Hello,

I recently had to have surgery on a dog with a complete cruciate ligament tear. What recommendations can you give me for supplements? Also, how long would you do crate rest? The dog is placing weight on all four legs with the morning being the hardest as far as limping.

Thanks in advance for any help.

You dog will need physical therapy - ask you vet to point you in the right direction to find one in your area.

I was fortunate enough to have a tank on my property so once he was able to be in water we carried him into swimming water in the tank every day, put a 50' long line on him and threw bumpers and let him swim to his hearts content. The long line was to prevent him from trying to get out of the water on his own. This swimming was in addition to other physical therapy.

He is fully recoved and doing great.

Swimming is a great part of their rehab. Follow what your vet suggests, give it time & be patient.

Interestingly I had a male that required 2 TPLO's and our ortho vet never once discussed therapy. He had set a schedule of what we could do each week with the dog and we reached those milestones. The dog recovered just fine and in record time, and he is a rather large lab. In fact, when we were home, we never crated the dog, only forced him to stay in the same room with us where we could watch him.

What does the ortho vet say? I would follow their directions to the letter. With my dog, he was put on crate/ex-pen rest for 8 weeks.

My boy, 8 weeks crate/on leash only. No jumping. If your compliant it should heal nicely. My Vet said if anything happens in the healing process its usually the dog owner's fault, being non compliant.

You should have him on a good gloucasimen/chondroiten supplement for the rest of his life. Fish oil is good too. Keep crated for 2 to 4 weeks, depending on how he is doing, then when you get the green light from the vet set up an expen area so that dog is still confined for another month.No off leash for at least 8 weeks or longer, leash walking is good therapy, especially uphill, slowly increase distance every few days until you are doing a mile twice a day before letting dog off leash. Start with short periods off leash, 5 minutes, then slowly increase time. Do not let off leash with other dogs until dog is doing well off leash alone for long period of time. Key is to just take things very slow and once healed gradually go back to normal activity. If you do this the dog will be perfectly fine in the end.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions! I am hoping ahd praying that with everything I am doing (and taking your advice) that all will be well in the end.

Kestrel had a TPLO in 2008, she was on 8 weeks of crate rest, leash walk only, and started PT 3 weeks post surgery, laser treatments, then swimming, and strengthening. Then leash walks in the neighborhood of 200 ft farther each day. We didn't let her jump till 6 mos post surgery, and she's back competing now, working on her Open title, and successfully completing the APDT Rally Master Champion ARCHMX.

She had a partial tear in the other knee this spring, crate rest, accupuncture, PT, swimming, laser, strengthening and there's presently no laxity in the joint... trying to get that CDX before she hurts something else
barb

First of all I would put the dog who just had ACL surgery in an xpen in my living room with a nice quilt or blanket and a pillow on the floor. He would be walked on a lease and never off leash. Then, when the VET tells you, I would walk him on grass, possibly up hills as that is when he can really build muscle. Then he needs to go on a walk every day and always on leash. And he should not be allowed to play hard with the other dogs only in a small area. That is, if you don't want the other leg to go out. This is the recommendation from my surgeon. ellie