Any advice for postoperative cruciate ligament surgery?

[Mindfullness]

My terrier is having cruciate ligament surgery this week. Is there any good after care things in need to know? Tia x

If you have hard floors, put down some rugs or non- slip vet bed.If he slips on a hard floor there's a risk he can do damage.
If he's not used to a crate get a doggy playpen. I thought that ddog was fairly immobile and zonked out on tramadol but when I left him alone for an hour he managed to climb on the sofa

For when the dog is not immediately post operative but can't go out for walkies, join the Canine Enrichment Facebook group and search key terms like crate rest for ideas to keep the mind occupied.

If he hasn't already been trained to accept a cone (even the inflatable ones), then spend some time building a positive association with one if you can, prior to surgery.

Good luck with the op. Our rescue staffie had hers done 12 weeks ago. We built a step for her to go out into the patio and tried (tried being the operative word) to always help her onto the sofa etc when she looked like she wanted to get up.we failed lots of times, she would suddenly launch herself at wherever she felt she wanted to go.

If second the view that getting non slip matts helped a great deal.

Our dear girl is just about over it, but she still likes a helping hand (or two) getting in and out of the car

My JRT just had his first walks off lead this weekend six weeks after his surgery.

He was crate trained already so that was a huge help. When he was in the house I’d pop him in the crate otherwise he’d try to jump straight back on the sofa. I also tied him up in the front garden for a change of scenery with a long lead but made sure he had water and shade and avoided the warmest times of the day.

Generally I was surprised at how chilled he was but he’s an older adult dog and has lower energy levels. I also gave him Zylkene which may have helped.

Hope everything goes well with your dog’s operation and recovery.

Thanks everyone for the tips. I have joined the enrichment group, which will be great as he will be so bored. He hasn't been out for weeks as he is almost lame :(
User147 and Booboo - thank you for your kind words. I am so glad your doggies are getting better :) xx

My 13 year old BT post cruciate ligament surgery back in March. I would just say watch your dog post op -ours got into the most unthinkably bendy positions just to try and get to her stitches, so she had to have two head cones - this is the extra big one... she’s all fine now and worth the post op whining and trying to get her to do her recovery exercises!

Just follow all the vets instructions to the letter, my dog has now had 2 failed cruciate surgeries on the same leg despite doing everything properly.

Is it worth doing the OP? I don't want to be controversial, but our 14 yo terrier recovered with 4 months just on house arrest and Metacam. A vet friend said it wasn't worth putting him through the stress of the OP and recovery, and sure enough, he's fine again. He's a 15kg mutt.

Thanks everyone. Cute pic just five more. He has had it done but it's been very traumatic. Fingers crossed it works x

Sympathies Mindful, it's horribly traumatic.

Our Lab had it three years ago and made a really good recovery. The worst thing was stopping him going upstairs.

I'm on week 4 post op and if you were to ask the dog he'd tell you he's been recovered from day 2.

This is 2nd surgery this year and he's definitely bounced back quicker this time at least with 1st leg he felt a bit sorry for himself for the first week.

We're day 4 post op. He's making good progress, putting weight on his leg and is keen to resume his little walks down the road (which we're resisting so far).
We're crating at night and when we're out as he loves the sofa. A couple more days and I think he'll be trying to jump on it.
Poor dog (19 months old) has many health issues so luckily he's used to hanging round the house lots.