Cruciate Ligament tear!

[Paul Schumacher]

Our 8 mo. old Zoe had a little too much fun playing with other dogs at the park today.  She wiped out hard and came up limping.  Just got back from vet, who is 80% sure she has a partial tear in cruciate ligament.  For now, she is on anti-inflammatory medicine and rest (no running, no stairs, no off-leash) until we reevaluate in 2 weeks. 

Has anyone dealt with this in their doodles?  Specifically puppies?  We are hoping to avoid surgery, and at her age, surgery isn't an option yet anyway.  She isn't finished growing.  Hope to hear some who have encountered this and had successful recovery without surgery.

Thanks!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Is Zoe a mini or standard?  The reason that I ask is that the self repairs without surgery are normally more successful on smaller dogs.  Our Lucy 82 lbs, had the CCL surgery (suture repair) a couple years ago.   We played the resting game for quite a while and while she would get better she would then get lame again.  The surgery and recovery is quite lengthly, but she is doing much better.  We are worried about the other knee though as they say normally when one goes the other one will go as well.  I still worry every time I let her out the door.  

[Paul Schumacher]

Zoe is a medium-- she's 30 lbs now, we expect she would max out between 30 and 35.

[Leslie J]

Poor Zoe! By the way, she sure looks like Cocoa's long lost cousin! Cocoa had a partial tear in February. We really limited her activity- contained her in the family room, covered the floors with area rugs so she wouldn't have to walk on the hardwood floors, and made the kids remain very calm in the house. We took her on short walks to go potty- never off leash. We carried her up stairs (all 44 lbs. of her) and lifted her into the car for vet appointments. We did all of this for three months, just to be safe Fortunately, she didn't have to have surgery- at least yet. I guess once torn, there is always an increased risk.
I hope Zoe heals quickly!

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

This is going back 14+ years but my golden retriever started favoring her back leg when she was around 3. We would rest her, and it would get better. But by the time she was 4 it got to the point that we knew we had to do something. She ended up having TPLO surgery due to a torn cruciate. It was truly a looong recovery period (3 months) but she was back to her old self and never had a problem after that. The surgeon said she would probably end up with arthritis but it never happened... in that knee. Her front legs got arthritis as she got older.

Hopefully you won't have to go through any of this. Zoe is young and hopefully it will heal on it's own.

Good luck

[Paul Schumacher]

Thank you all for these responses.  We are resting her for the next 8-12 weeks in hopes the scar tissue around the partial tear will provide enough support for her to get back to normal without surgery.  

[Stella]

A partial year will often go on to become a full tear at some point. And, yes, if they have torn one they will nearly always go on to tear the other. Smaller dogs (less than 20lb) can come times get away without surgery, larger ones are better to get it done. Without surgery, the joint is unstable and will likely develop arthritis much sooner. Is there a canine rehabilitation therapist near you (assuming you are in the USA?)? It would be a good idea to see one as they can give you exercises to do to improve her strength and balance which will help to protect the joint. All resting does is weaken the muscles, making it more likely she will injure herself again in the future.

[Paul Schumacher]

Yes we are going to take her to a good rehab place near us.  That is good advice, thanks.

There seems to be a lot of controversy about whether electing conservative/non-surgical treatment in a partial tear actually increases the likelihood of arthritis.  I've heard some surgeons say it does while others say it doesn't.  And there are tons of conflicting pieces of information on the internet.  

 I'd be curious to hear any first hand experiences from people on the board.

[Stella]

I am a people physiotherapist also working in canine rehabilitation. I think that with of without surgery, arthritis is inevitable (just as it is in people), but it will happen sooner without surgery. Many people tear their. ACL and do well without surgery, after doing lots of rehab, but people are able to be mindful of what they are doing, sadly dogs are not!! There is no harm in trying conservative treatment for a while, and the stronger she is the better the surgical outcome will be if you go down that route.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

No first hand experience, but I am hoping for a full recovery without surgery. Sorry this has happened at such a young age.

[Paul Schumacher]

I wanted to update this thread in hopes that it would be useful for anyone experiencing this down the road with their own doodles.

After 6 weeks of conservative treatment, Zoe had her followup today at the vet.  The vet could not replicate the previous drawer test, which means the shin bone no longer moves in front of the thigh bone.  This is progress.  She also said she could feel no fluid in joint, and that the muscles in both legs felt equal.  Of course this is subjective, but often times one leg gets noticeably atrophied, so this is also a good sign.  We are going to continue to ease Zoe back into everything, but so far, so good.

After the injury, Zoe was putting weight on the leg 24 hours latter and acting normally.  This leads me to believe the tear was only a partial tear, but I have no way of knowing.  There was laxity in her knee and the "drawer test" was positive, meaning her joint wasn't stable as her shin could move in front of her knee.  We kept her quiet.  Only off leash inside our home, and even then if she started to get rowdy, we'd put her on a leash.  No jumping, no stairs, no running to start.  After about 2 weeks, we gradually started to increase the distance of her walks.  We'd watch her closely each day we increased either the distance of walks or if we added in some neighborhood hills to see if any limping, reluctance to get up or other signs pointed to her being in pain.  Over the last week or so, we added in a couple of stairs for her to do and have moved back to her normal walking distance.  We get her up to a trot, but not full on running yet.  So far so good.  

If it's helpful for anyone who might come across this thread, we followed this website's instructions almost to a T.  I found the entire website very informative about doggie CCLs and ACLs.  http://tiggerpoz.com/id3.html

Fingers crossed it continues to go well and we are able to avoid surgery.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This is very good news, Paul. Zoe is lucky to have such devoted and dedicated owners. 

It would be very helpful to have this information in the Health Group as well as here in the main forum. Do you think you could post it in a discussion there? Maybe call it "Conservative Treatment for a Cruciate Ligament Tear" and post the most recent info that you just posted above, with a link to this discussion. Or however you want to do it. 

[Paul Schumacher]

sure thing!