Dog ACL surgery

Our 5yr old ridgeback "macy" was diagnosed with a torn acl about 4 months ago. The vet said many dogs under 65lbs (she is around 50lbs) can heal on their own within 3-6months but macy is not showing any signs of improvement. She basically gets around on 3 legs, favoring her bad leg. She still runs like the wind somehow but walking looks painful for her.

Have any of you had your pups in for this surgery? I've heard it can cost anywhere from $1k-2.5k. Im not normally one to dump a ton of money into surgeries on our animals but macy is a very healthy young dog other than this injury. Just worried if left untreated she'll get worse. Any input is appreciated. Thanks

 

Good luck to Macy...my pooch is scheduled to have her acl repaired on 4/18...she had the other one done a year ago. Seems like they run better than they walk because they get into a trot and it's easier to stay off the bad one. Bad news is that mine will be $3000.00 not $1200.00.

 

Dang! Sorry to hear about it.

 

My male chocolate lab had a torn ACL. His didn't heal. Small wonder as he wouldn't miss a chance to play, but then was miserable after. One day, it was just too much and he finished the tear. Now reeling in pain, we took him to the vet and was given three options. It cost us just under $1300 for the surgery and pain meds. The hard part was keeping him quiet so he could heal. Had I done that when the tear began, perhaps he wouldn't have progressed to the full tear. 7 years later, he is overweight and lame. limps at times. I give him meds for it and he does better. He just doesn't run or jump. He also hates stairs. I know it is hard to spend the money, but it is worth it. Just remember to be committed to forcing him to stay quiet so he can get well.

 

I've got nothing other than I hope all goes well.

 

I'd do the acl surgery. It's a small price to pay for your buddy.

 

That might just be the hardest part. This dog is like a rocket! . Thanks for all the advice and thoughts guys. We're probably going to take her to the vet next week and have her checked again to see what they recommend.

 

Thanks dave, im about an hr from CMCH. Our vet has been very good to us in the past so we'll see what they say. But I'll keep parkway in mind.

 

You have to be committed to keeping him quiet. Never off leach. Then there is the lift thing when they go up a set of stairs. At one point the vet had me back off the pain med so he wouldn't be so eager to romp.

 

I'm sure a doggie downer could be prescribed as well if discussed with the vet.

 

$3,000+ for a mastiff a few years ago.
We were told it would probably happen to the other back leg too but it never did.

We had valium for the dog.
Needed it on 4th of July.

 

That's a lot of money. I have to wonder how well pet insurance works out.

 

There are a couple of ways to repair a dogs ACL...my belief is TPLO is the best solution, also the most costly. My dog loves to run and play, so having the surgerys was/is the only fair thing to do for her. Who needs a vacation anyway??

 

What's TPLO?

 

Tibial-plateau-leveling osteotomy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia