Hi All

Some of you may have read my posts a month or so ago when my sheltie ruptured some ligaments in her hock on Boxing Day (she was xrayed and that was the diagnosis).

Our vet (an orthopaedic consultant) has prescribed rest and restricted exercise.  First of all she was in a pen and now she is having short lead walks and a little exercise off lead.  Now about 5 or 6 weeks has elapsed she is still quite lame (but she is a game little gal and wants to do more than she should - that's shelties!!). The vet is in a dilemma - shall we leave her to heal "naturally" or go for major surgery - which is what the operation is - involving screws and pins etc.  After several weeks I feel I cannot put her through that op - it seems like a backward step.  I don't know whether she will ever get back to what she was (loved her obedience training etc) and I don't want her to limp for the rest of her life.  She is on a strict diet to lose some weight too! Poor little soul I feel her life has so chan ged.

Has anyone expererience of this sort of injury.  Regarding the op the vet says there are no guarantees - so she might end up the same as now.

I would appreciate views from anyone who has gone through this.

Thanks

snowflake

To be honest I don't know what the answer is as I'm in the exact same position, slightly diffent reason why my dog is lame but.. I did opt for sergery and though it should of had a high success rate it didn't work and the dog (a 9 month old puppy) is more lame than before he had the operation :(.

The dog really enjoys walks, plays with the others but does limp and struggles on normal walks and we are 4 months on.

Sorry to hear that things aren't going as well as you would have liked Snowflake.

Our young LM had this injury late August and has only just gone to have some time off lead.  I did reply to your original post some time ago with more detail.

Donna

I've nursed a few cruciate ops (none of my own)  and each time was told that it was 2 months complete cage (not a pen to be able to walk and turn around) rest and only on the lead into the garden for the toilet afterwards.

That is so difficult for many dogs that if I had a dog in that situation I would cage rest for 8 weeks before to try to avoid the operation.  :(

I haven't (although I got close to this after one of my Bassets managed to injure herself going down stairs .... my fault!).   Surgery was booked, but after I took her in, the vet checked her again and opted not to do the surgery - complete rest instead and she recovered with no further problems

My neighbour had cruciate ligament surgery done on a Large Munsterlander she had.   It wasn't successful - but then idiotically, she had him out on exercise WAY too soon after the surgery.   The poor lad was forever on 3-legs after that.   It might have been different had she been more sensible with his recovery however.