Dog version of ACL tear

carolinamom2boys
Sat, 09 Jul 2016 14:53:03 +0000

We have an Australian Shephard who sustained a complete tear of her right CCL and had a previous partial tear of her left CCL in the Spring of 2015. She fell down 15 steps chasing my neighbor’s cat that was on our porch. I was devastated to have a healthy, agile but aging dog become a completely dependent , painful pet in the course of minutes . We were faced with some terrible decisions.

You are correct that surgery is extremely expensive. Our primary vet at the time gave us quite a bit of inaccurate info and pressed hard to surgery on both legs. We knew that while we love our dog very much, that was a financial stretch that we couldn’t afford with a rising senior and college looming . My friend recommended her vet who is the vet for our local PD’s canine unit. He re xrayed both legs , recommended surgery for the complete tear and leave the partial tear alone. We elected to follow through with the surgery. Our dog had restrictions for approx 2 months and was allowed to ease back into activity . She has occasional flare ups with pain and decreased mobility, but they are easily managed with medications for a day or two. She is not quite her old self, but still a very functional, lovable dog.

My questions to the vet would be 1. How serious is the tear? 2. What happens if we elect not to have the surgery? You may also want to seek a second opinion.
Good luck to you and your dog.