NDL Forum

Been awhile since I've posted, but I've been lurking around, reading posts

I'll be brief. My dog started limping this morning out of the blue, took him to the vet, they say he has a torn ACL. He is a 2yr old, 16lb Yorkie.
Vet says surgery cost approx $3500.

Internet research is about 50/50 on whether or not to get the surgery. Some says they recover enough on their to function just fine, others paint a worse picture of tearing the other ACL and having bad arthritis.

Just wanted to know if anyone else has gone thru this with their dog and what the pro/cons were for those that did or didn't get the surgery.

Thanks for any help/advice.

Shea tore her ACL, I had surgery on the first one, 3500 bucks. A few months later she tore the other one from the compensation of walking without that first leg

She was 12 when that happened

She’s 15 now. Her knees fully recovered to the point she could run around like a puppy. But she does have arthritis these days. At 15 tho that’s probably expected

If I had to do it all over again, I still would have done it

Just realize the 2nd one tearing is like a 50-50 chance after the first one tears

I think Riccios dog did if I remember.

By the way interesting fucking topic to decide to come back to NDL for

But welcome back anyways!

Look at that timing!

I have a buddy who is in the midst of this. His dog tore one and had a partial in the other. They did the 1st one, and were about to do the 2nd when the covid hit. For awhile before the 2nd one went out, but after the first, he did say he was moving better

DRiccio21 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 03, 2020 9:27 pm By the way interesting fucking topic to decide to come back to NDL for

But welcome back anyways!

Haha! I read on the boards just about every day, I just haven't posted in a while. But I figured someone on here has dealt with this. Thx.

DRiccio21 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 03, 2020 9:27 pm Shea tore her ACL, I had surgery on the first one, 3500 bucks. A few months later she tore the other one from the compensation of walking without that first leg

She was 12 when that happened

She’s 15 now. Her knees fully recovered to the point she could run around like a puppy. But she does have arthritis these days. At 15 tho that’s probably expected

If I had to do it all over again, I still would have done it

Just realize the 2nd one tearing is like a 50-50 chance after the first one tears

Did you get surgery on the 2nd one as well?

yes got both surgeries.

its a recovery process for sure. i had to hold under her waist with a towel to support her as she walked and tried to shit and stuff. it takes time for them to get the strength back but it does get better.

we give her some chews now that are supposed to help her but not sure they do anything. her arthritis is pretty bad, we also give her meds for that. but again she's 15. a puppy i would assume would bounce back as good as new following the recovery process.

i should also say, despite my experience, i'm not expert. call around a few vets. google and browse thru forums with other peoples experience. don't take my word for it, but that was my experience.

My buddy tells a funny story about how he fucked his knee up in high school. Hurt like hell and unstable, for months his dad told him to walk it off. Finally got it fixed over a year later.

Fast forward to him being in med school, at which time the family dog tore it's ACL. Surgery was done a week later

I don't know anything about canines, but in humans, ACL tears aren't typically painful (outside of the initial trauma of course). It's usually an instability issue, not pain.

UPDATE: Took my dog to a pet surgeon for a consultation. Since my dog is small (16lbs) Dr. advised to wait 4-6 weeks to see how he recovers on his own to decide if he needs to have the surgery. He gave us some therapy type exercises to do with the dog to help strengthen his leg.

Thanks for the advice/comments from you guys. I'll go back to the Covid-19 board now!

Weasel wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2020 7:08 am I don't know anything about canines, but in humans, ACL tears aren't typically painful (outside of the initial trauma of course). It's usually an instability issue, not pain.

i played football with at worst a partially torn acl (went to rehab/docs but never got a mri or anything done).. you dont feel a thing til the adrenaline stops and then you got a balloon for a knee for a long ass time.