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12-23-2007, 05:12 PM | #1 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: New York
Posts: 238
| Torn Ligament..please Help!! Hello I haven't posted in some time but you guys have always been helpful to me in the past. I was at work on Friday and my teenage cousin gave my dog a bath in the kitchen sink. She STUPIDLY left her in the sink while she went to go get a towel to dry her off. So of course Coco jumps out of the sink. That night I got home and she was limping. She is holding up her back hind leg. I was just SO pissed because I'm really strapped for money right now and didn't want to take her to the vet because I knew I couldn't afford it. Well I took her to the vet first thing Saturday morning and was told that she has a Anterior Cruciate Ligament Rupture. I was told this is the same as an ACL tear in humans. This diagnosis cost me $325 of which I really didn't have to spend but anyway her vet referred me to a specialist and said that if she does not walk on this leg in a week then she needs to have surgery. He cannot tell if it is totally or partially ruptured. He said if it is partially ruptured that in small dogs it usually heals on its own. I'm hoping and praying this is what it is because I CANNOT afford surgery. What I've been reading on the net about this injury has not been good. After her hernia repair I said I was going to get pet insurance and now I'm really slapping myself that I didn't. I'm pissed at my cousing for being SO stupid. So anyway I guess my questions are this #1 Has anyone ever experienced or heard of this type of injury in their dog? #2 Are there ANY health insurance policies that may pay for this. I'm reading and they all say they don't pay for pre-existing conditions. I'm not sure how they would know it is pre-existing though? #3 Just any suggestions in general? Thanks |
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12-23-2007, 05:14 PM | #2 |
Donating YT 5000 Club Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: texas
Posts: 5,272
| Well, I don't know anything about that but will keep you in my prayers that it heals on its own.
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12-23-2007, 06:09 PM | #3 |
Donating YT 2000 Club Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: North Carolina
Posts: 8,317
| Oh, dear. I can just imagine how mad you are at your cousin. All you can do now is keep Coco quiet and hope for the best. I belong to several forums and it does seem like most of the time an ACL tear does require surgery. We had one lady whose Maltese tore his climbing over a gate while they were visiting and he had to have the surgery. A year later he tore the ACL in his other leg and needed surgery again! One thing you can expect with these little dogs is to expect the unexpected vet bill and try to be prepared. Unfortunately, no pet insurance will cover pre-existing conditions so if Coco needs surgery, you'll have to pay for it yourself. You can ask if your vet will let you pay on a payment plan. Many vets will, but it's been my experience that most specialists expect to be paid in full for surgery. One option is Care Credit. They offer financing for veterinary services. http://www.carecredit.com/ Do you have any sort of account set up for emergency vet bills? Most people I know opt to put money in a special account every month instead of paying a pet insurance premium every month since you never know what they will and will not cover. If you don't have an account and Coco doesn't need surgery, now is a great time to set one up. Another idea borrowed from someone on another forum is keeping a credit card just for vet emergencies and then paying it down as quickly as possible so you don't end up paying three times as much for the procedure. Hopefully Coco won't need surgery. |
12-23-2007, 08:22 PM | #4 |
Donating YT 30K Club Member | My yorkie Zorro, that I had over 20 years ago had that. He had the surgery by a specialist. Even after the surgery he held the back leg up a little. I have heard that a lot of times in small dogs they can get by without surgery. I hope that is the case for you.
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12-27-2007, 10:49 AM | #5 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: New York
Posts: 238
| Thank you. How much did the surgery cost? I'm trying to hold out to see if it gets better on its own but I don't know how long to wait. Its been almost a week and she has still not put her leg down. |
12-27-2007, 10:50 AM | #6 | |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: New York
Posts: 238
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12-27-2007, 11:00 AM | #7 | |
Donating YT 2000 Club Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: North Carolina
Posts: 8,317
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Great! I hope everything goes well! | |
12-30-2007, 09:43 PM | #8 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 1,054
| Our little Hallee had this same problem, torn ACL. Our regular vet first thought the problem was Luxating Patella. He said he could do the surgery and it would only be a few hundred dollars. A little concerned that the surgery was so cheap we decided to go see a specialist about 2 hours from our home. The specialist (an orthopedic surgeon) looked at her and immediately knew it was torn ACL. He said it was sometimes hereditary in small dogs so the other one would possibly need done later. He took her back immediately and done her surgery a few hours later. We took her home the next day, within a week she was touching her toes to the ground and another week later walking lightly on it. 6 weeks later you couldnt even tell she had surgery, running and playing like crazy, not even a limp. A few weeks later we noticed her limping on her other leg so we made an appointment with the surgeon again. This time after surgery she was back to normal within a few weeks. Within 4 weeks from her surgery she was just fine and running around without a limp again. This is a very common surgery where we took her, said they do 4-5 of them a day. The surgery cost around $900 each time. You should probably get the surgery done soon, we were told the longer you wait the more prone she would be to arthritis later down the road. If you have any questions about the surgery or after care send me a PM. Good luck....
__________________ Heather - Mamma to Gracie & Hallee Last edited by ladybugg74; 12-30-2007 at 09:46 PM. |
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