I have a 26" high, 16 month old Greyhound X Whippet who has ruptured his crucia ligament on the right hind leg. I have taken him to the vets who said surgery was the only option which will cost about £300. When I asked about if he would ever run again the vet said its doubtful as the ligament is weak and will breakdown again.

What are my options?
How long would it take to heal naturaly and is it really as glum as it sounds?

Hello,

A ruptured cruciate ligament is quite severe, but with hard work and a bit of help, your dog will be fine. Surgery is usually the only option to re-fix the ligament and as your vet says, it won't be as secure or strong as the other one.

I would recomend you don't give up on your dog, go for what the vet recomends, give her a few weeks to recover with little or no exercise (depends what your vet things) and then take her swimming at a proper safe canine swimming establishment. Swimming is the best for sorting out this type of problem and will help to strengthan the muscles and ligaments without putting too much pressure on them.

Also do some research into herbal and homeopathic remedies, we use these a lot for various different things and have had some fantastic results. If you want any more information, I will have to look it up, so contact me direct on manda.smith@talk21.com

good luck

manda
X

I am afraid it is a long recovery time what ever way you decide to go with a ruptured crucia ligament.

My retriever had both back legs go, one completely and the other half way thro'. As she didn't have a good leg to stand on no operation was possible. She got over it and it took the same time as my dog who had an operation (bearing in mind the operation was about 20 years ago and the way it is done today is much better than then).

Her movement wasn't fluid but she didn't have any problems, but if they like to twist and turn you have to watch them.

Go back and really discuss it with your vet.

Hello, I had a dobermann who ruptured her cruciate when she was about 4.5 years old, she made a brilliant recovery. I think a lot depends on the breed as to whether or not the other cruciate will go. By the sounds of it your Greyhound x will be light and agile enough to cope with the recovery period as was my dobe. The operation itself is quite major and not a pretty sight when all the bandages come off. Storm had quite a few stitches and needed looking after constantly for the first few days after the operation. From what I can remember they use part of the muscle to rebuilt the ligiment and the end result is supposedly stronger than the original ligiment. £300 sounds quite reasonable for this type of operation, although because your dog is so young you might want to get your vet to refer you to a vet that specialises in this sort of thing just so he gets the best chance. The cruciate will not heal naturally and will cause your dog more and more pain as time goes on. Storm had a bit of arthritis because of what happened but I found that giving her Arthri aid (msm, glucosmine) in her food plus a bio-flow magnetic collar were nothing short of a miracle. She enjoyed a completely normal life and could run for miles. Try to get a second opinion if you can, the sooner the better as the damage caused to the knee joints can be limited if the operation is done soon.

Hope this helps

Clair
xxxx

Thanks to those who replied about my dogs crucia ligament problem.
I have decided to have the operation done, but I do have serious doubts. I have spoken to a "working" animal vet who said its doubtful the dog will ever run again, and for these breed types (greyhounds, whippets) because you can't stop them running, its likely the other ligament will rupture. In his opinion, its more humain to have the dog put to sleep.
I appreciate his honesty, but the dogs only just out of puppyhood and you have to give them a chance.

Does anyone know of any herbal treatments/wraps that would aid the dogs recovery?

Many thanks,
Dave.

Hello Dave,

I can understand a "working" animal vet saying this, because after all these animals are peoples livelyhood and if they are no good, they are no use to them, so therefore have to go. :(

BUT

He is your pet and this is a very different thing!! Even if he cannot run much and would only be able to run under controlled conditions (ie. between two people etc to stop the cornering) it would be happier for you and your dog to have that time.

It's the cornering mostly that does the cruciate, so short bursts of straight running (obviously after it has completely healed) should be ok.

My friend who has a Border Terrier X Lowchen that she does mini agility with, used Yucca suppliment when she badly damaged her cructiate and she was back running agility again a while after (not sure how long) and she was 10 years old when she did that.

You should also take your dog swimming on a regular basis while it's cruciate is getting stronger as this will help with the healing because it will get the blood flowing round the injury, but not put any pressure on it.

Good luck and all the best for the op.

manda
X

I posted last year and earlier this year on my staff cruciate problems.He had 2 unsuccessful ops to try and repair the problem and then ended up having his knee cap removed .He is now looking wonderful and enjoys nothing more than a good run round the local park with my other dogs.He has good days and the odd bad day as the vet said he would but even the bad days are not that bad-just a bit stiff.I almost had him PTS because he was so depressed after 12 months in pain and with no exercise but boy am I glad my vet persuaded me not to.I now think that whatever happens hes had the best of chances and if anything happened to him-cruciate ligament or anything else-I could rest easy.
Wishing you the best whatever you decide,Archer

Wednesday is operation day. I spoke to the vet for the fourth time, and am still unsure about the dogs long-term prospects. Although I care for him dearly, he's not a pet, he was bred and bought to work. My concerns are that he is a working dog, and although I have keept him indoors recently I can't stop him running around the house. He's been kept in the kitchen with limited places to run but still tears around, it's a nightmare. When I take the other dogs out he goes ballistic.
I supose it's going to be a case of wait and see. I'll let you all know how it goes.
Davepu

Hi Davidpu,
Just wanted to say good luck with the operation on Wednesday hope everything goes well.

Please let us know how he gets on.

Kiera x

Hope the operation went well. Best of luck with his recovery.
Clair
xxx

Hello Davidpu,
I had a rottie who ruptured her cruciate when she was about 2, I was also told that the postoperative care was critical to recovery. She had the operation, and I followed the postoperative instructions to the letter, if anything I extended the length of each step. 0-6 weeks - strict rest, minimal lead exercise for toilet purposes only. 6-12 weeks - lead exercise only. 12-24 weeks - gradual return to normal life. When it eventually came to letting her off the lead I started for 5 minutes at a time and gradually built it up over the weeks, if she seemed at lame I went back a step. It does take a long time, but it is worth it i can't remember how long exactly but I know that within a year she was running like she was before the operation, and never had any pain in the leg, she made a complete recovery and went on to lead a long a happy life. There is the normal cruciate repair where the ligaments are replaced with either implants, connective tissue or ligaments, which is what my dog had. But there is also a new technique called TLPO where I think a plate and pins are used instead, I have heard of people that have tried this with really good results
and I think the recovery time was quicker. Sorry I can't be of anymore help, hope everything goes well.

kiera x

I agree with Kiera on this - allow a good 6 months after the op for recovery time and your dog can lead a normal life afterwards. I too have posted before on this, my springer who thinks he is a greyhound ruptured his cruciate the first time when only 11 months old and the other leg about eight months afterwards. If you are patient and stick to the strict guidelines afterwards he will be fine. To see my dog run now you would never believe both back legs have been operated on. At the time it seemed a nightmare as he too was such a young dog.
Good luck and dont give up ...
Nic.