TTA for cruciate

[LoobyLou2709]

Hi, Just wondering if anyone has experienced this op with their dog for a cruciate tear?

My dog ruptured hers and had the op 10 days ago, the wound is healing nicely, swelling and bruising has pretty much gone, but she is not putting any weight at all on it yet, I'm a terrible google searcher and most you tube videos of recovery show the dog bearing weight after 48 hours! As well as vet reviews etc, I know it's a long recovery process and am not rushing it in the slightest, but just thought by now she may be toe touching at least by day 10, she had a vet follow up at 5 days and she was happy with it, just wondering if anyone had experienced this op with the dogs? Be nice to hear other stories, :-)

[doodleygirl]

My girl had her op 12 months ago, in fact it was 12 months yesterday. She didn't put any weight on it for about 4 weeks, I was getting worried but my vet said we were mollycoddling her too much and had to let her walk some more. We were told not too let her jump on the furniture so we blocked the couch off and sat on the floor with her until she was allowed on the furniture.

The most difficult part was keeping her entertained, we invented lots of games she could do from her cushion that didn't include food as were paranoid she would put on weight and the vet had said we must keep her as lean as possible.

I will be honest her recovery was slower than I had anticipated, I would say she was fully recovered after about 8 months and she is back to normal now, although we no longer let her chase a ball as the vet told us not too.

my advice would be too take it easy and let your dog take the lead with how much she wants to do.

Good luck.

[fivedogstofeed]

Ddog is two years post TTA on both legs ( had the ops six weeks apart)
The vet said the big advantage was that they could weight bear pretty much immediately and this did turn out to be true for ddog, although his recovery to full fitness was painfully slow.

Is your dog still having pain relief?

[LoobyLou2709]

Thank you so much for your replies!

Exactly the reply I was hoping for Doodlygirl! Thank you, Shows I shouldn't google! I feel a lot more happier now reading this, I'm happy for it to take 8 months or more if needed, just nice to see a slight improvement now to know we are going in the right direction! I'll wait it out some more now, Throwing a ball is exactly how she did it to herself, so I think her ball throwing days are over! She's 9 so not old but I'd do anything just to be able to take her for a lead walk around the village now! Is yours happy to go off lead and have a good run around now 12 months on?

Fivedogs did your dog have complete ruptures? Wondering if this is why my dog is taking quite a bit longer, but I was expecting it be as you you say weight bearing quite quickly, she has another check up in 8 days so hopefully we'll have some improvement by then! How is your dog doing now?

[LoobyLou2709]

Sorry yes she is still on pain relief, she had a cocktail of drugs the first 5 days, now on something called metacam x

[fivedogstofeed]

Yes two complete ruptures :( Did the second one six weeks after the first. He is absolutely brilliant now, but it was a year before I thought he was really back to normal.
He's a big lad, 30kg and very fit so being confined was very tough on him. He did a lot of hydro which I think was important to getting him back to his old self.

[doodleygirl]

How are you getting on?

My girl is 9 as well. She is now running off lead, just back to normal. We are still cautious and only occasionally walk for longer than 1,5 hours, mainly 1 hour. I know it’s common for the other cruciate to go and I really want to avoid this if we can

[AbbieActon]

I hope the recovery is proceeding well. I've some more encouraging news for you, same as doodleygirl. My dog's over 10 now and had his TTA op 8 years ago. He runs about like a mad thing still, twisting and turning so much that I wince. So (and Christmassy topical!) "Here's to the future now..."

[Booboostwo]

My 10yo JRT had a tear in the spring. He had 6 weeks of complete rest, so in his crate with very short, on lead, toilet walks - he coped better than expected with this. He did not weight bear for the first 4 weeks and was very careful for the next 2 weeks. Six months later he is running about like a maniac, but the vet said there is a good chance he might do the other leg in the next 18 months.