ACL tears/TPLO the truth

[c_vet]

I've been a vet in carstairs for 20 years. many field dogs, farm dogs town dogs. I've seen all breeds and all injuries. ACL tears are the most common (happened to my dog) because its the weakest link in the body when the dog is thrusting forward and especially if the legs have a slight bow or there is some twisting. cold weather, overweight and especially that darn huck-a-chuck will cause most ACL tears. our dogs have better nutrition, they are stronger and they loose their mind over squirrels and such.
sprains and strains happen and should recover within 2-4 weeks. they can look like ACL tears (even on an xray)
ACL partial tears become full tears 99% of the time requiring surgery. a partial ACL tear has 3 requirements: persistent lameness, xray joint effusion (water on the knee), and pain when manipulating the knee in the 'drawer motion'. I have heard of vets not even touching the dog and diagnosing, and I have seen vets let a partial tear go on limping for a year of rest before diagnosing.
Full ACL tears have an obvious 1cm movement when the knee is 'drawer manipulated'. xray is required but i'm 95% positive when I feel that.
Tightrope surgery (lateral imbrication) is cheaper and has a failure rate the bigger and more active the dog (typically <50lbs and low active) is just fine. arthritis will set in fairly heavy in 5-6 years so if your dog is young then consider another surgery.
TPLO is expensive however dogs are walking on that leg within 3 days. at 2 weeks they are walking almost perfect and at 2 months watch out...holding them back is the issue. the last month is used to get in shape so the other leg has less chance to go.
the sooner the affected leg ( their take-off leg) gets fixed the less likely the other leg is to blow ( i think).
long term arthritis is minimal and full function is achieved. when you think about a heal up time of 3-4 months with the last 2 walking and running, it is a better option than 6 months of bed rest. not to mention the other leg taking the weight compensation.
get a second opinion, do some research, but if your buddy does have a partial ACL tear or Full ACL tear then something should be done.

I saw a $1000.00 brace put on a dog that slowed him down and ultimately shortened his achilles tendon because he couldn't extend his leg. maybe in the future braces will be better but not now.
Dr. Tom Picherack D.V.M.

[WhiteTailAB]

Our 2.5 year old Goldie tore her acl. She had been limping a bit and then one day she was playing and the next minute she was full on limp. I brought her to vet emerge cause our regular vet was booked up. They confirmed a tear just by moving the leg and told us the south side vet emerge would be in contact with us. This was a Saturday. Monday we got a call for a consultation and Wednesday we took her in and Thursday we got the surgery. (Man I wish our healthcare worked that fast oh wait muh social-healthcare) she had the TPLO procedure.

Shes great now. I'm thankful we didn't have to rehab her in the winter. It's been 10 months or so since the surgery and shes much happier. We suspect her bouts of snappy snarly moments had to do with her injury. She still runs hard and shows no sign of slowing down. We still do her stretches on that leg after each walk to help her. She seems to enjoy it.

We had pet insurance and saved $4000+ from the cost. Total cost to us was maybe $1500 all in including initial vet visit and stays prior to the surgery.

[scalerman]

The vet here in GP diagnosed an ACL tear in our Rottie male and recommended the TPLO surgery. We hummed and hawed a little bit before agreeing to have it done. Over $3000 for the procedure. He was up and around in no time and by 3 weeks after surgery he was back to normal. He loves to play and run around in our back yard, things he was unable to after his injury and prior to surgery. I am so glad we did it. According to the vet this is a very common injury and therefore the procedure is very common. I have had dogs all of my life and always known people that have dogs and never heard about the injury or the procedure until about 2 years ago. Now it seems everybody has a dog that has had this procedure.