Two months ago my very athletic pup (16 months old at the time) injured her right rear leg while playing with the pack in my yard. I spoke to a vet friend who suggested that I crate rest her for a week to ten days and see if there was improvement since she could put some weight on it the day after it happened. After a couple of weeks everything seemed fine and I began to relax. However, yesterday the same thing happened again with the same leg. Would you suspect a partial ACL tear? Anything else have similar symptoms?

I'll contact my own vet on Tuesday when the practice opens but until then, we're back to supervised activity and crate rest. I swear if I didn't have bad luck lately, I'd have no luck at all.

Hi,
sorry to hear about your young dog.
the limping could be many things, and yes it could be a partial ACL Tear. Most will tell you that if it is a partial tear they usually progress to full tears. The only way a partial tear will heal is with 6-8 weeks of rest to allow the ligament to scar in. And even then .. it is rare that the scar tissue can support the joint properly.

They are doing new stuff now with stem cells for partial tears... so there may be more options than I had a few years ago . Had a 5 year old dog go from a partial tear to almost complete.. despite rest etc. needed the TPLO surgery but came through it all fine.
Since your dog is so young.. hopefully the news will be good.
My suggestion would be to bypass the regular vet/ go directly to an ortho specialist if possible if you are convinced the injury is to the one leg and not something systemic///ie lymes etc.
Best of luck
Kim S

Ditto what Kim said. Rest, rest, rest and to an Ortho.

The holistic vet I use when needed is seeing EXCELLENT response to prolotherapy for partial tears. I'd RUN, not walk, to such treatment if this indeed is an ACL issue. The same vet saved my CF from probable surgery on her neck several years ago. 3 treatments of prolotherapy and 5 yrs later, the dog is still able to do agility etc and never had a moment of trouble w/ her neck since. Anne

My almost 13 yr. old girl had a partial ACL rupture when she was 3 yrs old. I rested her for about 10 weeks and gave her a year off from obedience (we had just earned our CDX) After that I leash walked her and didn't allow any play with the other dogs for that entire year. Then I slowly started with some light training and supervised play and swimming. She went on to earn her UD, WC and JH after that. Knock wood the ACL never needed to be repaired. It's only over the past 6 months that she is starting to slow down and have a hitch in her gate. Best of luck to you and your dog!

Not long ago I injured my knee and had an MRI done. I had torn cartilage. I did absolutley nothing, and 6 months later, it doesn't swell anymore and it does not bother me in the least anymore. Had I pursued it, there most certainly would have been a surgery. So far I have escaped surgery and will use it as a very last resort only. For now, it has healed itself. I've had two of my dogs come in on three legs from too much wrestle and play. I mean holding their foot to their abdomen in pain. A week later they were completely normal. By the time I got to the vet it was normal!!!! Try crate rest for sure!!!

OH YEAH , that's likely a tear. And in the crate that pup goes. Had one last year, chose NOT to have surgery , crated her , walked her on leash for two months. She is now out with the pack , with some restricted movement ,[that the average person would not notice], but NO LIMP ! Surgery is not always the anwser, but dilgent , restricted movement, walking the pup on LEASH, for at least 2 months , will sometimes trump that surgery in my opinion.

Our retired girl tore her cruicate after her 2nd litter. I'm still not sure what happened to cause it but she had whelped a huge litter, got them all in their new homes when she injured her cruciate. I crated her for a few weeks but she still limped so I took her to a ortho specialist who confirmed a torn cruciate. He told me to crate rest her for a couple months which I did. This was 4 or 5 yrs ago and she has been in her new home for a few. So far so good. Our girls is a very active dog who would zig zag around the yard and twist and turn. I'm surprised she didn't fully blow out her cruciate with her crazy antics over the years.