Torn ACL

U

uplandnut

New member
I went to the vet today to have my 8 year old shorthair checked out for a limp. When I got in there he told me she has a torn ACL!! I never imagined that she would have a injury from just going for a walk?
That being said I'm looking to you other bird dog owners for advice and options. I know there are two primary surgeries, TTA and TTLO, my question is which is the better longer lasting surgery?
Thanks for any information.
 
uplandnut said:
I went to the vet today to have my 8 year old shorthair checked out for a limp. When I got in there he told me she has a torn ACL!! I never imagined that she would have a injury from just going for a walk?
That being said I'm looking to you other bird dog owners for advice and options. I know there are two primary surgeries, TTA and TTLO, my question is which is the better longer lasting surgery?
Thanks for any information.
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I don't know the difference between TTA and TTLO, but I can tell you that ACL repair, done by a good vet surgeon almost always works well and is a lifetime repair.

When our dog, who weighed about 75 pounds, needed one, I asked the vet what he used. He said he created a new ACL with a piece of 80# fishing line.
 
I've been finding that the fishing line surgery costs between 1200 and 1500, on the other hand the other two surgeries are between 2400 and 3200. Pretty extreme price difference, I know, but I have heard of a few people having the fishing line surgery break and then they end up going with one of the other ones anyway. So I am trying to weigh my best option. Guess I'll just see what the vet thinks on his in depth look tomorrow, and go from there?
 
Good luck with your dog, thats a tough one. Had Odie under the knife today too, he had a 1" stick in his foot that had to be cut out from training. My girl Lady goes in tomorrow too and gets a tooth pulled from a kid playing fetch with her and a rock, Little^#$#%$. When it rains it pours. As long as you get a good job done I have heard that it lasts well.Wish I could help but I got nothing on this one.
 
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Just an update on the situation, she was in for a a thorough exam today, and looks like a very good candidate for the surgery (no displasia or arthritis). The vet is calling a orthopedic surgeon today to see about the soonest possible time to get her in and the cost is substantially less than the university that I called. Hopefully everything goes well and we get on the road to recovery quickly.
 
Hang in there.... My first chessie at 105lbs old blew out his knee, we had the fishing line procedure done and to save some money the vet let the wife and I do most of the rehab which consisted of a lot of massaging and stretching and walking it took about 9 months for him to fully recover from this ordeal.
 
Our lab was 8 when he blew out both of his. We went with the TPLO procedure. Had the 1st one done in Jan. of that year and the second in April. The second one took a little longer on the rehab, but he was able to hunt that fall with no issues. He hunted the next 4 seasons and got around great up until cancer took him. Both cost around 2800 each and I don't have any regrets going that route.

Best of luck!
 
Fishing Line or Latural Sutures is a cheaper way to go. and may work. TPLO is a better way to go but more expensive,

LS Cheaper but holds everything together but may stretch and need to be redone.

Downfall of TPLO is high risk of tearing Municus after recovery is done, and needing arthioscopy to fix it. This happens a bit with high drive dogs.
 
Tucker said:
Our lab was 8 when he blew out both of his. We went with the TPLO procedure. Had the 1st one done in Jan. of that year and the second in April. The second one took a little longer on the rehab, but he was able to hunt that fall with no issues. He hunted the next 4 seasons and got around great up until cancer took him. Both cost around 2800 each and I don't have any regrets going that route.

Best of luck!
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Sorry to hear that, I have allot of respect for guy's like you guy's that do what you can, within the length of your cable tow so to speak for your dogs. U nut let us know how it goes.
 
My vet talked to me a few years ago about all the torn ACL's he sees now. He said years ago you never saw one. I asked what caused the change and he replied he wasn't sure. He thought more awareness of people and their pets and perhaps more pets overweight.

At any rate I hope the surgery goes well for you whichever procedure you decide on. I would do it soon so the dog has time to recover and get back in shape before the hunting season starts.
 
Sorry guys for not getting back to here sooner, it's been pretty hectic lately. The surgery went well, it ended up being the tplo. At the current time she is still in a crate and getting out five to six times a day and going for three 15-20 minute walks a day( vets orders). She began putting weight back on it at two and a half weeks after the surgery, which I'm told is a good thing. All and all just trying to keep her low key so her acl has plenty of time to recooperate. Well til next time hope your training seasons are going good and I'll try to keep posting her progress.
 
uplandnut said:
Sorry guys for not getting back to here sooner, it's been pretty hectic lately. The surgery went well, it ended up being the tplo. At the current time she is still in a crate and getting out five to six times a day and going for three 15-20 minute walks a day( vets orders). She began putting weight back on it at two and a half weeks after the surgery, which I'm told is a good thing. All and all just trying to keep her low key so her acl has plenty of time to recooperate. Well til next time hope your training seasons are going good and I'll try to keep posting her progress.
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Glad to hear that everything went well ....:thumbsup:
 
You might want to ask your vet this also. I have heard that there is a fairly significant percentage of dogs that have had a TLPO performed on one leg to eventually need one on the other. I don't have any factual info to back this up just something I have heard/read now and again.
 
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