A young person of whom I know is looking for a vet for ACL surgery on her dog. She has been quoted $3000 and probably cannot afford that so is shopping around for a cheaper price.
Does anyone have a recommendation of a vet whom she should call?
Thanks
I had ACL surgery on my German Shepard in the 90’s. Dr Max Easom in Lakeland is a great surgeon. Christina Animal Hospital.
Powers Drive Animal Hospital in Orlando Dr. Bacia. He did my lab and it was around $1,200. I have been using them for 30 years and drive 25 miles one way to go there. They are great. 407-295-4850.
You need to determine what type of surgery the dog needs. You can do a lateral suture for much cheaper but they can fail. Or you can do a TPLO which is more expensive and less likely to fail. The TPLO is a more serious surgery so calling for prices does you no good until you know which is best for your animal. Most general practices that do cruciate repairs do the lateral suture as it requires less tools and skill. Where as your orthopedic surgeons perform TPLOs as it involves cutting into the bone, so more skill and tools are needed.
I really don’t know more about the dog or the person than I posted. She is a friend of a friend and my friend mentioned it to me. I have sent her the responses and will continue to.
Thank you very much for the names of the vets and the information about the surgery. I get the sense that the dog’s owner wants to do the best for her dog but really needs to find the most economical way to do that. She’s a young person just starting out.
Might be worth asking how many TPLO’s that particular surgeon has done as well. While its always nice to price shop, sometimes you do get what you pay for (in terms of experience, post op pain management, failure rate etc). Also check on what is included after the surgery - as some places include all recheck fees in the initial cost (such as 8 week radiographs etc). Also, some places will do an arthroscopy to fix any meniscal tears, rather than surgically going into it - some feel its less invasive to the joint.
Depending on the tibial angle, a tightrope surgery may be an option too and is slightly cheaper. Not all dogs are candidates for this however. Lateral sutures are the cheapest of all, but have the highest failure rate in large dogs.
Around here, TPLO prices are around the 2800-3500 range.
Thank you. I passed the information along.
I passed the info to my friend who sent it on to her friend. I already heard back that she very much appreciates the information and wants to move forward. I’ll let you know if I hear back about any of it.
