As with ACL tears in humans, CCL tears in dogs can be sudden and very noticeable, or they can develop slowly over time. When a person injures their knee and suffers a torn ACL, it is normally going to be very painful and the joint will feel very unstable and in most cases, will not be able to be used. The same will hold true for dogs when they injure their CCL. When our dog tore her CCL, she immediately stopped bearing weight on the leg.
Our dogs CCL was torn …

The stifle (knee) joint in dogs, is very similar to the knee joint in humans, in that there are ligaments that run through the joint providing stability, and just like in humans, there can be many varying degrees of injuries in the stifle joint which makes it very important to have it properly diagnosed prior to rushing into surgery or treatment.
The injury could be something that happened suddenly as the result of a stressful event, or the injury could develop over time through normal “wear and tear”. Injuries that develop …