Dog ACL / Stifle Brace or Surgery?

[64osby]

Beetle our Aussie Cattle dog has blown out his second knee.

His first one was March 2011. Link to that post. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=463470

The first surgery did not hold after about 2 months, pretty sure he hopped a fence and tore it up. Since then he has been on 3 1/4 to 3 3/4 legs depending on the day.

Right now Beetle is taking some pain meds and we are waiting on the Vet for some additional input.

I'm not sure if surgery is the way to go on this or not. Do we have both knees done, just one and then the other?

One of the other possible options I have researched is a Stifle Brace. Would look at getting two.

If I knew more the first time around I probably would have bought one for rehab and extended use. I feel it would have prevented the first knee from blowing out after surgery.

Has any one here had experience with a stifle brace on a dog? The vet gave the distinct impression they were not a viable option, his opinion. His son would do the surgery if we went that direction.

It has also been a rough year having lost my FIL, two other extended family members and my wife's mother is in the hospital (ICU) right now.

I know in the big picture there are larger issues in the scope of life, but this is our current one. Tough decisions related to Beetle's quality of life, long term outlook, expense, and my wife's ability to handle more.

If there is some input on the stifle brace, please let me your experience and what company was used.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

 

[mommicked]

Re: Dog ACL / Stifle Brace or Surgery?

I am no expert osby but we had a dog that injured it's rear leg knee at about 1 yr old . It climbed over a 4' boxwire fence trying to chase a deer or rabbit in our backyard. When I got home the dog was limping around outside the fence and I saw the bent fence and knew she must have caught her foot in it as she went over the fence in 4-paw drive. We waited a few days to see if she would stop limping but she did not. We took her to the best vet in the area as a friend worked there and recommended them. After xrays the doc said the dog was born w bad hips and knees and she needed expensive surgery involving installing a large piece of metal to fuse/reattach the tendons to and support her injured knee or it was going to blow out. They said recovery would be 6 months and she would have to be restrained and confined to not move around to much for that time. I told the doc we love our dog too much to put her thru that procedure and healing and she would probably destroy the knee anyway or her other bad joints while tryin to run w the injured one after being cooped up so long and we declined the surgery at they're obviuos disaproval. I told the doc " even if we had the money to fix it, I think it's a bad idea w the dogs other 3 bad joints and WE are not building the 6 million dollar dog". He said to call back when the leg was flopping around like a sock half on In front of my wife and I almost punched him. Our dog got better in a month or so of confineing her to a screen porch and now, 8 yrs later getting old and slowing down and her bad knee has been fine ever since. We have given her Rimadyl daily since the injury and bad joint diagnosis and she may be slowing down w age but she has never been cripple and carried 135lbs for years on her bad joints before being diagnosed w a thyroid condition. I don't know how old your dog is or how severe the injury is and it may not be anything like ours, but we are glad we did not try to go so far to fix her as to cause her to suffer being isolated from her motherdog and indoors, locked in a kennel for 6 months. I would try the brace and try to keep the dog from going full tilt ( like ours still does sometimes ) or inside, secured where it cannot run,chase for a while to see how it may heal some itself. But again I AM NO EXPERT just sharing my experience w a torn knee ligature/tendons. I hope your dog gets better whatever you do.

 

[64osby]

Re: Dog ACL / Stifle Brace or Surgery?

Thanks for the reply mommicked. We are in a holding pattern right now.

One dose of some drug the vet gave did not sit well with Beetle, bad reaction. He was really loopy. We are waiting to see if the Rimadyl will help and he can take it.

He is able to gimp around, no stairs. Time will tell.

Sometimes I think Vets, like Doctors, try to get you to bite on the big dollar fixes when simple common sense might be the solution.

 

[southkogs]

Re: Dog ACL / Stifle Brace or Surgery?

Osby - you might look into neuro-structural therapy and see if anyone does it in your area. NST is sort of a massage therapy, but it's a little more technical than that. It's an alternative similar to chiropractic.

I've had to have it done personally, and a few months ago our dog injured her hind leg. She literally couldn't put weight on it at all for over 12 hours. We got worried, but before opting for the vet we knew the gal who we see here for NST works with horses too so we asked about the dog. She said to bring her in. Sure enough, a few short hours later the dog was waggin' and running like she's supposed to do.

If you're interested and can't find anything on it your area, send me a PM and I'll see if I can point you to someone. I know your area fairly well.

 

[64osby]

Re: Dog ACL / Stifle Brace or Surgery?

Thanks for the info southkogs. I'm off to the annual fall trout weekend. I'll let my wife know and see if she can find some info over the weekend.

 

[salty87]

Re: Dog ACL / Stifle Brace or Surgery?

never seen one of those braces on a dog...yet. makes sense though since people been using similar for a long time.

one of my dogs had a floating patella (knee cap). it would move out of position when she ran and her knee would lock up until it floated back where it was supposed to be. she was about 10 mos old when it started happening. we took her to a vet orthopedic specialist hospital. they sewed the patella to her tendons or something so it wouldn't float out of place. after the recovery, never locked up again. she has a bit of a waddle when she walks and the vet said to expect hip arthritis. been giving both dogs Cosequin ever since to fend off premature joint problems. glad we took that course of action and she's been like normal.

good luck with your decision and with Beetle. operations aren't cheap or painless but dogs deal with pain in a different way than people do. we complain, they suck it up.

 

[southkogs]

Re: Dog ACL / Stifle Brace or Surgery?

Thanks for the info southkogs. I'm off to the annual fall trout weekend. I'll let my wife know and see if she can find some info over the weekend.

Where ya' troutin'? I fished all over the AuSable for years with my dad. A little bit on the Huron and the Rifle too.

NST should be even a little cheaper in the long run.

 

[64osby]

Re: Dog ACL / Stifle Brace or Surgery?

sk - Pine River and Manistee tributaries is where we go most of the time.

Think we will start with braces and see how Beelte responses. He is able to walk and get out to do his business. Half a pill of Rimadyl morning and night.

 

[southkogs]

Re: Dog ACL / Stifle Brace or Surgery?

Cool. Best wishes. It's always tough to see your dog struggling. They really become part of the family.