My Rylee Belle has a possible ACL injury. It happened last Saturday night.......not sure how. I was tidying up around the house and I heard what sounded like something hitting the glass coffee table. I turned around to see Rylee sitting there and looking kind of scared. When she got up to walk, she kind of stumbled. Then I noticed that she was limping. She never cried out and didn't seem to be in any pain at all. She ate and was perfectly happy besides the limping and of course she wasn't jumping up on the furniture which I try to limit anyway because what happened is exactly what I have feared would happen!!!! I took her to the vet on Monday. He of course gave her the typical examination and determined there were no broken bones or dislocations. He feels it is either a bad sprain or and ACL injury which would not show on an xray. He prescribed Metacam once a day for her for the next 7 to 10 days and if there is no improvement, wants to do surgery. Here is my question..................I have read several articles on this possible injury (cranial cruciate ligament (CCL)) that have VERY different opinions on treatment. Some say definite surgery and others say..............DON'T decide on surgery it could be the WORST thing you can do!!!! One article said to keep the dog as inactive as possible for 8 weeks and it will likely heal itself as well as if they had surgery. I'm so confused!!!!
One article even went as far as saying that this particular surgery had become a sort of "cash cow" for vets. I'm open to stories and suggestions or opinions. Just PLEASE........let me hear from you. I don't know what to do!!!! As I mentioned before.............she is in NO pain. She even still runs, although I try to stop that as much as possible.