ACL Recovery

Cackleburs

Cackleburs

New member
Has anyone out there had their dog go through the ACL surgery? My go-to Brit Bobbi, (11) Blew out her ACL ligament about a week ago. I just picked her up from vet after the surgery. It's just the first night and it seems bleak. I need to know what to expect from someone whose been through it. Bathroom needs look like a big hurdle. She seems very uncomfortable and I feel useless. The vet says 12 weeks, but how do I survive the first 2 or 3? I could really use some help on this one.
 
Good luck C, it will get better. I have not had this happen personaly but know people who have. Just keep the dog as calm as possible for the first few weeks and don't expect nothing but a pain in the ass for a while. Keep him or her away from the stitches and a week vacation if you can to be there all the time on the couch cuddeling with the dog just letting it do NOTHING is helpfull. It is truely a pain in the ass. But you will see better days ahead. Bath room breaks on lead for 3-4 weeks is good too so the little bugger doesn't chase a bird or something. Wish you all the best and good luck. FCS
 
Our 8 year old lab at the time tore both of his several years ago. We had the 1st surgery done in Jan. and the 2nd in April. The 1st couple of days were tough until he got the cast off. We closed off an area in the living room and kitchen were we kept him day and night. We also put stuff on the furniture so he couldn't get on them. (He was used to sleeping on the couch and waterbed) We stuck with the restrictions the doctor prescriped and everything worked out great although the time length for recovery was tough. Hang in there!
 
Cackleburs said:
Has anyone out there had their dog go through the ACL surgery? My go-to Brit Bobbi, (11) Blew out her ACL ligament about a week ago. I just picked her up from vet after the surgery. It's just the first night and it seems bleak. I need to know what to expect from someone whose been through it. Bathroom needs look like a big hurdle. She seems very uncomfortable and I feel useless. The vet says 12 weeks, but how do I survive the first 2 or 3? I could really use some help on this one.
Click to expand...

I feel your pain, we had a 115lbs Chesapeake male that blew out his ACL and we had the basic surgery done to his leg, we decide to do the re-hab ourselves to save some money, and it was difficult at first but once you get into a routine it is not as bad as you think.

As far as going to the bathroom, we went to walmart and bought some cheap bath towels, we would put them underneath his belly for support when he went pee and poop and we use them to walk him around the house just to keep him limber. We would then apply wet warm towel with a heating pad on his surgically repaired leg to keep the swelling down and the blood flowing through it and massage his lower back every night to keep his muscles for knotting up, I hope this helps any questions you know where to find me
 
Thanks to all 3 of you. The first night was very scary for me. We've got all the plumbing working now. The vet that worked on my girl didn't cast the joint or even bandage it. I like the warm towel treatment and will give it a go. She may not hunt opening weekend Oct. 31 But hopefully soon after. Thanks for the encouragement... it meant a lot.
 
Acl

Check with vet about heat on the area! Heat in humans does nothing for swelling in fact increases swelling in the area. Heat is nothing more than a temporary feel good and can do more damage than good.
 
Harehound has a valid point,

I forgot to add that we use a icepack to keep the swelling down, so it was icepack first for about 15 to 20min then the heated towel for 15 to 20min to keep the blood flowing. sorry about the mis-lead. :nutz:
 
At this time there doesn't seem to be a lot of swelling, so I'll just let nature take it's course. We're facing more of an incontinence problem. She made it through the night dry. We went out a 6:30 a.m. and did double duty as far as elimination goes. She's in a kennel crate and she wet her bedding by 8:30. I don't want to take her out on the hour, fearing it will strain the new knee too much. I'm pretty much dog-sitting today, but tomorrow the work week starts and I can only get back at noon. Hate to have her laying in urine with an unhealed wound (incision). Thanks again guys. All has been good advice.
 
Week 7 of ACL rehab

You will see form my other thread my Pup is going through the same thing.

http://www.ultimatepheasanthunting.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1551

We are on week 7 now and the light is at the end of the tunnel.

For the first 2 weeks we kept the dog in his kennel 95% of the time. The only respite was to go to the bathroom. As someone mentioned earlier in the thread , a towel was used to support the dog's weight when going outside. It was fairly easy becuase the dog had no interest in even using the leg for at least 2 weeks. He was in pain but the meds worked well. He would get super frustrated with the cone on his head and banging into every thing that after a while he would literally stop moving and just stand on 3 legs for 15 or 20 minutes because he hated running into everything.

It was rough but by week 4 the improvements came rapidly and the biggest problem is holding the dog back becuase he was rarin to go. I kept him leasehd all the time when he was outside until week 5 so he didn't go chasing birds in the yard.

By week 6 I started water training to rebuild the msucle tone. Have been focusing on that and the stretching excercises to maintain flexability.

My vet provided a rehab scedule and I follow it somehwat but I also watch the dog's body language to determine what he can handle. On most days a limp is not detectable and if he has one after he works out then I will back off some for a couple of days.

During the rehab I really cut back on his food rations as my vet said the leaner the dog is the better the surgery would work and she said alot of dogs will get heavy during rehab. My lab was 70 pounds at surgey time and probably closer to 65 now. Also switched to a premium brand of dog food and have him on Glucosimine supplemets.

I plan to do about 3 or more weeks of water excercise and then trnsition to dryland in mid Spetmebr with the goal of having him ready for South Dakota opener.

Good Luck!
 
WoW WS! That's the stuff I needed to hear. The two weeks in the kennel box is where I'm at. I'm more bummed about it than Bobbi seems to be. My house isn't ground level and it's 4 steps down the deck to carry her out to P&P. She's never ever been close to being a lap dog, so carrying her is a struggle. I hope your lab pulls through and can be parting cattails by first frost. Thanks for the breakdown. What age is your lab? My Brittany is 11. It was sort of a coin toss to do the surgery... well, not really.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top