cruciate ligament repair. He tore one and we did not get x-rays then 2 weeks later he tore the other. We had x-rays done and both knees had torn. We had no option but to have surgery. Because of having both legs done at the same time we also have to go through 8 weeks of physical therapy twice a week. It’s been a long road not to mention the expense. The left leg may not have been done tight enough because there is clicking in it and they might have to go back in to tighten it with another suture. At 14 I would really have to question having this done.
Hi Jennifer -
Sorry to hear about your dog. At 14 years, you may want to explore conservative management rather than the surgical route. You’d have to consult your vet to see if that’d be a smart option, but I’ve heard of people with older dogs taking that course of action.
Check out this post:
http://dogkneeligament.com/dietary-supplements/the-use-of-supplements-for-conservative-management-rather-than-medications/
You may find some information in that post that could help you.
Best of luck.
Your blog is really helpful. We’re struggling with trying to understand the options, expected outcomes, costs, etc. I would love to know what you would do differently, knowing what you do now. If there is such a post, maybe you could add the link? Or put it here in the comments?
Oh, and here’s a good link explaining TTA: http://www.portolaplazaveterinaryhospital.com/tta/
We have a 5yr old Akita with CCL injury to both knees. Big breed, runs around like a lunatic and is pretty much a goofball which is how we think she managed to do both. Plus she loves to wrestle. Because of her size, they want to do the TPLO surgery. We’ve learned that the surgery is unbelievably expensive. We have a great ortho vet here in st. Louis, and Mizzou veteranary school only 2 hours away, but the cost is the same at the school. We want the best for her but don’t know how to manage this. Do you have any suggestions on where else to look that might be willing to work with us on payments. (I was recently laid off.)
Hello, I have a Samoyed that my vet also thinks need the CCL surgery. I am Rolla, MO. What vets did you talk to I am trying to get a quote.
We decided to go with wait and keep him off it. Two months later, he seems to be fine — although we haven’t let him roughhouse any more.
I read several studies that found:
dogs get arthritis after the surgery anyway
the outcomes aren’t all that great
I got advice to just keep him quiet for longer than the original six weeks. We kept him on short leash walks for two months, graduated to one-mile leash walks.
He is now back on full activity except for no ball playing, no roughhousing with other dogs. he went on a 7-mile hike with no problems.
The key seems to be really keeping them from walking for a couple weeks and then going really really slowly and going back to the beginning if they start limping again.
With all I’ve read, I don’t think I would do the surgery unless the dog couldn’t walk at all.
i really love dogs as pets because they are so adorable and very loyal pets too’~*
I would like to thank all of the devoted pet owners who responded with their situations to offer suggestions andkkk encouragement for rest and self-healing as well as warnings of the many dangers inherent in aggressive surgical procedures. I was about to subject my loyal 6-year-old friend Dixie, a beautiful, noble, and intelligent German Shepherd dog to what may have been a mistake. I tired the 2 month rest period but now realize the vet did not give me a good enough description of what to do. I will now start back at the beginning and purchase a cage for her to keep her off the leg, and slowly add the short leash walks as described. She was recovering until she spent some time chasing a ball at the park. I will take a more cautious route now and for the next 4 months improve her diet and supplements and then see . . .
An update, Beverly. Our dog seemed fine, so we started letting him play ball again. The second time out, he hurt his other knee. This one seemed worse, and we were again advised to do the tplo. We dithered for a couple of months and then he started getting better. But it took a full 4.5 months until he seemed well again. He now runs funny, with stiffer back legs, and he doesn’t have the stamina he used to have — although he can go out for an hour and run around chasing squirrels.
The one time he’s limped was when he played rough with another dog. So we’ve decided we’re not going to let him play ball again, except in the water.
Hi Susan -
So did you guys get the surgery on the 2nd leg, or just let it heal/develop scar tissue on its own? I’ve heard of people who have opted not to have surgery, but almost all have said that the dog was never able to regain full mobility.
Either way, glad your dog is getting around well!
Hi, Kenneth. We did not get the surgery on the second leg, either. My understanding is you usually end up having to do both legs sooner or later. NOt sure what others have found.
It’s true, he does not have full mobility. He can run fast, but his back knees look stiff when he runs full out. He doesn’t bend them as fluidly, I don’t think, although it’s hard to remember what his gait was like.
At this point, he is still building up his stamina again. We’ve taken him on hikes of two or three miles, but no more. Although he probably runs more than that when we take him to the campus to chase squirrels.
We have an almost 3yr old American Bulldog- he was chasing a squirrel back in the summer and was limping a bit. We took him to the vet and the drawer test was negative- she didn’t do xrays- bedrest and limited activity for 10 weeks- no more jumping on the bed or roughhousing. Just the other day he got up and was favoring the leg again by not wanting to put weight on it. The vet has put him on bedrest again to be safe- she knows our money situation(I’ve been out of work for health reasons)- there is no way we can even come close to affording this surgery even with payments. Makes it more difficult that we live on the 2nd floor. We love our dog and want nothing but the best for him but the money just isn’t there. Can a dog still live a normal length life with a torn ligament if he is watched closely. Our vet isn’t the type that jumps to surgery right away
So we just took our dog to see a surgeon as he has had issues with his back left knee over the past few months.
It normally gets better when we don’t let him run around and play ball or play with other dogs. And a vet at first thought he pulled a muscle. Around mid December he was running around a lot of began only walking on 3 legs so we once again slowed him down and since then he walks on all 4 but when standing still he sort of toe taps that back foot. Not completely planting it.
So we took to a surgeon this morning who said he has torn his ACL or CCL in dogs and also torn in interior meniscus. We can either do the “management” and keep him off it or the surgery for $3,000. Although the 3k does include everything, soup to nuts (meds, post care, etc) it’s is quite a bit of money. We are now talking over what to do, as our dog is only about 4 years old. Surgery is something we are considering, but as we do have a child on the way it might have to wait. Such tough decisions!!!!
Dear Matt and Jarrod,
I strongly encourage you to check into using a brace – it is about a 10th of the cost of surgery with none of the risks and has about the same success rate as surgery. I used the A-TraC Dynamic brace on my dog last year and she is doing fantastic. I noticed that in the “Will a Knee Brace Help My Dog?” article on this site it says the “con” of using the brace is that it doesn’t actually repair the ligament. Neither does any of the surgeries. A torn ligament cannot be repaired. The idea behind any treatment is to stabilize the stifle to prevent abnormal movement which causes pain and promotes the development of arthritis. The brace does just that – stabilizes the joint so that scar tissue can form. And the other “con” from the article was that the stifle could be further damaged “by not repairing it”. If the stifle isn’t stabilized, there is a risk the dog can be further injured. So yes, you do want to stabilize the joint and the brace is a very good way to stabilize it! Also, if the brace doesn’t work, it doesn’t preclude surgery – though the A-TraC Brace has an 88 – 90% success rate. The idea of bracing is a paradigm shift for many vets but I believe it will be the first line of treatment for CCL in dogs before long just as it is the first line of treatment for many humans with ACL injuries. Why dig into your dog, break bones, and insert a foriegn object when bracing provides a viable solution?
You do have to follow the rehab protocol carefully, but you have to do that post-surgery as well. And the brace makes it easier on you and on your dog.
Check out my website at http://www.formydogslife.com
update to what I posted earlier.
We decided to go for a second opinion as we were told our dog had a complete tear of the CCL and of the meniscus. The second doctor is a vet and CCL surgeon. She does them all the time and was very informative. She believe it’s only a partial tear and not a tear of the meniscus as that would be very painful for the dog and he shows no signs of pain, other than toe tapping sometimes.
The best part is, she does about 5 of the surgeries a week or more, and is $1750 compared to the $3000 at the first place we went too. She has a great no interest payment plan that we can handle so we are moving forward with the surgery.
So just wanted to send an update and that second opinions can sometimes be very worthwhile!
Matt -
That’s great! Thanks for the update. Where are you from? I’m sure others in your area will be very excited to hear that information.
I hope the recovery process goes well! Be sure to check out some of our other posts, including this one: Keeping an active dog inactive
Thanks for the link Kenneth, we will definitely read it. We live in Philadelphia.
My rottie/shephard mix, Maddie, just had her left knee repaired this 6 days ago. Her right knee was operated on two months ago. It is absolutely correct that the recovery is the hardest part. She wakes up at night whimpering because she can’t change her sleeping position due to the fact that both of her knees are in a weakened state now. We are told that it will take a good 6 months before she is back to normal, or as close to it as possible.
Please, Susan and others whose dogs have had the surgery, let us know how they’re doing six months and longer afterward. Good luck with the recovery period and best wishes for a full recovery.
Thank you Susan. Actually, today is day 12 and I must say that with each day my Maddie gets better and better. She at times puts the leg down and walks on it (even in the snow!). She still has a long way to go but I truly believe by summer she will be running around again. I will keep you posted.
Update numero dos.
So our dog had his knee surgery on Wednesday… and it turns out he had a complete tear of his CCL and meniscus. The first doctor we saw diagnosed that exact problem but the second doc thought it was a partial tear because our dog never really showed too much lameness. He would limp rarely and would use the leg all the time.
Anyways, the second doc did the surgery (about $1100 cheaper than the first doctor we saw) on Wed and we picked him up Friday. He was already bouncing around and looked like he never felt a thing. But we do have to keep him quiet for 6-8 weeks though. The two days he has been home hasn’t been too hard as he can’t go for long walks. Since we do let him sleep on the couch we have to pay attention and make sure we pick him up and take him off and we are blocking off the stairs. I think the pain meds are keeping him calm. We did get sedatives incase we need them when we are at work, but we don’t want to use them unless absolutely necessary.
Also, to my wife’s dismay, i put our mattress onto the floor in a spare bedroom for the next two weeks, as the dog sleeps in bed with us and i don’t want to worry about him jumping on/off the bed in the middle of the night, this way there is no jumping.
We are going to do a checkup and maybe get the staples out next weekend, but further down the road on his recovery I will send an “update numero tres”.
Dear Sir
I have a 2 year old Labradoodle who had his first crucia legament surgery last April and he was up and about very quickly and was doing great. Then in September he did his second crucia legament and we had him operated on that one as well.
There was a lump that never went down on his second surgery, but we kept him as still as possible, Labradoodles are very well known as bouncy dogs. At the end of December he became lame again on the second leg that he had the operation on. It was his maniscus (hope I spelt that right). He was operated on 6 weeks ago. Straight after he had that operation, his leg became infected, we treated him for that. Tomorrow is his 6 weeks check up but we have had to rush him into the vets tonight because he is not using his leg very well. He can not lie and we have to carry him and then lie him on his side. He is in a very poor state.
Can there be something that has gone wrong with his second operation on his second crucia legament. I am really worried, there is something bugging me about it. We need to know so that we can get him sorted once and for all so he can be his normal, happy and bouncy self.
Please help me because I am not sure if the vet is putting the wool over my eyes. I really just do not know where to turn to.
Thanking you in advance for any help.
Best regards Kim
Hello,
We have a 5 yr old bichon frise who had surgery for torn ligaments 2 weeks ago. It has been a process with her, she reacted to the pain meds which made her pant and shake so the vet took her off those and she has been fine on anti-inflammatory meds. Nearing the two week mark she started getting frantic about wanting to tear off her bandage and the vet removed it and the staples. Today we have had to use tranquilizers and one of those things that go around the head to block chewing as she wanted to go at the wound. The real issue is that she has a couple of nasty pressure sores. the good news is that this vet is using a newer procedure and says she can walk 5-8 blocks now and could even jump off the sofa but cant run super fast like squirrel chasing for 2 more weeks (he says running and getting excited like that will override her pain awareness) At one month, he says she can have a rather normal life interms of activities but may take 3 months (for some dogs he says it can take up to 6 months) for her to start fully using her leg again. I took her out for a walk around the block today as I thought it would cheer her up and she mostly carried her leg but seemed to enjoy being out sniffing around and marking her territory.
The vet said that the quicker recovery time has to do with her size and the newer procedure.
My 3 yr old Doberman got hit by a car 4wks ago. It tore all the ligaments in her right rear knee plus her Meniscus. She had surgery 2 days later because her lungs were bruised causing her to have labored breathing. She could not use her leg at all and was in a lot of pain. We are on wk for now. She had 2 pins put in to stabilize her knee. The will be removed in 8 more weeks. She has been pretty good about being still. She is in our extra bathroom. She could not get into her kennel do to her knee. We have only given her sedatives one time. That was to get home from the vet. When we had her stitches and staples removed she kept trying to get up in the truck. We only let her out of the bathroom to go potty. Yesterday she slipped a little when standing in the laundry room. She cried for a few seconds so I gave her a pain pill/anti-inflammatory. She seems to be doing fine today. We have decided to keep her in the bathroom for a while even after she has her pins removed. The surgery cost 2496 and it is going to cost 200 to have the pins removed. She was in a lot of pain before the surgery and we don’t want her to hurt it again playing with our other dogs before she is fully healed. The vet said she still may not put weight on that leg for a week or ap after the pins are removed. I think she will though. She already rest her toes on the ground when standing most of the time(they really don’t want her doing this. They don’t want her putting any weight on that leg.) I see her look at her bad leg like it is crazy for not moving with her other leg when she is going potty some times. They said she won’t ever be a Olympic gold medalist, but she will have full use of her leg. We will see. She will get pins out May 12th
Long story short I stepped out of the house Friday morning and when I came back in Max (Havanese 9 mos) was hobbling around and would not put his back right leg down. I took him into the yard etc and he just kept limping and stumbling.
Took him to the vet and they said it was a torn ACL and he would need surgery etc. It was most likely cause from extreme jumping, he’s a little circus dog and jumps high into the air all the time, or at least did.
Anyway, later that evening we were on the porch and he saw a squirrel and began pacing the porch like nothing happened and ever since then you would never know something is wrong? He’s been jumping, going up and down the stairs, etc. Now I’m just concerned if he should go through the surgery or not and if that could be worse? He’s on rimadyl, would that mask it this completely?
Thanks!
Heidi had her screws removed from her knee 2 wks ago Thursday. She still isn’t putting any weight on her leg when she walks. She does use it to pee. She depositions it a few times, but keeps using it. She is also using it to go #2. Anyone elses dog torn all of the ligaments in their knee?
my mother-in -laws dog is 11 years old and in a lot of pain. I have not read anything positive on any kind of surgery. The brace seems like the only option that might have some degree of success in her recovery.Does any body have any suggestions on what to do in the case of torn ligaments on an old dog?
My dog was just diagnosed with a “possible” CCL tear and I have been concerned about whether to have surgery or not and these blogs have been very helpful in giving me the info. that the vet didn’t. Thanks for sharing.
I have seen info on all the standard surgical procedures: TPLO, TTA, tightrope and traditional but does anyone have any experience with the “over and under” technique, technically referred to as a Modified Retinacular Imbrication Technique (MRIT) and how it compares to any other procedures? I am leaning towards more aggressive conservative treatment as I have been allowing my black lab/herding mix dog to roam the house and small backyard but have discontinued his walks and ball throwing. He still walks on it, toe touches and is not totally lame but is increasingly compensating with the opposite leg. Doc has diagnosed his CCL as torn.
Anybody have any info on this technique?
Thanks for your help.