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Anterior Cruciate Ligament tears.
There are two different tears.
One is a partial tear and the other is a complete tear. These tears fall
into two categories, acute (immediate) and chronic (ongoing).
First, let's talk about partial
tears. A partial tear (PT) is one that a dog can recover from without
undergoing surgery. The thing about PTs is that they either heal or
further down the line they tear completely, at which time your dog will require surgery
to stabilize the knee. Another deleterious aspect
to the partial tear is that the dog will compensate for the injury by using its
other leg, bearing more weight on it, which will cause degeneration in that knee and hip
if there is no serious and committed intervention by the owner.
What can the owner do in the
case of a tear? Two things are vital. First, the dog needs to be crate rested
and this must be adhered to STRICTLY.
The dog MUST be CRATE RESTED.
If you aren't going to be committed to this aspect, please stop reading and go
stock up on arthritis medicine for your dog--he'll be needing it.
Ligaments are notoriously slow healers. They do not have
good blood flow
to carry the necessary nutrients for fast healing. In short, letting a dog
play and rough house while injured is plain irresponsible
ownership. Just because you are too weak to not give in to sad eyes, your
dog will pay the price. Secondly, the dog needs to be supplemented with Glucosamine and
Chondroitin. The absolute best source of this is Cosequin DS.
I'm not a mean person but far too many people can't grasp that not giving into
your dog's sad face now will save him from years of pain as he ages. I
looked away almost constantly when my dog was injured, and he recovered from a
complete tear, fully; eight years later, he is not even remotely arthritic at
twelve. Except for the four months of crate rest he has had full use of
his legs, without pain.
Some vets will suggest an
anti-inflammatory or a cox 2 inhibitor. Unless it is medically necessary
(i.e. the inflamed tissue is damaging the joint further) neither drug should be
given and the dog should be allowed to be in pain. It sounds awful, but
there are excellent reasons for this.
To ascertain the
reason, look into the dog's future. I think a dog would rather spend a few
weeks in pain rather than a life of pain. Pain is Nature's way of saying
REST THYSELF. Because of pain, a dog healing
will be less active, more stationary, and will heal more completely and permanently. And the
trade-off of removing the dog's pain is really poor: not only do you risk a greater chance of your
dog getting reinjured, but the anti-inflammatory you just gave him can easily damage his
renal or hepatic system, or, kill him. Dogs do not handle NSAIDs very well at all;
NSAIDs can even kill cats in one dose. I highly urge you to never use
Rimadyl on your dog. My dog has damage to his renal system that causes him
to have PD/PU (polydypsia/polyuria--i.e he drinks alot and pees alot) and I have
spent over a thousand dollars to find out he is healthy except for this odd PD/PU...which
started at the time he was first given Rimadyl over 8 years ago. On an
email list, I just found out a dog died from Rimadyl and her starting symptoms
were precisely what my dog went through (same breed) even though the drug
manufacturer states its mostly hepatic, not renal, issues. Regardless,
there are many holistic remedies that can be used that are far safer and have
less toxic aftereffects. I wish I knew this then.
Back to the topic: A complete tear requires
surgical intervention by a specialist. (If you have a practitioner perform
the surgery, understand that you chance greater risk of a less than desirable
result, so get referrals. There is a reason why some vets are cheaper than
others. It's my opinion that "shopping around" is not a good idea; going
with the vet with the strongest referrals is a good idea.) Once the surgery is
performed, the dog MUST be crate rested, with NO stairs, no jumping, nothing.
This is the first two weeks of
his return to the home:
Exercise schedule for the dog
undergoing surgery:
Week 1:
PROM
every day 3x
Bag of frozen peas applied to surgery site 3x (ice packs should never be applied
for more than 15 minutes)
Walking a lap around your house 1x
(PROM is Passive Range of Motion--if you have a PT or OT in the circle of
friends/family, have them
demonstrate the technique for you).
What
...a bag of peas?? Frozen peas are the BEST cold packs you can buy
and they are cheap too. Apply these after ANY exercise your
dog completes.
Week 2:
PROM
every day, 3 x
Walking lap around house 2 x per day (if your dog's
limping becomes worse stick with 1 lap)
Bag of peas 5x (15 min max per application)
Week 3:
PROM 3x
Building laps up slowly, remember, BABY STEPS! 3-5x
Peas (15 min max per application)
And so on. In between these therapy sessions
your dog ought to be in his crate resting and healing. You MUST protect
the good leg at all costs so that he does not blow that knee out due to the
compensation he will place on it. The absolute worst case scenario is when a dog has two blown
knees.
Also, all tears that need surgery should have
surgery performed within no more than 5 days of the tear. The reason is simple: the meniscus remains
undamaged and has less build up of scar tissue, which in turn helps the cruciate
heal faster. Chronic cruciate tears are a train wreck.
I suggest strongly that you do not hesitate to
contact your vet immediately and see what options are available to you and your
dog. Your vet is your best source of up to date information on this.
I also have never had a vet take an xray of the knee since ligaments don't show
up well on xray film. But many others tell me their vets do do this.
(WHY??)
What my vet has done is sedate
the dog and attempt a drawer of the joint. A drawer is the one immutable
sign a dog has injured its knee. A drawer negates the need for an xray.
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