Surgical Procedure for a Ruptured CCL in Doberman Pinschers

The following story comes from Jan in the United Kingdom. Though most of our readers are from the United States, I thought that it’d be great to offer information for those readers who are overseas and Jan agreed to share her story about her Doberman named Fiel. I hope that all of you all find Jan’s story helpful (this will be released in 3 parts). You can read Part I here if you haven’t read it already.

Jan’s Doberman Pinscher CCL Story (Part II)

Day of the op I wasn’t happy, like most people leaving their beloved friend to a perfect stranger. Its the only time I felt I was letting him down. Weird as this may sound but we have spent 24 a day together since he was 7 weeks old. (Apart from the odd couple of hours for outings etc) and he is never left by himself as there has always been one of my family around. I did explain to the Surgeon that my own Vet had allowed me to be with him when putting him to sleep for a minor op and on waking had also allowed me to sit with him. Stress free for both of us! This chap didn’t want me to do that so I did as I was told and Fiel was perfectly behaved as he was led away. I was assured that there would always somebody in the room with him so off I went and waited anxiously until 5pm when I phoned as I could not wait one more minute, to be told it had all gone smoothly. He’d already been up on his feet for a pee and I could get him at 7pm. He was there for 7 hours.

This is where I really nearly lost it. He must have heard my voice as I came into the reception and at that point the surgeon called the nurse to let her know I was there. (this apparently was the only time he was alone !) So out came my darling, brave boy with the biggest lump on the top of his head that nobody seem to know what happened. He looked deformed. He had a 10 inch plaster on a not very well shaved leg and was very pleased if not groggy to see my daughter and I. As I ‘d prepared myself for the leg I was fine with that but the bump on the head, WOW. They thought that as he heard my voice he had tried to ram the cage to get to me. I did say he doesn’t like doors shut between him and me. He’s well mannered but calls if he can’t see me. I really felt that it could have been avoided. I paid my £4500 for the day having already paid £500 for blood test and got out of there. I was only insured for £4000 so that was a lesson for me.

I’d bought a sling type thing for the back seats of my car so that he couldn’t fall into the wells and a really puffy quilt. Getting in was okay, he was quite comfortable but getting out 15 minutes later was horrendous. I had been told that if he was in to much pain I could give him an extra 2 Tramadol and wait 30 minutes and try again. We did. He let out a horrendous noise, mouthed my hand and got out. At this point I just cried. My darling daughter held his rear legs up with a towel so that we could get him down our 100 yard path to his puffy quilt bed on the floor of the living room. It took ages but we got there. The lump on his head was massive but he greeted my Mum ate some chicken and stock then went to sleep on his bed with his front paw anchoring my arm as I rested my hand on his head. We stayed like that for about 3 hours when he needed the bathroom but bless him didn’t quite make it. He looked so embarrassed. He obviously was in pain but did manage to get to the garden for a pee, on a leash and back again. He got steadily better on his three feet over the next day and although it was a slow process manged to get up the pathway, into the car (thankfully a grass verge next to it meant he didn’t have so far to jump) and into the surgeons practice two days later.

Be sure to come back to read the remainder of Jan & Fiel’s story – Read Part III.

Related Posts

• Treatment and Recovery of Torn Knee Ligament in Doberman Pinschers
• Diagnosing a Ruptured Cruciate Ligament in a Doberman Pinscher
• Surgical Options for Torn/Ruptured Cranial Cruciate Ligament (Cranial Crucial Ligament)
• Dog Knee Infected After CCL Knee Surgery – Infection Caused by Surgical Hardware
• Isabella Our Siberian Husky with a Torn/Ruptured CCL