So Jake, my 1 year old Golden Retriever, dislocated his right knee this past weekend and it has happened 3 times in 4 days. Vet visit yesterday indicates a luxating patella and possible cruciate ligament (CCL) tear. It is hard to tell if the CCL is torn at this point, but the vet thinks it likely.
The vet recommends knee surgery. Mainly because Jake is in obvious pain when the knee dislocates, its dislocated so many times, and due to the fact that he is a “large” dog.
Alternately, we can restrict his movement, let it heal as best it can, and hope that it doesn’t become a chronic problem.
I have scheduled the surgery for next Tuesday in case that’s the route I choose to go. I am going to spend the next few days evaluating the situation.
Now I am seeking anecdotes. How did your dog’s surgery go? How did the after care go? Do you think it was worth it?
If you are a vet/vet tech, what is your experience with the failure rate for fixing knees?
I love and hate the interwebs right now…too much information, too many conflicting recommendations.
Our way, way oversize Boston Terrier mix (he’s a “red Boston” but the breeder obviously introduced something else, almost certainly a pit, to get the red color) has needed surgery on both knees, one year apart. He’s 37 lbs while real Bostons would weigh no more than half that. Consequently his knees constantly dislocated. I don’t think he had any torn ligaments, though.
The surgeries were worth it, but as a dog who loves to play, the 6 weeks of limited activity were a huge pain for both him and for us. He was also very unhappy for the first 36 hours, but the first surgery was much more painful for him (apparently the vet had to create a very large ridge for the knee on the first surgery). Once we got through that stage, it wasn’t so bad. Now (2 years after the 2nd surgery) he’s doing very well and runs like a freight train. I’d say go for it.
My vet just did a CCL repair for my 2 year old GSD, Andy. He’s a general practioner, not an orthopedic surgeon, but he’s been doing this surgery since the 70’s , over 500 of them. $600 for him versus about $2500 for a specialist, plus my trust in him, convinced me. The recovery went fine, 6 weeks of crate rest and Andy’s back to normal. The vet did say there’s an increased chance of him blowing the other knee.
My dog tore her ACL and so had knee surgery in March. Holy shit was it expensive!
The recovery process is a bit of a pain in the ass, but worth it overall. They wound her entire leg in batting and wrapped that in tape, sort of like a cast. She had to wear that for the first three days after the surgery and was MISERABLE. I had never heard a dog moan before, but I got to hear a lot of it for those three days. Once the “cast” came off she was able to be more comfortable.
Your dog will be on extremely restricted activity for a few weeks – total recovery time is 10 - 12 weeks, during which you should do physical therapy at home with your dog. They gave me a sheet with what exercises to do and when to begin each one. You begin with leashed outings to the yard to pee and poop and then come right back inside. Eventually it builds all the way to walks and ultimately allowing running. The hardest part was keeping my happy, energetic girl from trying to do stuff she wasn’t allowed to do – no climbing stairs for a while, no lunging, no running, that sort of thing. It took more vigilance than I was expecting, especially since I have another dog who kept inviting her to play.
The vets who did the surgery said that they have an extremely high success rate. I mean, really really really high. The biggest thing they warned me about wasn’t fixing the hurt knee, but concern over an injury to her OTHER knee, since something like (I don’t remember the exact figure) 60% of dogs who hurt one knee eventually hurt the other one.
Today my dog is totally back to her old self and does all her old activities.
P.S. If you can take your dog swimming during the recovery, it helps a lot. My main challenge there was getting her to a body of water without walking a long ways to get there. You might have a better situation. Swimming is terrific for this kind of thing.
Oh, excellent, StGermain. I know you have several dogs, so can you tell me how Andy did being crated while his pack was free? Jake’s never been crated at home. He is already totally unhappy that he has to be on a leash all the time…he seems to think he is in big trouble. He wants to go play with his 5 pack mates and they want him to play, too.
The vet did say that there is a good chance that this means his other knee with go out in the future, but maybe not if it was actually injury-related, which we think may be the case. Jake likes to cram himself into small places and sometimes he has problems getting back out. We think he may have hurt himself that way; he has scrapes on both legs and his chest.
I am lucky that my vet will take payments on the surgery. The folks at my clinic are a little invested in Jake…he spent 11 days of his early puppyhood there, in isolation with parvo. They brought him back from death’s door (not so lucky with his brother) and now they love him and I think feel a little obligated since they convinced me to go through that particular hell.
stretch - Andy wasn’t thrilled at being crated, but I left him where he was still with the other dogs around him. When I left him in the mornings to go to work, I’d give him a stuffed Kong to work on. In the mornings and evenings, when I was home, I left him uncrated and indoors with me and the other dogs. They don’t roughhouse inside, so he was still calm and sedate. When he was out of the crate the other dogs (and some of the cats) would seize the opportunity to get in.
His position in the pack has changed a bit since the surgery, he’s lower in the pecking order now. His brother, the other GSD I got from the pound at the same time, used to be below him, but is now higher up. But they don’t fight or anything, Wylie just tends to grab the toys when before he always deferred to Andy. As long as they’re all content with the pack hierarchy (and I’m on top) I let them figure it out on their own.
Unfortunately, I’ve had a ton of experience with canine ACL surgery – both of my dogs have torn at least one knee. The good news is that their long term out comes have been stellar. I have a Lab/German Sheppard mix that tore her right knee at 5 and her left knee at 6. She had the TPLO procedure done on each knee at the University of Illinois vet school. She is now nearly 14, and laying at my feet as I type this. She’s on generic Rimadyl for general arthritis, but her knees are holding up as good as can be expected in a 14 year old dog.