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Kept meaning to come on here to talk about our experience with this in case anyone else runs into the same issue. . . . lame on his rear right leg. . . .5 and . . . overweight. We confirmed he had tore his ACL . . . and the other leg went lame, sure enough tore the other one. It's believed he was putting too much weight on the other leg which is what cause the second issue.
For 3 weeks I slept on an air mattress in the living room with him to make sure he wouldn't try to get up and walk around, he'd have to be walked with a sling to go to the bathroom, eat, and just basic stimulation (it was as awful as it sounds, for him and us).
. . . we did . . . laser therapy and . . . water therapy.
Twice a week he'd go do one of those treadmills that half way fill up with water, this seemed to do wonders for him. The sessions were 30 mins, it kept the weight off the legs but help heal the ligament and build muscle for added support.
For 6 months we wouldn't let him go upstairs, jump on furniture and tried to avoid running, just took nice easy walks.
switched his food . . . to help him drop 10 lbs.
It's a year later, . . . keeping the weight off. . . .
Keeping the weight OFF is SO important! And being overweight is really dangerous for a dog's knees, when that dog LOVES to run! You don't need prescription food to get the weight down, just feed less! But whatever works for you is the best method for you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fedupwiththis
It's amazing how a beagle can be the best dog in the world and also the worst dog in the world at the same time.
Beagles are a breed with a very strong behavior component. They are very friendly and group tolerant, but they were bred to bark and trail, and they WILL do both. They were not bred for obedience and biddability. But sniffing and running and barking - it's in their blood. Asking them not to is like asking the sun not to rise.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Labonte18
My.. 10 year old collie mix was just diagnosed with a torn ACL.
I'm still debating what direction to go.. Spending $3-$5k on a 2011 model dog for surgery.. Not so sure about. . . . my vet, seems not ENTIRELY convinced she's torn the ACL. Had her sedated and he manipulated it last Friday and he said it was definitely loose compared with the left rear, but he didn't think it was horribly bad.
The recovery time for surgery is quite long.. She's a 50 pound dog (Not overweight).. And the ACLs seem to 'resolve' on their own, but lead to arthritis.. So, 6-8 weeks after injury, dogs are generally walking 'normally' on the legs again, from what I have read, but, you're speeding up development of arthritis.
There's a hospital in Richmond that does the ligament replacement for $1350. That's about 5 hours away from me, but.. Something I'm considering. Lower recovery time.
I'm also just considering a brace.
. . ..
I'm not happy with the "resolve on their own" statement, as it could be misleading if someone interprets it as "heal on their own". As for arthritis - that is in the dog's future, regardless of which methodology you go with. Post surgical arthritis prognosis is worse than non-surgical. And, the "ligament replacement" - oh - be VERY careful! If they REALLY mean ligament replacement, this is a very BAD method to try and assist the healing. It has a high failure rate. If they mean a lateral suture method, or any other of the currently common surgical methods, they are not "ligament replacements", and suitability depends VERY much on the individual dogs and circumstances. More on this later.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Normashirley
@Labonte18, Try the cold laser therapy at the vet clinic.
. . .
If it doesn’t help, you’re out whatever six sessions cost in your area. If it does help you saved a lot money and a lot of rehab time.
The vet who lasered my Rottweiler advised against surgery because A) I couldn’t afford 5K and B) The rehab time would have driven both the dog and me insane as we live on a farm. She would not have taken kindly to the other dog helping with chores and checking fences, while she would be confined to the house for weeks.
Cold laser therapy was one of my better judgement calls
I will guess, because the cold laser therapy worked for you, and what you said about rehab time, that your Rottweiler's tear was a partial tear. If it was a full tear, she would have likely been on restricted activity for more than "weeks". However, if she wasn't doing mileage, or mostly walking, with no jumping over logs, I could see how this might work for you. If you had a Border Collie, who would have to run and do all kinds of stuff while helping with the chores - no way. More on rehab time in a bit, but basically time from injury to 90% function is shortest with surgical methods.
Having done this twice now - gone through torn CCL with two dogs - and having done considerable research - I'm going to offer up some information, as there are some statements in those posts that are misleading. I've had dogs go through this with both non-surgical and surgical methods (both successfully). Hopefully I'll add enough so that future readers can make better informed decisions.
ACLs are the human ligaments. CCL is the canine, or feline, equivalent. I often say ACL myself, because people understand that immediately, where they don't get "CCL". But dogs don't have an ACL, so the beagle only tore the one ligament - until it tore the same ligament on the other leg.
Partial tear vs full tear: Fedupwiththis's beagle sounds like a full tear - the ligament was blown. Labonte18's collie mix sounds like a partial tear. This fits with their vet's observation. THE test for this is known as a "drawer" test. They anesthetize the dog, as the procedure would be extremely painful. Then they check to see how much fore and aft movement the joint has. A full rupture, and the joint bones will slide apart, like a drawer. Thus the name. Partial rupture, partial movement.
Healing methods: The CCL will not heal, not ever, not with ANY method - surgical or non-surgical. What CAN happen is you can strengthen the surrounding supportive tissues, or support the CCL function surgically. Surgically you do this by either inserting replacement material to take the CCL's stress, or by surgically redesigning the knee joint to change the stresses and put the CCL stress on adjacent supportive tissues.
Doing healing without surgery is known as Conservative Management, or CM. This is what Fedupwiththis did, even if they never knew what it was called. When doing CM, your goal is to form enough scar tissue to keep the knee stable, AND to strengthen and support the surrounding supportive tissues to enable them to at least partially absorb the stress load that the CCL can no longer support. Obviously, with a partial tear this should be the method of choice, as it is non-invasive.
Cold laser therapy and hydrotherapy are proven methods to aid recovery, both with CM, and with surgical methods. (Hydrotherapy is not swimming.) Braces are not. Using braces is controversial, as research does not show consistent results. However, braces are popular, and anecdotal testimonies are plentiful. What brace proponents agree on is that you should go the expensive, custom-fit brace option, or don't bother. Depending on the dog and the circumstances, I might be willing to give a brace a try, next time this comes up. In my opinion, though, the important thing to keep in mind, when using a brace, is that I would be trying to support the same sort of scar growth and soft tissue strengthening that I would be seeking with CM.
As for "resolving on their own": when a dog is left to make their own decisions about how to manage a CCL injury, they will probably get back to partial usage in 2-3 years. This is an un-managed version of CM. Or CM is a managed version of what would happen naturally. Some dogs will never recover sufficiently to play in the back yard, or do zoomies again, but they should see at least partial recovery. With my dog, a hound who loved to run, it took a few years, but she did build back to doing similar mileage as we did before the accident. That was, in my estimation, at about 75% usage. That was the non-surgical dog. During that time she had to be accommodated, and her leg protected from overt stress. In our case, I took a kiddie-cart behind a bicycle for our runs. She ran until she showed the 1st signs of fatigue, then got in the cart. Stairs were avoided when possible, or she was assisted. Ditto getting in a car. That went on for years.
CM or non-managed resolutions, take LONGER, considerably longer, for the dog to get back to "normal" activity than surgical methods. Obviously, "normal" depends on the dog and the activity. Presumably, one can use hydrotherapy and/or cold laser therapy to accelerate that somewhat. However, next time this happens, MY primary goal with either hydrotherapy or cold laser therapy would not be to accelerate the process, but to make sure the process worked as desired!
Surgical methods: TPLO is the current most accepted and prevalent in the US. I understand that TTA holds that spot in the UK, and some mix of that in Australia. Surgical methods are of two types: first is the lateral suture. Second are the osteotomies - the bone surgeries to restructure the knee joint. I do not mention what would seem most obvious to a lay person: a simple ligament replacement surgery. They are proven, so far, to be unreliable, with poor prognoses. New materials continue to be researched for this process, but so far, there is promise, but no joy. I have that straight from the mouth of the preeminent US researcher into these methods (Michael Conzemius).
The lateral suture comes in a few variants. There may be one suture, or multiple suture threads, or a manufacturer's custom cable. They are widely recognized as being best for small dogs. They all work by adding a bit of line, like fishing line, pinned through the bones, to add support to the joint and replace the CCL function. After a dog hits 35 lbs, the success ratio goes down. They are not generally recommended for large dogs or active dogs, due to high failure rates in both cases. Cost, compared to other surgical methods, is quite reasonable (last I heard, $1500-2,000).
Osteotomies: These redesign the knee joint to change the stress and allow the knee joint to function properly without the CCL. They are generally considered to be the best way to get active, or working, dogs back to being active.
The TPLO is the most radical and invasive, but also the most widely accepted as successful. The TPLO basically cuts the bone in two, repositions it, and puts a plate on it to hold it in place for healing. Healing time back to 90% usage should be in the range of 3-4 months. CM, in comparison, takes about a year, perhaps more, to get to the same place. However, a TPLO has the dog completely out of commission for a minimum of 6 weeks, and the pain is more than considerable. Once the bone heals, though, things are much better. Because my most recent CCL blowout was a working farmcollie, I decided on a TPLO. I could not have her out of work for 6 months to 2 years with CM, with no definite timeline. I might as well have just retired her completely, and she would have hated that.
The TTA also cuts the bone, but the cut is less complicated. A wedge is used to change the knee stresses and use the patellar tendon to replace the function of the CCL. This method is the most hardware-intensive, and this can lead to complications downstream (like bone overgrowing the hardware). Success is about the same as TPLO. Cost ditto.
However, there are some newer variants of the TTA that I think are highly promising. They have greatly reduced the hardware requirements, and used hardware that is "friendly" to the natural bone overgrowth that will occur. Partly because of the reduced hardware requirements, these newer variations are also much less invasive! That would translate to less pain and faster healing. One of these goes by the acronym MMP, but I forget the other I've run across (sorry!). Next time I have to go through this, I'll be looking very strongly at these!
The TPLO works, but is, in my opinion, hugely invasive. The TTA is hardly better, and has some complication issues that I felt knocked it out of contention. It is also not as readily available. The TPLO is so invasive that I was sorely tempted to try a lateral suture, but ALL the vets I trusted said not to. There was one, who was doing his own "proprietary" version of a lateral suture, but all the other vets agreed he was not to be trusted. AND, some other people I know. whom I respect as expert on these issues, also mistrusted this guy's motivations. And there were red flags that I saw, as well. So we didn't go there!
If I had a partial tear, I would certainly try hydrotherapy or cold laser therapy. I would be less likely to try a brace, but I might.
Keeping the weight OFF is SO important! And being overweight is really dangerous for a dog's knees, when that dog LOVES to run! You don't need prescription food to get the weight down, just feed less! But whatever works for you is the best method for you!
Beagles are a breed with a very strong behavior component. They are very friendly and group tolerant, but they were bred to bark and trail, and they WILL do both. They were not bred for obedience and biddability. But sniffing and running and barking - it's in their blood. Asking them not to is like asking the sun not to rise.
I'm not happy with the "resolve on their own" statement, as it could be misleading if someone interprets it as "heal on their own". As for arthritis - that is in the dog's future, regardless of which methodology you go with. Post surgical arthritis prognosis is worse than non-surgical. And, the "ligament replacement" - oh - be VERY careful! If they REALLY mean ligament replacement, this is a very BAD method to try and assist the healing. It has a high failure rate. If they mean a lateral suture method, or any other of the currently common surgical methods, they are not "ligament replacements", and suitability depends VERY much on the individual dogs and circumstances. More on this later.
I will guess, because the cold laser therapy worked for you, and what you said about rehab time, that your Rottweiler's tear was a partial tear. If it was a full tear, she would have likely been on restricted activity for more than "weeks". However, if she wasn't doing mileage, or mostly walking, with no jumping over logs, I could see how this might work for you. If you had a Border Collie, who would have to run and do all kinds of stuff while helping with the chores - no way. More on rehab time in a bit, but basically time from injury to 90% function is shortest with surgical methods.
Having done this twice now - gone through torn CCL with two dogs - and having done considerable research - I'm going to offer up some information, as there are some statements in those posts that are misleading. I've had dogs go through this with both non-surgical and surgical methods (both successfully). Hopefully I'll add enough so that future readers can make better informed decisions.
ACLs are the human ligaments. CCL is the canine, or feline, equivalent. I often say ACL myself, because people understand that immediately, where they don't get "CCL". But dogs don't have an ACL, so the beagle only tore the one ligament - until it tore the same ligament on the other leg.
Partial tear vs full tear: Fedupwiththis's beagle sounds like a full tear - the ligament was blown. Labonte18's collie mix sounds like a partial tear. This fits with their vet's observation. THE test for this is known as a "drawer" test. They anesthetize the dog, as the procedure would be extremely painful. Then they check to see how much fore and aft movement the joint has. A full rupture, and the joint bones will slide apart, like a drawer. Thus the name. Partial rupture, partial movement.
Healing methods: The CCL will not heal, not ever, not with ANY method - surgical or non-surgical. What CAN happen is you can strengthen the surrounding supportive tissues, or support the CCL function surgically. Surgically you do this by either inserting replacement material to take the CCL's stress, or by surgically redesigning the knee joint to change the stresses and put the CCL stress on adjacent supportive tissues.
Doing healing without surgery is known as Conservative Management, or CM. This is what Fedupwiththis did, even if they never knew what it was called. When doing CM, your goal is to form enough scar tissue to keep the knee stable, AND to strengthen and support the surrounding supportive tissues to enable them to at least partially absorb the stress load that the CCL can no longer support. Obviously, with a partial tear this should be the method of choice, as it is non-invasive.
Cold laser therapy and hydrotherapy are proven methods to aid recovery, both with CM, and with surgical methods. (Hydrotherapy is not swimming.) Braces are not. Using braces is controversial, as research does not show consistent results. However, braces are popular, and anecdotal testimonies are plentiful. What brace proponents agree on is that you should go the expensive, custom-fit brace option, or don't bother. Depending on the dog and the circumstances, I might be willing to give a brace a try, next time this comes up. In my opinion, though, the important thing to keep in mind, when using a brace, is that I would be trying to support the same sort of scar growth and soft tissue strengthening that I would be seeking with CM.
As for "resolving on their own": when a dog is left to make their own decisions about how to manage a CCL injury, they will probably get back to partial usage in 2-3 years. This is an un-managed version of CM. Or CM is a managed version of what would happen naturally. Some dogs will never recover sufficiently to play in the back yard, or do zoomies again, but they should see at least partial recovery. With my dog, a hound who loved to run, it took a few years, but she did build back to doing similar mileage as we did before the accident. That was, in my estimation, at about 75% usage. That was the non-surgical dog. During that time she had to be accommodated, and her leg protected from overt stress. In our case, I took a kiddie-cart behind a bicycle for our runs. She ran until she showed the 1st signs of fatigue, then got in the cart. Stairs were avoided when possible, or she was assisted. Ditto getting in a car. That went on for years.
CM or non-managed resolutions, take LONGER, considerably longer, for the dog to get back to "normal" activity than surgical methods. Obviously, "normal" depends on the dog and the activity. Presumably, one can use hydrotherapy and/or cold laser therapy to accelerate that somewhat. However, next time this happens, MY primary goal with either hydrotherapy or cold laser therapy would not be to accelerate the process, but to make sure the process worked as desired!
Surgical methods: TPLO is the current most accepted and prevalent in the US. I understand that TTA holds that spot in the UK, and some mix of that in Australia. Surgical methods are of two types: first is the lateral suture. Second are the osteotomies - the bone surgeries to restructure the knee joint. I do not mention what would seem most obvious to a lay person: a simple ligament replacement surgery. They are proven, so far, to be unreliable, with poor prognoses. New materials continue to be researched for this process, but so far, there is promise, but no joy. I have that straight from the mouth of the preeminent US researcher into these methods (Michael Conzemius).
The lateral suture comes in a few variants. There may be one suture, or multiple suture threads, or a manufacturer's custom cable. They are widely recognized as being best for small dogs. They all work by adding a bit of line, like fishing line, pinned through the bones, to add support to the joint and replace the CCL function. After a dog hits 35 lbs, the success ratio goes down. They are not generally recommended for large dogs or active dogs, due to high failure rates in both cases. Cost, compared to other surgical methods, is quite reasonable (last I heard, $1500-2,000).
Osteotomies: These redesign the knee joint to change the stress and allow the knee joint to function properly without the CCL. They are generally considered to be the best way to get active, or working, dogs back to being active.
The TPLO is the most radical and invasive, but also the most widely accepted as successful. The TPLO basically cuts the bone in two, repositions it, and puts a plate on it to hold it in place for healing. Healing time back to 90% usage should be in the range of 3-4 months. CM, in comparison, takes about a year, perhaps more, to get to the same place. However, a TPLO has the dog completely out of commission for a minimum of 6 weeks, and the pain is more than considerable. Once the bone heals, though, things are much better. Because my most recent CCL blowout was a working farmcollie, I decided on a TPLO. I could not have her out of work for 6 months to 2 years with CM, with no definite timeline. I might as well have just retired her completely, and she would have hated that.
The TTA also cuts the bone, but the cut is less complicated. A wedge is used to change the knee stresses and use the patellar tendon to replace the function of the CCL. This method is the most hardware-intensive, and this can lead to complications downstream (like bone overgrowing the hardware). Success is about the same as TPLO. Cost ditto.
However, there are some newer variants of the TTA that I think are highly promising. They have greatly reduced the hardware requirements, and used hardware that is "friendly" to the natural bone overgrowth that will occur. Partly because of the reduced hardware requirements, these newer variations are also much less invasive! That would translate to less pain and faster healing. One of these goes by the acronym MMP, but I forget the other I've run across (sorry!). Next time I have to go through this, I'll be looking very strongly at these!
The TPLO works, but is, in my opinion, hugely invasive. The TTA is hardly better, and has some complication issues that I felt knocked it out of contention. It is also not as readily available. The TPLO is so invasive that I was sorely tempted to try a lateral suture, but ALL the vets I trusted said not to. There was one, who was doing his own "proprietary" version of a lateral suture, but all the other vets agreed he was not to be trusted. AND, some other people I know. whom I respect as expert on these issues, also mistrusted this guy's motivations. And there were red flags that I saw, as well. So we didn't go there!
If I had a partial tear, I would certainly try hydrotherapy or cold laser therapy. I would be less likely to try a brace, but I might.
This is such a fantastic post, full of so much relevant information for this topic. THANK YOU for typing it all out. (And it also helps me feel better about finally going with TPLOs for our dogs, because they were full tears, and oh, did we weigh our options. But the dogs are SO stoic, so it's very important to emphasize what you said (about the surgical option): "the pain is more than considerable." Amen to that.)
Thank you again for writing this out, with all the nuances that people just blur over or don't pay attention to.
I'm not happy with the "resolve on their own" statement, as it could be misleading if someone interprets it as "heal on their own". As for arthritis - that is in the dog's future, regardless of which methodology you go with. Post surgical arthritis prognosis is worse than non-surgical. And, the "ligament replacement" - oh - be VERY careful! If they REALLY mean ligament replacement, this is a very BAD method to try and assist the healing. It has a high failure rate. If they mean a lateral suture method, or any other of the currently common surgical methods, they are not "ligament replacements", and suitability depends VERY much on the individual dogs and circumstances. More on this later.
I worded that very carefully to NOT say it would 'heal' on its own.
The lateral suture is what I am referring to(AKA ELSS?). It replaces the ligament with a fake ligament on the outside of the joint. that's the.. "Old" method of surgical repair. It's really been replaced by many vet surgeons by the TPLO/TTA options.. They say they are far more successful.. One thing that is certain.. They are FAR more expensive.
There's a vet in Richmond that will do the ELSS for $1350 all in. Of course, lateral suture is not especially recommended on larger or more active dogs. If they tore the original, not hard to believe they'd tear a replacement.
I worded that very carefully to NOT say it would 'heal' on its own.
The lateral suture is what I am referring to(AKA ELSS?). It replaces the ligament with a fake ligament on the outside of the joint. that's the.. "Old" method of surgical repair. It's really been replaced by many vet surgeons by the TPLO/TTA options.. They say they are far more successful.. One thing that is certain.. They are FAR more expensive.
There's a vet in Richmond that will do the ELSS for $1350 all in. Of course, lateral suture is not especially recommended on larger or more active dogs. If they tore the original, not hard to believe they'd tear a replacement.
And you did a good job, in my opinion, using the word "resolve" - because that is exactly what happens. But I think most people would read it, and mentally hear "heal". So I hope you don't mind that I went into some detail on some of the nuance involved.
Lateral suture - or Extracapsular lateral suture - yup - same thing. Thanks for clearing that up. There is at least one company making their own special version that is intended to be superior - stronger. They all use a suture, or a "cable" to wrap around the outside of the knee joint and support the joint the way the CCL used to. They are far cheaper, and far less invasive, but in practice, for larger dogs, just don't work all that well. Your Richmond vet's price sounds about what I'd pay around where I am, maybe a bit less.
This is such a fantastic post, full of so much relevant information for this topic. THANK YOU for typing it all out. (And it also helps me feel better about finally going with TPLOs for our dogs, because they were full tears, and oh, did we weigh our options. But the dogs are SO stoic, so it's very important to emphasize what you said (about the surgical option): "the pain is more than considerable." Amen to that.)
Thank you again for writing this out, with all the nuances that people just blur over or don't pay attention to.
You're welcome! Glad I could help somebody! The pain - yah. I had my leg torn in two in an automobile accident when I was young. I understand something about pain - and this operation puts it right up there for a week or two. But it heals quickly enough - even though that 1st month feels like forever when it is happening. After a month or a month and a half, things should be down to "normal" pain that aspirin (or your doggy equivalent) can handle. I, like a lot of other TPLO dog-parents, slept next to mine afterwards. There were a lot of midnight massages to ease the pain and stress.
Thank you for the wealth of information you posted. I'm printing it off and filing just in case. I don't currently have a dog with any issues, thank doG, but going thru this several years ago with my Frenchie, I do remember how grueling and painful it was for Wolfgang...and me.
OP, wishing a positive outcome for your pup. Fingers crossed.
My.. 10 year old collie mix was just diagnosed with a torn ACL.
I'm still debating what direction to go.. Spending $3-$5k on a 2011 model dog for surgery.. Not so sure about. Especially since they seem, at least my vet, seems not ENTIRELY convinced she's torn the ACL. Had her sedated and he manipulated it last Friday and he said it was definitely loose compared with the left rear, but he didn't think it was horribly bad.
The recovery time for surgery is quite long.. She's a 50 pound dog (Not overweight).. And the ACLs seem to 'resolve' on their own, but lead to arthritis.. So, 6-8 weeks after injury, dogs are generally walking 'normally' on the legs again, from what I have read, but, you're speeding up development of arthritis.
There's a hospital in Richmond that does the ligament replacement for $1350. That's about 5 hours away from me, but.. Something I'm considering. Lower recovery time.
I'm also just considering a brace.
She started out limping a bit for a week, off and on.. Then just went to three legging it last Wednesday evening. She's back to where she is putting some weight on it now. taking anti-inflammatories and joint supplements.. I wonder if it happened on the tile floor as well, because she just won't walk on tile. I've had to move her bowl out of the kitchen because she just won't walk on tile now.
We were told by 2 very well known vets in NJ that surgery is more likely to lead to worse arthritis which is why they don’t recommend it on dogs younger than 9. Both vets said the same thing. We have the money for surgery so that was never a real factor.
We were told by 2 very well known vets in NJ that surgery is more likely to lead to worse arthritis which is why they don’t recommend it on dogs younger than 9. Both vets said the same thing. We have the money for surgery so that was never a real factor.
Yup. The scientific studies tell us that surgery leads to worse arthritis than no surgery. However, if I recall correctly, a blown CCL, or even partial, means arthritis is more likely than if it hadn't happened at all.
I'm going to wind up taking her up to Charlotte (I'm in the Greenville, SC area, so not really that far) area for a consult with St Francis Animal Hospital
Faith is still not putting weight on it all the time and it's just not where she or I are happy.
However, the local hospital here only does the TPLO surgery.
St Francis offers the "Tightrope" procedure, which is basically an updated version of the ELS. They talk a bit about it on their site
Basically, they drill two holes into the femur/tibia and use 'replacement' ligaments to restore stability.
Much less invasive, much less recovery time. Cost is slightly less.
Going to discuss with them.. Right now, it seems to me this is the way to go. If she was 3.. Hey, the TPLO might make sense.. But a dog that's approaching 11 years old I don't think they need the stress/recovery of having their bones ground down.
Regarding the "Tightrope" (trademark) procedure: the osteo vet I used told me she tried them for a while when they first came out, and wasn't happy. She was sufficiently unhappy that she completely discontinued doing them at all.
You would be right to ask "why?". I asked her, and she said she had too many follow-on issues. Cables fraying where they contact bone, creating ideal surfaces for infection, etc. I've heard of vets not being thrilled because the "button" that hold one end where they drill the hole in the bone, pulled through the bone. Now, here's the rub, afaic, all these reports of issues coming from vets are anecdotal. They aren't science. However, one also has to consider that these vets ARE experts, and so experience counts for something, right? But just how much does it count for, I can't say.
So, the Tightrope got a lot of fanfare when it came out, and landed flat. It's not particularly popular with the vets. As near as I can tell, it's because there are a lot of those vet anecdotes that say the TightRope didn't work as well as advertised. Like I said - they are anecdotes - individual stories about experiences. They could be biased. Last I checked, the science hadn't been done sufficiently long-term to say yea or nay on how good it is. You'll find plenty of people who claim it's because the vets make more money on the TPLO. And, they DO charge a lot more, but they don't necessarily make more money. The osteo vet I used had this to say on that: she could do lateral sutures all day long, and do 5 times as many as TPLOs, and make more profit (percent) on each one. A TPLO is also expensive for the vet - anesthesia costs more, hardware costs more, tools cost more, the school investment is more expensive, etc. So, all in all, if she wanted to make more money, and that was her main goal, she'd just be doing lateral sutures. That's what she told me, and frankly, I believe it. All my research tells me that was all true.
At 10 or 11, a collie mix may not be all that old, depending on bloodlines. Working bloodline collies often live to 15 or more, and can be useful up until the last year or two, although they might slow down a little before. Regardless, I hear ya about the cost of the surgery compared to the remaining life expectancy.
Based on what you've said, I would be seriously engaging in what they call Conservative Management for the injury. From what your vet says, it sounds like the CCL isn't 100% blown, so the TPLO should be out of consideration anyway, IMO.
Here's what I did with my hound. When she was really hurting, at first, I gave her some forced time off. No runs, no walks. She was allowed in the yard. She kept wanting to go running when we went, so I put a kiddie-trailer behind my bike. (I ride my bike while the dogs run.) At first she went less than a mile and started to show signs of soreness. The very 1st second she did, I popped her into the kiddie trailer. And, then I finished the route for the healthy dog. She was happy at that point to just ride along. Over a couple of years, she worked back up to running the whole distance (2.5-3 miles). That leg was never 100%, but it was good enough most people didn't notice that she favored it. When she got in the car, I used to pick her up, and not let her jump in. For some while, I used to assist her getting up and down the stairs, too. It wasn't that hard to do.
I suppose I was lucky in our setup, that I have a place to ride my bike and let the dogs run off-leash. And the course is flat, so the trailer was an easy thing. Just slower.
If your collie mix isn't a working dog, I'd think the TightRope might work well enough. If it were me, though, I wouldn't be looking to have her work or participate in any dog sports (agility, etc.) afterwards. Strictly a pet's life afterwards, with an emphasis on staying in shape.
Last edited by hiero2; 04-22-2022 at 06:32 PM..
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