Quote:
Originally Posted by maggiefromnj  My girl has loose knee in her right leg. I thought she had in her left leg but I’m honestly not sure, it’s at least a little loose, but not too bad. She’s never had surgery for her knees but she did have a hemi laminectomy on her lumbar spine in sept 2016. We went to the beach October 2017 and we noticed one night that she wasn’t going up any steps or curbs. We then realize that she really wasn’t putting her left leg down all the way. We immediately took her to the vet in Myrtle Beach. He had a hard time doing tests on her because she was in so much pain. But he thought it was ccl tear Even though he couldn’t really get it to move (drawer test?) He said with adrenaline and stuff sometimes you can’t do the test properly. We took her home and took her to a local vet who is very experienced (specialize in ortho) and he showed us how Her knee would move and said she had a tear. He said that in 75% of small dogs there uusually is no need for surgery. He said that it would scar over and the scar tissue would stabilize it, though likely to get arthritis. Obviously we had to restrict her for quite a while as far as running and playing.He did say that she has a higher chance of tearing the other side as well. He had me bring her back several times and he checked her knee and measured her thigh muscle. She has done excellent. She is now using it like there was never anything wrong. I realize surgery can sometimes be the better option, but since she had gone through back surgery only a year ago we didn’t want to put her through anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary and of course there is also the cost. I don’t know what the best course is for torn CCL, but I just want to let you know that conservative management can work. I was also happy to have a Doctor who wasn’t just going to recommend the most expensive thing. |
No disrespect but it is not true that in 75% of small dogs surgery is not needed. Yes, they do develop arthritis...matter of fact it is severe arthritis. They also are at high risk of a torn meniscus because of the instability of that knee and that is even more painful and IF the dog was able to use the knee prior, they simply won't then. Muscle atrophy is another complication which of course just adds to that instability. Dogs don't show pain but I can promise you if she has arthritis in that knee, which I am sure she does, she has pain. Perhaps you might want to speak with your vet about some pain management for her comfort. All that said, there are variables to anything....size, age and health .. also monetary concerns are some of them. You "can" do conservative management but again that percentage is simply not accurate. CCL is actually more of a problem for dogs than for humans. Humans with a torn ACL can do conservative treatment unless they are athletes and then surgery must be done.
I am glad that you are happy with your pup's outcome but must respectfully disagree with you.
Some helpful links:
Canine Cruciate Ligament Injury https://www.acvs.org/small-animal/cr...gament-disease