Torn Knee

[Dutch]

Well just got some wonderfull news ,torn miniscus right leg three bills to fix .The lab is only six so it will be no new toys for pops this year as I have to get him back in shape.Started talking to the vet and she informs me this is hereditery and she is finding more and more sporting dogs with this problem.The surgeon she recommended just does these operations as he has a constant flow of patients.My daughter goes to a large US university that is recognized as one of the more eminent veterinary schools they have said it is not only sporting dogs but all breeds and they are saying it could be the new hip dysplasia ??? My third lab,never heard of it until now but have three guys with young dogs that have the same thing,.

[Kasomor]

I'm sorry about your dog Dutch

The surgery that was done ...is it the same as what is done for a torn crutiate ligament?

[Foxton Gundogs]

Dutch... Sorry about your dog. Suggest you Contact Dr.Janet Christensen DVM Cornelious Ore, And Dr. Jeff Millar also Oregon If you want to get any inf from a vet/Fieldtrialer's perspective. Both are crack vets with a good number od trained/handled FC,CFC,NFC,NAFC and CNFCs to their credit.

Not trying to sugest anything negitive about your vets advice/info BUT Janet and Jeff know the ropes from both sides of the coin

Good luck and who needs "toys" when you have a dog.

[Dutch]

Thanks for the info and yes will follow up on it.I am also going to send his x rays to the veterinary medical school at Washington State for their view.Make sure we get this right .

[Kayte]

Is the crutiate also torn? I didn't think it was possible to tear the meniscus without tearing the crutiate first.

My dog has blown both knees, so I can sympathise with the vet bills. Which type of surgery are you going with? Mine had TPLO surgery on both sides, but there's also TTA, extracapsular/traditional, and another one that I can't remember.

xrays should make it blatantly obvious whether it's hip dysplacia or not. the crutiate tears are hard/impossible to diagnose with an xray, but hip dysplacia is definately genetic and visible on an xray.

conformation wise, is your dog straight in the back end?

[srupp]

meniscus can be torn independently..

sTEVEN

[Kayte]

meniscus can be torn independently..

sTEVEN

interesting!
is this very common? I know an awful lot of 'broken' dogs and haven't seen it happen yet. not saying it's not possible, just that I haven't come across it
could be that the meniscus tear isn't as sever as a crutiate tear, and the dogs i'm used to dealing with (bulldogs) are pretty stoic. heck, the vet thought my dog had only partially torn her first knee because she was only intermittantly limping... turned out to be a full tear! she just wasn't showing pain very well.

[srupp]

while possible...it is usually the cruciate...and thats the $$$$..

yes the past decade this seems to be more and more the case..known 4 labs with this all between 5 and 8 years of age..sheesh maybe throw some sedatives in the morning chow bowl...still susceptable but less likely to be able to do what it takes to send that into full rupture,tear.

steven

[newhunterette]

Our blue heeler had her ccl surgery when she was 13 ish one vet was gonna charge us over $3000 plus $1500 for physio well we had to really think because of her age. We asked for a second opinion from our now vet and he confirm her ccl was blown did surgery for $800 and we paid his physio specialist $15 to show my daughter what to do. We lost her at age 16 but her legs were perfect it was her mind that left her. My daughter npw works for our vet and she assissts in at least 4 ccl surgeries a week. She hears over and over how vets are chargin an arm and leg for this surgery. Many people opt to give up on their pet because of the cost the are quoted. Good luck with your decision. The first we talked took unnecesary blood work and xrays and told us we had to go to UBC for this, what a crock and money grab.

[Kayte]

Our blue heeler had her ccl surgery when she was 13 ish one vet was gonna charge us over $3000 plus $1500 for physio well we had to really think because of her age. We asked for a second opinion from our now vet and he confirm her ccl was blown did surgery for $800 and we paid his physio specialist $15 to show my daughter what to do. We lost her at age 16 but her legs were perfect it was her mind that left her. My daughter npw works for our vet and she assissts in at least 4 ccl surgeries a week. She hears over and over how vets are chargin an arm and leg for this surgery. Many people opt to give up on their pet because of the cost the are quoted. Good luck with your decision. The first we talked took unnecesary blood work and xrays and told us we had to go to UBC for this, what a crock and money grab.

it's very possible that the quotes were drastically different because they were two different surgeries. the extracapsular surgery costs about a grand, where as the TPLO surgery costs closer to $4,000. two very different surgeries, and very different prices. also, bloodwork on a 13 year old dog before surgery is never unnecessary! I'm suprised that any vet out there would anesthetize any dog that age without running bloodwork first. my dog was also xrayed before her surgeries. a limping dog could be many things (arthritis, hip dysplacia, etc). it's cheaper to get xrays than go straight to surgery and find that the diagnosis was wrong