Dog question

ken brydson

This may be a longshot but me sweet Abby is having problems. She is a 6 1/2 yr old sheppard/lab mix. Really having trouble getting around. I originally thought arthritis or hip problems. We took he to the vet and they said she had a torn ligament in one of her back legs. They gave us a couple options for surgeries, 1 at $2K and the other at $3500. Reading some different things online regarding these proceedures. Some say with rest it will heal on it's own but she seems to be getting worse. Others say don't do it as it's 90% profit to the vet which is why they suggest it. It's basically like the ACL in a human. I had mine repaired. I don't understand whay it would be so much more drastic on a dog.

I'd sure appreciate any insight from anyone with a similar experience. Thanks, it's killing me to see her suffering like this....

thsmith

Ken, I would check Angie's List for recommendations. Not all Vets will charge that much. Because of her age I doubt it will get better. Our little dog that was less than a year had the same thing but appears to have healed but I think that is because of his age.

Good luck, a tough call for sure.

codyc1ark

I can tell you that my moms labradoodle had what sounds like a similar option a few years ago. She did the surgery route, it seemed like a pain in the **** but Huckleberry is all good now, six month recovery IIRC. Good luck man, I feel for you.

heartystatue

Ken, I dont know what part of the country you live in but I do know if you are in the heart of a big city the cost is always ridiculous. Try calling outside the city and you will find it is much cheaper. I know having an animal in pain really pulls at your heartstrings. Good luck.

dracoskeeper

That seams really high. For that breed they should be able to repair the ligament. My Bulldogge was 2,700$ because with Olde's they will only get 12-16 months on a repair so they have to rebuild the whole knee and do a realignment!!! My brothers dog cost 1,100 for the repair and he got 6 years out of it before his dog passed from other issues. The hardest part is after surgery you have to keep them from ruining the surgically repaired knee(i.e. no stairs,jumping,running). So I took three weeks off and carried around a 86lb beer keg with three legs! It is a trying process but my Dia was only 6 and she is now almost 9 and doing great. Good luck!!

Oldfatdogs

Hello Ken, will your girl swim? If she will it might be good therapy without too much stress on her leg.
I know how helpless we can feel when somethings wrong with our four legged friends.You might try a google search on holistic treatments for her.

Hope this helps Dan

tonyb

I went down this road 2 years ago with my GS. The cost they quoted you is about right, mine was 3200 I believe. Here's the jist, look all you want but very few will do a blown ACL on a big dog. More seem able to do so on smaller dogs rather than larger ones. Don't know why but thats the case. Also, and this is important, get an x-ray of the dogs stomache area too. If the dog is bleeding internally, thats a whole nutha ball game and one that will force you to put her down, sad as it is. If you elect to do the ACL surgery, do not, I repeat...DO NOT let them give the dog Ramaydl. I think thats how you spell it anyway. 3 class action suits on this drug killing dogs and they still prescribe it. When you get the dog home after surgery, be prepared to keep them still, and on leash outside.....even if your yard is fenced, for a good month. No stairs inside, no jumping around getting all excited. You and your family have to make some big adjustments.

Another consideration is, once one ACL goes, the other isn't long after. It's in the natural order of things for all creatures, ourselves included, that when one limb is damaged you shift your weight to the other even after the damaged one has healed. Just be prepared is all I'm saying. You have to weigh the costs against putting the dog down. She's still fairly young and could have alot of good years left in her but your wallet may only be so deep.

I know this sucks man, and I'll send out a prayer your way.

ntculenuff

i have done both back legs on my american bulldog mix one when she was 3 the other a year later it was about 3k a leg ( this was in boise,ID) the best vet i know. it was the best thing we did for her. she is now just over nine and you would never know except for scars that she had them. The TPL surgery is expensive but she is our baby. also like oldfatdogs said if she will swim that is great for them. just ease her into the exercise so she doesn't hurt herself. i found a great k9 therapist here in phoenix that was of great help when my Zoi got valley fever and started limping real bad.

Oldfatdogs

Tony thanks for bringing this up,my vet had given me a prescription for my dogs arthritis.I have only given it to her twice,I'm gonna have to do some searching.
Thanks

tonyb

Oldfatdogs wrote: »

Tony thanks for bringing this up,my vet had given me a prescription for my dogs arthritis.I have only given it to her twice,I'm gonna have to do some searching.
Thanks

Just google that drug pal. There's some attorneys in Florida working on yet another class action suit against this drug. Some dogs it does seem to help, others it kills them. There is a generic form which is safer, but vets don't prescribe it for some reason. Believe me pal, I went a few rounds with everyone involved in the care of my dog when I found this out.

Oldfatdogs

I just did a quick search,time to go the natural way.I wont give her those again,also will be talking to the vet.
Sorry to derail Ken.

ntculenuff

when Zoi got valley fever i started her on joint max triple strength treats after about a month she seemed to be moving a little easier. picked them up from entirelypets.com

Jimbo18

Our ten yr old dachshund has been on Rimadyl for about two years and it has helped her tremendously. She couldn't climb stairs without struggling and about a week after starting it, she was running around like a pup again. She has to have blood work once or twice a year to check for liver damage, I think, and she is a small dog, which seems to make a difference with this drug, but we would have a hard time taking her off it now.

From the little bit I read on it, it seems like it's one of those drugs that will either hurt the dog quickly, that is, have negative side effects, or they tolerate it okay. Having said that, I didn't know about all the effects before she started taking it, or I might have asked for other options also.

That's Lucy with her "puppy".

TurboGTU

My 6 year old black lab Jack has been dealing with a torn acl for about 6 months now. We have him on joint supplements to try to build up the scar tissue and stabilize the knee for him. We unfortunately have no chance of being able to afford the surgery for him, so we are having to try it the natural way. My vet says he has seen many dogs live a long and healthy life with a bad acl. He also said the cheaper of the 2 surgery's is not worth it in the large breeds and the band that they put in gets too much stress and brakes, the more expensive operation they actually reshape the joint so it doesn't slip and cause as much discomfort. We were quoted $2400 for the more expensive option, and about $1200 for the other.

ntculenuff

we used carecredit. we keep the card around for big emergencies with Zoi. What is nice is dentist except it also which has been a benefit for me. we also used it when my wife got lasic eye surgery.

ratster

Oldfatdogs wrote: »

Tony thanks for bringing this up,my vet had given me a prescription for my dogs arthritis.I have only given it to her twice,I'm gonna have to do some searching.
Thanks

Best help I have found for arthritis is a grain free food such as Blue Freedom or Taste Of The Wild. It's expensive compared to Pedigee etc. but it helped my boxer quite a bit.

Ken,one of my boxers has had ACL surgery on both legs and she is like a pup once again. Other than cost,the worst part is the recovery. Like others have said it is very time consuming and has a lot of restrictions starting out. But,in my experience it was money well spent. I'm sure you already know that it's Ok to question your vet and get a second opinion.Best of luck to you and your pup.

tonyb

TurboGTU wrote: »

My 6 year old black lab Jack has been dealing with a torn acl for about 6 months now. We have him on joint supplements to try to build up the scar tissue and stabilize the knee for him. We unfortunately have no chance of being able to afford the surgery for him, so we are having to try it the natural way. My vet says he has seen many dogs live a long and healthy life with a bad acl. He also said the cheaper of the 2 surgery's is not worth it in the large breeds and the band that they put in gets too much stress and brakes, the more expensive operation they actually reshape the joint so it doesn't slip and cause as much discomfort. We were quoted $2400 for the more expensive option, and about $1200 for the other.

Yep, that surgery with the band, don't bother. A friend had a Lab that he did that one with, it broke and he had to pay for the surgery again.

Dogs are like our kids, when it comes to medical attention, cost isn't a consideration for me anyway.

Some dogs are more prone to the negative side effects of Rimadyl. Some get by just fine using it too. But the amount of dogs it kills is just way out of proportion to what many would consider a legitimate risk factor. It blows up the inside organs and the dog bleeds out. I just don't get if a less risky generic is available, why are they still prescribing this drug.

ratster

tonyb wrote: »

Dogs are like our kids, when it comes to medical attention, cost isn't a consideration for me anyway.

This right here sums it up.

drumminman

My 75 pound 6 year old staffordshire terrier came down with some type of tick borne disease that never showed in the pcr bloodwork. His symptoms indicated lyme disease, though, which can cause recurring joint pain and inflammation. Recently he started limping badly again and the vet prescribed another 6 week course of doxycycline (an antibiotic) thinking that he was having another flare of the lyme dx.

WHen I went to get it filled the cost had increased on this generic drug over 16 fold! So the vet suggested I try fish oil. I started with two grams (two gel caps) twice per day, increasing to four after 4-5 days.

The effect was almost instantaneous. Within 24 hours of the first dose I could tell he was moving better. Now at the end of the day he leads our other two dogs outside in the ever present quest for squirrels, deer, possums and what ever else is out there. He rarely has difficulty jumping on our bed or running down the deck stairs.

Fish oil won't do much for a ligament tear, but it's amazingly effective for arthritic type pain.

gdb

If I ever needed to, I wouldn't hesitate to sell my audio set-up and every other non-essential thing to help my dog. 3 grand is cheap enough, considering what's at stake, IMO.

EndersShadow

gdb wrote: »

If I ever needed to, I wouldn't hesitate to sell my audio set-up and every other non-essential thing to help my dog.

Agreed! The music of my dog's panting and barking is better than my audio system anyday.

ken brydson

Thanks all for your suggestions and concerns. I had someone on FB suggest that they had a vet that did laser treatments for this with good success. Anyone with experience with this proceedure?

ken brydson

Here's my baby...

shawn474

Ken, our 14 year old jack Russell has a torn acl. The vet said that it was up to us to fix it or not. Getting her recommendation and others we decided against doing it for a couple reasons. 1. She is pretty old and has had trouble waking up from anesthesia in the past. That pretty much made our decision. 2. For her, she is old and not able to run around like she used to. Doesn't play ball or run around with the kids anymore. She is just a sweetheart lap dog who soaks up the attention. She does play with the puppy that we rescued but knows how to put him down when it's time she has had enough.

Honestly, most days you would never tell that she has the injury. The medicine for pain long term has some potential bad effects on the liver and kidneys if I recall, she doesn't use it at all. Only time we notice it is if she jumps up on the bed sometimes she will wrench it and limp for a minute.

boston1450

Ken i hope your dog gets well soon. We that do have pets love them and they become part of our family. I was making appointments for our 2 little guys yesterday and cost has skyrocketed but there worth it..so many people are forced to get rid of there animals because they cant afford them. Especially elderly. Its sad.....

boston1450

When one of our dogs had some leg issues my wife gave him some of her RELIV that my wife uses daily and it helped out alot. So if any RELIV users out there. Try it between vet visits. Especially arthritis

EricFromMich

As most you you said my dogs are my life. I have one that has vertigo, one with bad hips and one with some sort of tare in the leg, they are all seniors 9 plus years. The best thing I've found (by "I" I mean wife) is a raw diet and medacam it comes in liquid and pill (much cheaper). I'm not saying its for ever one but as gross and pain it is to give them raw, I'll never feed by food kibble again.

I wish you the best luck what ever way you go. Have they check for a Thyroid issue's? it helped my big boy with bad hips out to get around easier.

ken brydson

Update- Did the surgery on Wednesday. Vet said it went well. She is starting to get around better, even putting some weight on it. Now for the rehab....

Oldfatdogs

Hey Ken,I'm glad your Abby is gonna be alright.
Dan

drumminman

Good luck to you and Abby! Hope she heals quickly and completely.

headrott

Great news Ken! Glad the surgery went well and you she's getting around a litte better.