HI
Just need some advice please. I have an 11 year old lab, with three legs and we now think she has damaged her cruciate ligament on the one remaining back leg!! I have taken her to the oncologist (cancer) vet that she goes to (lost leg to bone cancer 2.5 years ago) every three months for check ups, extremely worried as was concerned bone cancer had come back as she suddenly started walking differently and standing on just her front legs from time time. She was xrayed on all joints and bloods done, and is still cancer free, but the vet is almost positive she has done her cruciate ligament injury. I have extreme confidence in my vet and she in now looking for the 'best' orthapedic vet she can as she knows we cannot mess about with this. What I really want to know is the recovery period from this, anything I should be doing to help her etc, I know it is going to be difficult as she needs strong muscles to support her back end and inforced inactivity will lead to muscle wastage etc but know this is probably going to have to happen, I do swim her and will continue as long as the vet is happy with this. The only good thing is that xrays have shown she has little to none arthritis at the moment. It is hard to keep her still even now she wants to be up and about so I am having to 'cage' her most of the time which I hate but.......... So any advice welcome please

Hi my 3 yr old staffie had a crucite op and knee surgery in april but his ligament had completly ruptured so he had to have the op. The recovery period is very slow 3-6 months but he was completly lame on the leg for 2 weeks which could be a prob for your dog as she only has 3 legs.My dog started swimming after 4 weeks he still has not built all the muscle back up on his leg and would only say he was fully mobile again at the begining of sept(meaning he was not lame after exercise)He is now having 3 walks a day and swimming every 2 weeks.I give him cod liver oil tabs,green lipped muscle tabs and vet vits flexi joints if he is ever lame i give him a homoeopathic tabs.My dog is very lively so keeping him very quiet was a must so lots of cage rest and no visitors to get him excited!

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Can either of you tell me if your dogs had vaccination boosters up to a month or so before the Cruciate injury?

Regards, John

Why??? Am only asking because we thought she was lame on the front leg not the back when I took her to the vet here and she was uncomfortable in the front leg joints at the time, now is fine, but while we were there, I asked him to give her her booster as she had not had it for over two years, she was due for her annual booster at the time when she had her leg removed from the cancer, the oncologist said not to have it done, that in their opinion it was not necessary to do every year etc I think now as she was only thought to have 6 months after the surgery of pain free life and the fact that her immune system was down due to the chemotherapy it was not worth it. However as she is fine over two years later (until now) and I had been reading about pavo being around on this site I decided to have it done again now. Three weeks on and now she has this happen to her back leg?? Is it related??

Very interested in your question, John. Do you think there's a link ?

Don't keep us in suspense !! :)

oh that is what I was afraid of total rest for weeks, normally hard but not a problem having three legs is going to make it hard, the vet did mention she may need a cart for a few weeks guess if that will help her recover it will be worth it. Thankyou for replying it is appreciated. Glad your dog have come through his operation well.

Can't offer any help, just good wishes from one 11 yr old Ebony lab owner to another. :)

I walked into the back end of a chat on the internet about a possible link between boosters and Cruciate Ligament injuries. Sounds on the face of it a rather tenuous link but there is documentation of a number of tears happening to working gundogs in the period of up to 35 to 40 days after boosters! It is not quite so impossible as it might seem, there is a proven link between tears and hypothyroidism (documented in several breeds) there is also a proven(??) hereditary link with dogs who’s legs are not straight, (Bandy or cow hocked), appear to have a disproportionate number or tears.

From the way I read it, it would appear that immediately following vaccination the ligament stiffens slightly making it more prone to tearing. The effects seem to wear off after the 35 to 40 days.

This is not a proven fact but interesting none the less and I for one will not be getting my dogs boosters done during their working season!

Best wishes, John

Dr Jean Dodds has written many articles on the links between vaccinations/boosters & adverese reactions. Adverse reactions take many forms & not always taking 30/40 dys to show, they can be insiduious & take a lot longer before the damage to immune system & body shows & damage of cruciate ligament is just one of them.
Anyone interested can do google search for vaccinosis,Jean Dodds, Dr Schultz, Charmichael, Chris Day, Richard Alport & many others, or join any of the anti vaccine lists for information & FACTS on the dangers of vaccines that you can be read in the archives. Canine Health Concern is also a great group to join for facts & upto date news as well. I`m going to add that damage to the immune system is also being done by chemical treatments given to in whelp bitches/stud dogs or just prior to being mated & puppies whos immune systems are not developed.

Christine, Spain.

Very interesting, John and Christine. I was, of course, aware of many of the problems connected with boosters but I had never heard of the link with cruciate injuries.

As you may know one of my dogs has patella luxation and I have often feared that it may one day cause damage to the cruciate ligament. Fingers crossed, my decision not to booster may be helping to avoid this. :)

Thanks for the info

Joyce

Dr W Jean Dodds was one of the people who contributed to that particular conversation Christine.

There was also talk about a dog warming up before taking part in anything strenuous, not always an easy matter for a working dog! Anna often has to sit quietly beside me for the better part of an hour in bitter icy conditions and then at a moments notice retrieve over a fence.

We can only do the best for our dogs that we can.

Regards, John

I do not know if it generally known that there is also a link between cruciate ligament injury and neutering?

In research it has been found that male and female dogs that are neutered early have a greater incidence of cruciate ligament injury than entire dogs.
This is probably one of the de-merits of neutering that is not made more widely known due to all the pushing of neutering by vets and welfare organisations and goes against the message that they are trying to deliver.

The following link is the research references for those that are interested:
http://www.vfu.cz/acta-vet/vol69/pdf/69_305.pdf

Hi Ebony, hope all goes well :)

Hi John, yep just do the best we can! Would love to know the site you had the conversation on, want to share it with us? :)

Hi Joyce I`m sure not boostering will help, I`ve seen a difference in my lot since I stopped them. :)

Hi Snomaes, interesting article thanks for that. :)

Christine, Spain.

Hi Christine,
Nice to find a fellow non-boosterer! I've never boostered my Springer or my previous one and neither has needed vet. treatment apart from one bump on the head. Bess is now 6yo and old Bess lived to 14 very healthily.

I think I've read some of the articles you mention. Another name to look out for is Catherine O'Driscoll, author of "What Vets Don't Tell You About Vaccines".

Kath.

Hi Kath, yes there`s a few of us non boosterers on here:) mind it`s only just over 2yrs ago that I stopped them but I`ll never go back to them.
I`ve got Catherines book, & that led me on to find the others. Got quite a few articles by others as well(or know where to find them) so if you ever looking for any let me know & I`ll see if I`ve got them & send them to you :)

Christine, Spain.

Yes, Christine, I'll take you up on that, please. :) (email addy on my profile if you need it). I like to read up as much as I can. Ashamed to say I haven't actually got the book myself. I keep telling myself not to buy any more as my shelves are groaning, but hey, what's one more!!

I'm interested to know what differences you've noticed. Having not done it right from the start I've nothing to compare with mine.

Thanks
Kath.

Hi Kath
I haven't boostered my dogs for many years - the elder one is now 7 and has always enjoyed good health (fingers crossed :) ).
It would be useful to do a comparison survey to see if us non-conformists have got it right !

Deleted from here & moved to new thread Benefits of not Boostering, sorry for the hijack Ebony :)
Christine, Spain. 

That's great Christine, thanks. Do you think it would be a good idea to start a new thread ( and perhaps copy this to it), we might get more folk to tell us their story, (and also let Ebony have her topic back ;) :D ).

Hi Joyce. Yes, a survey would be very interesting. This might even be the start of it. ;)

Kath.

Have started another thread on this - sorry for hi-jacking yours, Ebony.