re: Dog with a torn ACL

This is a 14 year old hound.

The improvement he'll see is likely marginal and might make things worse.

Not many 70+ year old men getting ligament surgeries because the risk to allow them to move slowly slightly faster just isn't worth it.

An animal that old doesn't have too much time left. Expense aside, a quarter of its projected remaining time in pain and recovery from surgery seems like a poor trade.

My sister has a 3 legged cat, it gets around just fine.

Bullet

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It wasn't 5k

Yeah ours were like 1200 and 1400 (Covidflationn was in full force)

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she has a small dog and they were a couple years apart. They were each under 1k...I think 750 a piece.

Mine tore hers a month ago and I see no improvement. I'm going to do the surgery. She's a perfectly healthy dog, I see no reason for her to be in pain. I guess I won't be going to Europe this year but I'll get over it.

5k?? Are there extreme vet shortages where you guys live?

For 5k, you could bring that dog to my very competent vet in NE MS, leave it, get it treated, and take a vacation somewhere while it’s getting treated for 5 thousand dollars.

Cost analysis: knee replacement vs. dog replacement.

How did it tear it ACL? Gives a good idea of the background of the animal, are there other issues we should be worried about etc?

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Are there any options outside of surgery?

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it sounds like (from a later post) that you are opting for immobilization, pain management, and seeing if the tissue will "scar" (it will never heal on its own). i think for this age animal, that's an ok approach. lets be honest, he's no spring chicken. his best squirrel chasing days are behind him. if he is in general not a very active dog, then this could be a good option.

with this option, there is something very important to keep in mind. without surgical intervention the joint will be unstable. this leads to abnormal biomechanics and abnormal wear and tear. There is a high probability of the knee developing arthritis as time goes, and maybe even other joints depending on how he compensates. You are going to have to weigh that risk to benefit and decide if its right for you. will he pass of other things related to age before that happens? maybe. no one can tell you.

If you decide to have the surgery done, what size is your dog? (weight wise). if under 50 lbs there plenty of data that suggest TPLO is not necessarily superior than extracapsular techniques. I would talk to your vet about that approach. its a simpler surgery, and generally much cheaper. if they are quoting you 5k i suspect they want to do TPLO or a TTA. if your dog is over 50lbs, well, lets say its controversial it TPLO is better. What isn't controversial is your finances. If you don't have the means to drop 5 k for surgery that's ok. Just be honest with your vet and if extracapsular technique is something you could do for cheaper. if they say no, maybe they can recommend another vet who knows the technique and will. Trust me, they will understand.

Does surgery always work? No, nothing is a guarantee in medicine. TPLO's are in general, pretty successful surgeries. But just because you spend the money doent mean you will get the outcome you want.

will the other leg have issues too? likely, a large percentage of dogs that have an ACL tear have one in the other leg within a year. So keep that in mind. This goes back to my first question. How did it happen? maybe modify the dogs behavior so we are avoiding activities like that in the future.

i hope that helps some. if you have specific questions I'll do what i can to answer. I'm not an orthopod and am not going to pretend to be one.

Our dog had tommy john surgery. Fastball is faster than ever.

Rimadyl and rest