My 9 year old labrador is scheduled for acl (conventional) surgery next week. She blew out her left hind knee. Does anyone have experience with this? I’m worried about making sure she heals properly and doesn’t injure it afterwards. How do you keep an active dog quiet and keep her from being totally bored? Vet said 2 weeks of one room confinement and 6 weeks of light walking. Any helpful tips would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Wow! Your vet is being really nice in terms of the “stall rest”…My last dog (2 years ago, died of something unrelated) had 2 ACL repairs. Orthopedic surgeon required had us do 1 MONTH cage rest (only allowed to go to the bathroom), 1 month of 3-5/10 minute walks a day and 1 month of slowly allowing her back to her normal routine.
Make sure you go to an orthopedic surgeon and not a regular vet!!!
Sorry you have to go through this. My 18 month old Cavalier boy is 5 weeks out from patella surgery. Still on the leash-only plan when outside. No running, jumping etc for another 3 weeks at least!
Hope your Lab is crate-trained. Having them used to that makes it easier. I also used an ex pen to keep him off the furniture and restrict his movement in the house. With a bigger dog you might need to look into baby gates to restrict him to one room.
At first, it wasnt too difficult to keep him quiet. It has become more challenging as he feels better. His sister inviting him to play doesnt help either! Chew toys help. I use Kongs but have to be careful with the stuffing as I dont want him to gain weight. I ended up using bits of carrot topped with spray cheese! If your Lab is a chewer like most, nylabones and the like will probably help him pass the time.
Good luck with surgery and rehab.
my dog had ACL repair done about a year ago, and had a much more intensive recovery - more like what Kiwayu explained. Your dog will be in pain, on meds etc. that will make her not want to run etc. etc.
The hardest part for me was getting my dog to poop- she didn’t go for 4 days! I was worried and then finally she went.
Please be careful with the recovery- it really is the most important part- my aunts lab had surgery a few weeks after my dog- she did was much more lax with her recovery and ended up having to take her to physical therapy for six months. I might have the info my vet sent me, if I can find it I will send it to you.
[QUOTE=Kiwayu;5553890]
Wow! Your vet is being really nice in terms of the “stall rest”…My last dog (2 years ago, died of something unrelated) had 2 ACL repairs. Orthopedic surgeon required had us do 1 MONTH cage rest (only allowed to go to the bathroom), 1 month of 3-5/10 minute walks a day and 1 month of slowly allowing her back to her normal routine.
Make sure you go to an orthopedic surgeon and not a regular vet!!![/QUOTE]
This. We now do adequan injections every other month also. I hope not to have to do it again. Recovery time was way more time than I expected.
[QUOTE=Kiwayu;5553890]
Wow! Your vet is being really nice in terms of the “stall rest”… Orthopedic surgeon required had us do 1 MONTH cage rest (only allowed to go to the bathroom), 1 month of 3-5/10 minute walks a day and 1 month of slowly allowing her back to her normal routine.
Make sure you go to an orthopedic surgeon and not a regular vet!!![/QUOTE]
This is about what my rat terrier had to do after his ACL surgery. He had it done when he was twelve and that was three years ago. He is still cranking along with the help of joint supps, and the occasional NSAID. Good luck to you and your lab. Don’t let sad faces break the rehab phase. your baby needs to heal properly. 
Thanks everyone! I do plan on being really careful and patient with her recovery. She’s so used to being active and spoiled (sleeps in the bed, etc.), I worry about her being depressed and bored. Also I can’t stand seeing her in pain. I’ll have to toughen up…not give in tho the “sad” face! Anyone try swimming during rehab? If so, how long after surgery?
Our family dog had 2 ACL repair surgeries. We took him to Virginia Tech to the orthopedic surgeons who did an AMAZING job. His “stall rest” was much longer than your vet is recommending. He was on Rimadyl and other stuff (maybe cosequin or adequan) forever after that. He lived 8 years after, but sadly, had to be put down due to on going pain that one day increased drastically.
Not trying to bring you down, just have to be realistic. He had an AMAZING 8 years after the surgery. Not pain free, but much less pain and it was managed for the most part. Good luck with yours!
My dog (Golden cross, fairly big) had his done a little over a year ago. I was careful to follow the vet’s advice for his recovery period, and it was uneventful. The first week or two the rest isn’t an issue as it’s painful and they don’t want to do much. Going out was a challenge since I live in a second-floor apartment, but we managed with the help of a towel for support. My dog was super careful of it for a long time, not running on it etc. even after the vet gave the okay for off leash forays. Then one day I looked and he was running-sound on all four legs-what a sight!
He’s the third dog I’ve had who’s had the traditional surgery (all large dogs; others were a lab cross and a massively oversized Beagle I’d have pegged as a Harrier if I didn’t have his AKC papers) and all have done fine. Vet’s instructions were followed to the T and were much the same as your vet’s instructions except for the lab cross as she had other damage as well. AS has been said, make sure you don’t get lax with the directions, or it could end up taking longer!
Another question…Did you go visit your dog in the doggy hospital afterwards? Vet says she’ll probably stay 2 nights. I feel I want to visit of course, but not if it’s more upsetting to her to see me and not come home. What do you think?
swimming is a great way to rehab- just be careful about the getting in getting out part! I starting swimming my dog about 3 months after the surgery. My aunt (see my first post) actually started about a month after and that is what messed up the leg.
Our lab has had the acl surgery on both of her hind legs. At the time she had the first surgery, the surgeon told us that most labs who have had one leg done, will most likely to have the other leg done. Almost exactly a year later the other leg had to be done. Sam had an uneventful recovery both times, and is on joint supplements.
Showme, they’ll probably have her pretty drugged up, ask the vet what they think about visitors. I would invest in a nice comfy dog bed for her, our dog never slept on them before the surgery but now he seeks out the newer carpeting or piles of blankets.
Our dog tore both acls, a few years apart. Vet also told us to expect that. Ours was caused from the dog being on a line in the yard. He knew exactly where the chain ended, so he’d go racing after something and then throw on the brakes right before the end. He’s not allowed on a line anymore, and is forbidden from jumping up on beds (shame, he gave great ‘good mornings’). We felt bad that he couldn’t just sit outside anymore, so in exchange for getting rid of the line, we got in the habit of taking him on a walk every time he has to go out. Now he gets at least 2 decent walks a day, plus a few shorter ones. I like to think he’s pretty happy about this.
Start feeding joint supplements, but expect some arthritis anyway. And the best way to keep it at bay is to keep the dog active and at a healthy weight.
I have a friend who is a vet tech herself and owns a big lab mix who is about 90+ lbs and is 2 years old. He has had ACL surgery twice and there are two methods although I’m not sure what they are called - one surgery reattaches ligament to ligament and one surgery attaches the ends of the ligament to a metal plate in the middle. Don’t know which you are having done, but her dog had the ligament to ligament done twice and its said to hold up less, especially in larger dogs, but it was 600 versus 2400 to have done so she went ahead with the cheaper one. She did 3 months of rest, mostly in the crate for the first month and a half or so, leash walks only, no playing, etc. for the duration of the 3 months and he re-tore it about a month after doing that rehab and she did the same surgery again. It’s been about 5 months now since his second surgery and he definitely still favors it, it’s hard finding a balance between allowing him to be a dog and keeping him from re-injuring it. She has 3 other big dogs in her house and he loves to play with my 2 boxers as well, but when he runs even for a few minutes he comes back limping and sometimes holding his leg in the air. If he tears it again she will go with the more expensive surgery and hope it holds up better, but like I said it’s really hard to find a balance between keeping their leg together and letting them have fun. What’s the point in doing the surgery if they’re going to live the rest of their lives cooped up and not enjoying being a dog? My brother’s lab has also gone through the surgery twice, but I don’t know specific details on that. Good luck to your dog and please be aware that (in my opinion) 2 weeks of one room confinement is NOT enough for him to be rehabbed properly. One room is more than enough room for him to bounce off the walls and 2 weeks is not long enough.
[QUOTE=ponies123;5559079]
I have a friend who is a vet tech herself and owns a big lab mix who is about 90+ lbs and is 2 years old. He has had ACL surgery twice and there are two methods although I’m not sure what they are called - one surgery reattaches ligament to ligament and one surgery attaches the ends of the ligament to a metal plate in the middle. Don’t know which you are having done, but her dog had the ligament to ligament done twice and its said to hold up less, especially in larger dogs, but it was 600 versus 2400 to have done so she went ahead with the cheaper one.[/QUOTE]
There isn’t, to my knowledge (having been a vet tech at a large referral hospital with 2 board certified ortho vets) a surgery that attaches ligament to ligament. There is a surgery commonly referred to as “traditional” repair. It’s fishing line, applied in a figure-8 around the joint to stablize it. It is about $600. I went through 3 of these surgeries with my Samoyed years ago (yes, the same dog, one leg once, the other leg twice as the line broke the 1st time).
I now have a Lab that ruptured her ACL 13 months ago at 3 years of age. We opted for the more expensive surgery (actually over $4000). She had a TPLO (tibial plateau leveling osteotomy) - that’s where they use a crescent-shaped cut on the top of the tibia, rotate it so it is at a proper angle and apply metal bone plates & screws to hold it all in place.
Knock wood, she’s doing very well. She’s very active, no restrictions. We did keep her on Recovery SA as a joint supplement for about 6 months after the surgery - I’ve also used that supplement on our elderly dog and I swear, it works wonders.
The vets I worked with recommend the TPLO for any dog over 50 lbs.
Looking at my Lab that had the TPLO - you would never know she had any issues.
ACL repair post-op
I worked at a small animal surgery for a few years (til better pay and health insurance lured me to a desk job).
Your pup won’t want to run and play initially. Some vets go very easy on the pain meds to increase the dog’s self-restriction.
I would crate instead of room confine. It’s a lot of money and you don’t want to waste it. I have seen many small dogs have the standard ACL repair and never return to weight-bearing: instead they skip along three-legged. The owners were lenient on confinement. This is less common in large dogs because their size encourages them to use all four.
Also, another poster was dead-on about needing the second knee in a year. There is something like a 75% chance of the second knee going within 18months. Starting a glucosamine supplement now may help ward this off. Reducing high-impact, sharp-turning activities will also help prevent this but that’s a tough decision.
Some hospitals allow visiting. Hopefully you know your dog’s level of separation anxiety: sometimes an owner comes to visit their snoozing pup who was knocked out snoring away. It goes nuts during/after the visit, unable to rest again for the night. It is really unfortunate when a visit causes more distress. Please analyze your pet and recognize if the visit is more for the person than the pet. (for what it’s worth when my own dog had surgery at my workplace, I stayed away because I know it would distress him.)
My lab (46lbs) had this surgery done on both legs 5 years ago and you’d never know it, except for some stiffness after vigorous extended playing! She was crated for about 6 weeks after each surgery, and ACE was our friend to stop her chewing and clawing her way out! :lol: So glad we chose TPLO over traditional, my friend had to take her pooch back in to get hers re-done as TPLO!!
Cost of the former is usually in the $ 2000 or larger is more expensive because it involves hardware and the surgical skill. Is a very pleasant, suitable for larger dogs and now is usually done by specialists. The second is an old method, but still pretty good is better for smaller breeds of dogs, and generally less expensive generally less than $ 2000. However, in some cases can be performed by a veterinarian at home or traveling veterinarian with experience.
