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any veterinary doc's here,torn acl in dog

My daughter just completed an ACL repair on her 8-year old Doberman. Used Southeastern Vet Specialty Clinic near Columbus (Dr. Wayne) through a referral from her local Vet in Perry GA. Not sure of the cost but her "Chloe" is now back to 100%. Don't have details but my daughter was super pleased with the service, follow-up, and return to normal activities.

 
My dog (11 y/o bulldog/pit bull mix) tore his ACL about a year ago. It wasn't completely snapped, which would definitely have required surgery, but was at about 50% from what we could see on the x-rays.

Supposedly dogs over 20-ish lbs or so will always need surgery, although smaller dogs may recover on their own. Alfie was almost 70 lbs, and was kind of chubby for his size.

We opted to put him on a weight loss program and reduce his activity to a minimum to see of that helped, keeping surgery as a last resort. That lasted about 3 months and he constantly improved (he's still on the diet though).

After a year now he will still limp on that leg for a bit after he's slept for a while. It seems to get stiff when he doesn't use it, but it works itself out pretty quickly, usually after a few steps or a good stretch.

The main reason I didn't opt for surgery right away was that the recuperation is 'cage rest' for about 3 months.

That means he would have been cooped up in his kennel downstairs for the whole time, since my house has stairs everyplace. He's very sociable and would have been absolutely miserable for that recuperation period where he was stuck all alone.

I had also read that dogs recovering from surgery were very prone to overusing their other leg and tearing that ACL, requiring a second round of surgery on it.

All in all, for me and Alfie it just made more sense to get his weight under control, reduce his activity to a lower level, and let nature take it's course. So far it's worked out pretty well.
 
We took ours to Uga …. He was less than a year then , recovered quick- even had a functional brace …. If I remember right we were in it for about 5k…. But what choice did I have…. I’d have done it again !
We can make more $$! Or at least I feel that way.
Too bad Dr Patel won't do knees and not just spines, that man is the best available!
 
We took ours to Uga …. He was less than a year then , recovered quick- even had a functional brace …. If I remember right we were in it for about 5k…. But what choice did I have…. I’d have done it again !
What does the brace look like?the vet put in plates and reshaped the bone
 
It’s been years ago….. company was

But I had a orthotics guy here in Georgia fabricate it for me for about 1/4 of the price
 

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