Our dear pittie boy, Bax, began not putting weight on his driver’s side rear wheel this week; we got the vet’s diagnosis today and it’s what I thought - torn ligament (CCL) in need of surgical repair. The poor guy isn’t even 2yo yet.
There are funner things to spend $4k on, sigh. He also has mild hip dysplasia that we were in “wait and see” mode with. sigh
I had a dog that had that happen. About the same age. We were out on a walk and he took off running through the woods and I heard him yelp, then he came out hobbling on three, carrying his right rear. The vet said they really didn’t know how they manage to tear them, but it was torn in two and without the operation, he would be lame in that leg.
Fortunately, the vet was a recent graduate of the Texas A&M vet school and had connections (I was living in Houston, about 60 miles from College Station) and she got Larry accepted by for a teaching operation, saving me about 40% (at it was, it cost $1800 + boarding).
They gave me two options, one sewing a ligament from a dead dog or to use a plastic. They said the plastic was a bit unknown, but would be thought to last at least 10 years. The “dead dog” ligament would be expected to last Larry’s life. I went with the plastic, and it lasted his entire life (which ended up being about 14 years). His right rear knee joint did calcify and became about twice the size of his left one, but it never bothered him.
Larry was a good dog. You could leave a hamburger on the table. He might come up to smell it, but he knew it wasn’t his, so he would make no attempt to eat it, even if there was nobody there. How I miss Larry.
I impressed myself by figuring out what you meant! Wrigley, age not young, took off following the Little Girls on their escape/tour of the park. He made a block before losing his right rear tire. He was easy to catch, only needed hugs and Burger King, and is slow to repeat it. He’s smarter than I gave him credit for, as males tend to the retarded.
I had a female Rottie who blew out both knees. She blew out one, we had the TPLO procedure done, waiting through the weeks of healing and rehab, and she was great. Then she blew out the second one and we had to do it all again. After the surgeries, she was fine for the rest of her life.
Just gotta say: I’ve encountered Pit Bulls & Rotties from time to time, and with but one or two exceptions, they have been among the friendliest most lovable doggies out there.
It was amazing when Doxie got run over, breaking his pelvis, and both rear legs, bad.
Wasn’t much we could do for him, except keep him comfortable.
Sum-bitch healed up and is an absolute Hero these days. Outruns the puppies, and is just a champion. Can’t climb stairs real well, or jump into the Jeep, but him, I carry or lift.
I’m amazed he’s still alive. Especially since he barks at 5 in the morning sometimes. 
Senegoid, I love them, though they are terrible to play Clunk Heads with. Boots the Cat could play it without causing a concussion. Pits will cause brain damage because their skulls are solid granite, but they were once America’s Babysitters. Rots are just adorable, unless you are a wolf or coyote. Feh, Trilby the Rough Collie, knew they only needed the slightest bark to get lost. Dogs evolved with us, but their kin did too, on the other side.
One of our dogs (Sonny is a Pit Bull / Shar Pei mix) needed TPLO surgery a couple years ago; he was about 4 years old at the time. It cost us about $4K, but he recovered completely, and tears around the place every bit as crazily as he did before the injury.
Similar to excavating (for a mind), we were given two choices; for us the options were a synthetic ligament replacement or a metal plate. Given his age, size (about 60 lbs), and activity level, we opted for the metal plate, which we were told should last his lifetime.
We got lucky this weekend. On Friday, our kitten was conspicuous by his absence for much of the day. He finally turns up limping at dinnertime - completely avoiding the right forepaw. We take a look, can’t see anything, but can feel something hard on top of the paw. We are pretty sure he hasn’t broken anything. He is pretty upset, so we let him settle for a couple of hours.
We grab him again, and use a trimmer to take the fur off, and can see the lump under the skin. My wife grabs a sharp implement, makes a small cut and goes in with tweezers while I immobilize the thrashing paws of death. My wife finally exposes and grabs the offending item, and pulls out the sharp end of a 2cm thorn - a through and through from the underside which only now starts bleeding.
We washed the paw and applied antibiotic cream, and he is very happy today. We’ll be watching to see if we need to get him to the vet for an antibiotic shot, but it looks like he is going to be ok.
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My friend’s pittie did this too. Are rotties and potties more susceptible to these injuries?
These are the first pits I’ve had, I adore them! They are cuddly, smart, and silly.
Ditto on Granite Head!. Tally has reared back a few times and clocked me on the snout – yowch!
It will be a real challenge to keep Bax quiet after surgery, since we have five dogs and he and the puppy, Tally, are welded at the hip. This is my real worry about the surgery.
I’ve had a doberman mix also blow out both knees, a year apart. And a GSD who did one. I don’t think it’s Pittie thing, more an active dog thing.
StG
Don’t know, but it seems like it. My pittie also tore or partially tore his CCL when he was around 2. In our case, the tear apparently wasn’t bad enough or something for the vet to recommend surgery. She basically said the surgery wouldn’t do much for him, and to just keep him from tearing up the place and running around like an idiot in the yard. So we were prepared for him to just walk with a permanent limp, but something like eight to twelve months later, after keeping him more restrained, it actually seems like he’s fine again, and doing better than the vet predicted. He’s six now, and while he doesn’t run around like an idiot the way he used to, when he gets the extra space (like at my parent’s house) he doesn’t look much worse for wear.
Yeah. Also the pit bulls I’ve known are into Total Commitment to whatever silly business they’re up to, so, for example, they don’t hesitate to run so hard they get rug burn skidding on their pads. I suspect that Total Commitment to the moment leads to a certain number of injuries.
I don’t know about Pitties, but I believe Rotties are. They are large, heavy-boned, very active, and energetic dogs. My dog did everything to “11”, including bounding across the landscape, which led to the pop-pop. Sometimes 100 lbs of fun should not bound. After the surgeries healed though, we really couldn’t tell the difference. No limp, same bound. 9 more years of happy-happy, fun-fun.
Our German Shepherd, Kali, had tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) on her right knee 14 weeks ago. At discharge, I met with a physical therapist who went over exercises that would help with recovery. She told me most people get discouraged causing their dog discomfort and stop home therapy, but she encouraged us to do it.
I never missed a session, used ice packs after each, and the results were amazing. She was ahead of the curve at 1, 2, 4, 8, and 10 week follow ups. At 10 weeks post-op her surgeon said she was doing as well as most dogs were at 9 months. Yesterday she spent all day swimming in the river and you cannot tell her operated from her normal knee.
I strongly suggest physical therapy post-op. With good pain management it is doable.