Cruciate Ligament Rupture

[Wood butcher]

So my Shorthair has apparently had a cruciate ligament rupture. Mindlessly chasing grouse through the thick garbage she's tweeked her knee. The cheap quote from the vet 3100 bucks the prefered and more expensive option is only 5300. Are you F'n kidding me. 95 percent of the time the dog is in the house.
I really cant justify spending that kind of dough on a dog. I could buy 8 or ten more for that kind of money.

Have any of you folks had this happen to you dog? She'd be more my speed with on only three legs.

What do I do now?

[newhunterette]

So my Shorthair has apparently had a cruciate ligament rupture. Mindlessly chasing grouse through the thick garbage she's tweeked her knee. The cheap quote from the vet 3100 bucks the prefered and more expensive option is only 5300. Are you F'n kidding me. 95 percent of the time the dog is in the house.
I really cant justify spending that kind of dough on a dog. I could buy 8 or ten more for that kind of money.

Have any of you folks had this happen to you dog? She'd be more my speed with on only three legs.

What do I do now?

We had our blue heeler's CCL done 3 years ago - first quote same as yours - our new vet who is very well known here in vancouver and through the valley and movie industry charged us 900.00 and therapy was shown to my daughter and she worked Sissy through it - you would never know she had the surgery now

[newhunterette]

It is a very common occurance in high performance dogs so some vets think they can charge you an arm and leg for the repair - our vet is not into the money, he is into the saving of your pet - if you want his number I know he is on the mainland and you are on the island but hey save some money even with the ferry cost.

[Kasomor]

It is a very common occurance in high performance dogs so some vets think they can charge you an arm and leg for the repair - our vet is not into the money, he is into the saving of your pet - if you want his number I know he is on the mainland and you are on the island but hey save some money even with the ferry cost.


What's your vets name and the name of their practice please?

Regards,
Kasomor

[Chuck]

Local gossip has it that vets and dentists are getting to be worse than lawyers. An acquaintace's wife needs 50 big ones for her yeeth job.

[newhunterette]

My vet is Dr Bruce Burton in abbotsford

he is the vet for the vancouver zoo-ological centre as well as what used to be Mountainview breeding facility - he is also the vet on call for movie animals that are on set for the Hollywood of the North - he also donates his time downtown vancouver to give vaccinations to homeless people's animals

http://www.yellowpages.ca/bus/British-Columbia/Abbotsford/Burton-Veterinary-Services/2145117.html

[Wood butcher]

I was also curious if anyones dog had had this injury and not had it repaired surgically.
Am I stuck with a limping three legged dog if I don't get it done?
Maybe you could PM me the the vets info Newhunterette.
I'm also going to seek the opinion of a vet who is a retired family friend.

Sounds like they can rupture the other good one after they have had one injury and often within a year to year and a half of the original injury.

[Wood butcher]

Sorry, just found the link at the bottom of your last post. Thx

[Sitkaspruce]

I waited a week or two when Sitka did hers when she was 2.

It never got better and to see her limping around was bad enough.

I took her in and got two quotes, both from recommended vets. One was a lot more expensive than the the other. I went with the cheaper one and have never looked back. Sitka was up and around and back hunting in a month. The vet told me they were there to help the animal, not to get rich.......

I know if I tore my CCL again, I would get it fixed......

Get it fixed, your dog deserves it!!!!

Cheers

SS

[newhunterette]

SS - I am there with you - Sissy was almost 14 when she did her's in and the first vet we saw diagnosed her saying he couldnt do the surgery because of her age but the UBC vet clinic could for 3500.00 and then he was going to charge us another 1500 for physio. Ontop of the 500 for x-rays and blood work.

because of her age we really had to think about our options - I said there was no option she needed the surgery. I remembered Dr Burton from our last dog we had so I called him, and he saw Sissy right away - diagnosed her and had her booked a week later for the surgery 900.00 with all meds and his physiotherapist charged 15.00 to teach Breanne what to do - after 3 weeks Sissy was running around again chasing our Lab.

She is now 16 and still has lots of life in her other than being diagnosed with Canine Cognative Dysfunction (not related to her CCL surgery) just part of getting past her years.

She has given us 14 years (she was 2 when we rescued her). We figure she is worth any medical treatment she needs for her life to continue. We will let her determine when she is ready to say no more. (now I am not saying if she was suffering, because no one wants anyone to suffer, I mean if she has decided to leave us for doggy heaven on her terms)

[Tikka7mm]

The sooner the better - next time around you might want to consider vet insurance. It's only 40 bucks a month and you never have to worry about a thing. If your dog gets hurt you're covered.

Having said this, I wouldn't be stupid enough get a quote from just one vet either. 5300 sounds kind of steep but I know if it were my dog I'd be gettin her fixed PDQ - it's pretty hard to turn your back on that kind of loyalty.

Get it done, you won't regret it.

[bsa30-06]

When my dog first started having siezures the first few vets we took her to said the dog had to be put down.We then found the vet we currently use and i told him what the other vets said and he he was dumbfounded.He explained about the different meds we could give her and know she only gets about 1 or 2 siezures a year and they are mild.A good vet is worth their wieght in gold especially when there not out to gouge you.I would definately look around and get a couple qoutes/opinions.

[spear]

My wife and I talk about this situation a fair bit, with a high energy dog something is bound to happen.
How old is your dog? I know some people might scoff at asking this but its sort of like replacing hips in people 80+, not very efficient.

[Wood butcher]

The dog is seven people years :)

[Lots'oLabs]

I was also curious if anyones dog had had this injury and not had it repaired surgically.
Am I stuck with a limping three legged dog if I don't get it done?
Maybe you could PM me the the vets info Newhunterette.
I'm also going to seek the opinion of a vet who is a retired family friend.

Sounds like they can rupture the other good one after they have had one injury and often within a year to year and a half of the original injury.
Unfortunately it happens to high performance dogs in our field trial community, and your right, the dog is then vulnerable for a 2nd rupture.
Rarely do I hear that people don't get it fixed because the dog is lame for the duration of it's life. The longer you leave it without surgury there is a higher chance of arthritis setting in.
My suggestion is get it fixed ASAP and carefully follow the vet's post surgury and re-hab instructions.

[naes]

I found out today that my dog Molly Just blew her ACL anterior cruciate ligament in her knee.
Wood butcher did you end up having the surgery and if so who did you use? I am in Victoria too.
Thanks Sean

[brian]

My dog tore hers when she was fairly old and had a heart condition. The vet did not recommend surgery. She got around well enough on three legs and eventually the muscles built up around the knee and took over the job of the ligament. But it took a long time (months) before she could really put any weight on it. It never was as good as it used to be and she would often go back to limping, but she was getting old and probably wasn't healing as fast or as well as a younger dog would have.

[huntcoop]

Our dog blew his ligament, we had similar vet quotes, we opted to do nothing, against the vets advice, and our dog is back to normal. No limp, all 4 legs are working fine, he runs in the yard, chases rabbits......seems to be 100% back to normal.

PS...he turns 15 in November!

[naes]

Huntcoop, How long did it take to heal?

[huntcoop]

We did nothing except keep him low key and not let him run around, i'd say he didn't use the leg for a few weeks then he started to use it again, probably within 2 months he was back to normal. One concern the vet had was that with his age and the added weight on the one rear leg he may rupture the other leg, BUT, he was a trooper, never had a issue and now is good to go.

[srupp]

our last lab Morgan tore her Left knee, and 3 years later tore her Right one... both surgeries were 100 % successful..expensive but they worked completely..

Steven:mrgreen:

[Wood butcher]

So far we've opted to do nothing aswell. A retired vet who is a personal friend said the dog will use the injured leg again. It is just more suseptible to arthritis. The dog can run well if she chooses and has never whined or cried. I love my dog, but I really cant justify spending that kind of cash on a dog, any dog for that matter. Especially one that doesn't always listen.
If I didn't have kids the dog would have spent Christmas eve in the bush. We were only 2 hours late for dinner that night.

Just think how many dogs you could have for each knee. Brutal really.

[newhunterette]

Everyone makes their own decisions to work for them and their family, our choice was pay through the nose for tests and therapies that weren't needed but just a way to suck us in to pay (we almost gave up our dog because of this one vet trying to hose us) - we figured we saved her from death row, we were not going to put her down because some animal doc needed cash to run his SPAW for dogs. I am greatful we found Dr Burton and he did Sissy's surgery and she bounced right back considering she was an aged dog already at the time, I believe us giving her the surgery, saved her life again and gives us more time with her.

I hope all works out for you dog.

Oh on a side note - we have 3 dogs and I would give the surgery to all the knees to be fixed if the need arises - we have 3 very high performance dogs. But then I do have Breanne (world animal savior future veterinarian)living in my house lol.