Yes I have certainly had experience with this exact same problem. My Bichon tore his anterior cruciate ligament. I had surgery that cost about $1000. Then - lo and behold - a couple months later, he tore the other cruciate ligament.
From a lot of reading and my own working in the medical profession - I learned that a dog that weighs less than 20 pounds ---can heal without the surgery. (They just don't have much weight on their knees).
I got surgery the first time knowing that it wasn't absolutely necesary - but the second time, I elected to go without surgery and let him heal on his own.
The problem without having surgery is that you have to keep your pup quiet and not active for a long time - several months. But, with surgery - being honest, you still have to keep them down and quiet for a long time also.
Another factor is arthritis. Without surgery they may develop more arthritis when they get older - but with surgery, they still will develop some arthritis when they age from this injury.
--- You certainly should choose not to have this surgery - and try to keep your dog down and quiet for as long as possible. (I didn't go crazy with this. I was told to keep my dog crated, but didn't. I kept him in the house and did not encourage any playing, etc. He laid around a lot, and because his knee had been injured, he didn't jump or run around a lot anyway.) And slowly, but surely, he healed -- very well.
If you choose to not have surgery - be sure and get some pain medication for your pup, because this injury is quite painful (with or without surgery) and he needs to be on pain medication for a while. His knee hurts!!!
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I promise you that I am right. I did a lot of research, and several doctors that I work for told me what I am telling you. Several of them, because they had small dogs, choose not to have surgery for their dogs. And, several of them with larger dogs said that surgery was a "must" because of their dog's weight.
If your vet is insistent - (one of my vets really wanted my dog to have surgery, but finally admitted that it wasn't absolutely necessary). Get a second opinon if you need to -- and also do some research the Internet. When I told my vet that I had decided not to have surgery - she was very good about giving me pain medication for my dog.
PS -- My Bichon had surgery on one knee and not on the other. I can honestly say that his "down time" was reasonably equal in both cases, and that I can't tell by looking at him which knee was operated on.
Don't pay $3000 for surgery -- it is not necessary. If you had a larger dog, you'd have no choice. But, you have a very small dog that can do quite well without surgery.
Good luck!!!!!
Carol Jean |