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Weimaraner with torn cruciate ligament - Advice needed!


george123456789
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Hi all,

 

We've got a four and a half year old weimaraner who, when scrambling over some rocks at the beach has managed to tear the cruciate ligament on his back left leg.

 

He's a family dog, but I take him out shooting and he's very active and is always charging about - he's a big boy too and weighs about 40-45kgs.

 

Having spoken to the local vets, an operation to sort it will cost £2,000, and the results will degenerate in 2 years, perhaps needing another similar operation. After the operation, he won't be allowed out of the house for at least 6 weeks (we're told) and has to remain inactive to avoid damaging the ligament further, and in all likelihood he'll end up getting excited and inadvertently damaging it further regardless of how inactive we keep him.

 

 

Some people have said to leave it for 6 months and see what happens (his leg has already lost of a lot of muscle by him favouring the other leg), others say operation, others say weigh up his quality of life after an operation and see if actually putting him down may be the kindest thing for all involved.

 

Has anyone had a similar experience and can offer some advice?

 

Thanks

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Hello George,

Boy you have my sympathy. I've just coming to the end, HOPEFULLY, of post op ACL. I've tried to write down things as they happened to help other acl sufferers. Also my stupid mistakes that I would not do again.

Several people in the thread gave very helpful knowledgeable advice. Hopefully it will all help you.

Main points,

Find a vet who does the op several times a week. Discuss the ops with him. Mine did 2 types, but there are loads of variations out there. He didn't mention redoing it (please GOD no).

I wish I'd had the op done asap, but that's up to you.

If you have the op, stick to strict lead walks for 6 weeks.

Watch his diet.

Hope all turns out ok, Best wishes.

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Many cruciate ruptures in dogs are caused by degeneration of the ligament. What happens (quite commonly) is the second ligament ruptures as the first one is cured. I'm unaware of any cases needing a second surgery on the same limb.

 

Big dogs do better with a surgery that alters the geometry of the knee - a £2000 procedure is almost certainly one of these (TPLO, TTO, Wedge etc). The cheaper option is a lateral nylon suture. The operation costs a few hundred and can give very acceptable results. Not as good, but still much better than putting the dog to sleep.

 

Your dog has a very 'curable' condition and it would be such an awful shame to consider putting the dog to sleep. If the muscle is already wasting you need to get on with a surgical option.

 

Good luck.

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