Looking for information/opinions/thoughts/advice for my daughter.  Her 6 year old male lab tried to jump onto their deck, missed and smashed his rear legs onto the edges of the decking.   The vet says it's most likely a CCL tear.  He cannot put weight on the right hind and holds it up.  Due to their location in Eastern Oregon the only MRI available is at the human hospital in Pendleton or a 4 hour ride away up to WSU for a definitive diagnosis.

Has anyone had first hand experience with the surgical process?  What are the expectations for recovery?   He's a trained retriever, very well bred and our Grandson's best buddy so naturally this is all very upsetting and they don't know what to do.     Doc E, I see you recommended Fish Oil on an earlier post as an adjunct, any thoughts as to how much per day?  Any other supplements or advice you can offer?    Unfortunately for them money is also an issue which may preclude the surgical process.   Any guesses on cost?   All information is appreciated.

I had to have surgury on one of my dogs three years ago and it was about $3000.

Recovery time was slow and easy for about three months walking on a leash, no running outside off leash.

After about six month I hunted him and I think he was strong and in better shape, then before injury. He had gained weight before injury, so make sure your dog goes on a diet(if needed) if you are going to rehab him w/o surgury.

Was the leg at least xrayed to see if something was broken? Hyper extending the leg is probably the most common way it gets damaged not crashing into soemthing. If it is really CCL no pill is going to fix it. TPLO surgery is still probably considered the best fix - no way to get around the $2k-$3k if it is CCL that I know of. Long recovery involves confinement and strictly on leash to go potty for like 12 weeks after surgery but the fix makes it better
then new. The sooner it is done the better to help avoid the onset of arthritus and the pills may help with that too. Google TPLO surgery

It most likely will be in the 3000 rang for TPLO, unless you do lateral sutures(about half that price) but the only problem with that is it may stretch or not hold. I agree with Steve get it done ASAP if you can...

Thanks for the advice!   I had heard surgery was in the $2000 to $3000 range and someone else had told them $1000 or so, which I didn't think was right.  It was such drama on the phone last night I didn't get out of her whether the vet had done xrays or not.  Looks like he'll be going up to WSU to the college or over here to Portland as we have an orthopedic specialist on this side of the state.  Never a dull moment with dogs and kids!

You can have the knee fixed for less than the TPLO surgery, but in a working, athletic dog if you want full return to function you really need to do the TPLO, or the newer TTA (Not as much history with that procedure yet, but it seems to have promise). Rehab is incredibly important-you will basically be wasting your money if you don't do ALL the follow-up care EXACTLY as you are told to-you have to ignore what your dog is telling you (like "I feel fine, and if you let me out of the crate/off the leash I swear I will just lie here at your feet"). Good luck!

Haven't been on here in quite some time, but saw this thread and had to add our experiences. Our choc male Digger ruptured his right ACL 7 years ago at the age of 2 while on a pheasant hunt. We chose to go with the TPLO procedure at that time because he was so young and active. I knew the extra-cap repair would probably not hold up on him. At that time the cost for TPLO was $1800. Recovery time was approximately 3-4 months and he was 100% solid for the next hunting season. Last fall we were hunting in the same field and he ruptured his left ACL on a retrieve very similiar to his first rupture! A friend of mine had just received training in the TTA procedure (she also does TPLO) and we agreed to let Digger be her first TTA patient. I was in on the surgery and all went great. Recovery was very similar to the TPLO, but slightly shorter. His TTA was early last October and he did great hunting 10 weeks later on our mid December SD pheasant hunt. Not so much as a limp after hunting. That winter he snowshoed with us through pretty deep snow in the woods all winter long. This last June he started to favor it a little and we were concerned he had reinjured it, but the knee was sound and it was a chronic Lyme disease flare up that was the problem, not the knee structure. We have learned that they have actually found the spirochete that causes Lyme disease in the knee joints of dogs with ligament problems, but that's a whole nother thread. Here is a link to the friend of mine who did Digger's surgery. She is not near you, but she has some information that may be helpful for you. http://www.heartlandanimalvets.com/  (the labs in the lower left corner of her site are our boys.) Go to the orthopedic link. Best wishes for a full recovery which ever way you decide to go.

I wanted to add that 2BD mentioned having x-rays done, if it hasn't been done already, a good vet will x-ray the knee prior to any surgical intervention.

Concerning the 20% of the "good knees" that will blow within two years of surgery, there is a research study that shows that
Fish Oil (like Complete Omega-3 Essentials) will offer good protection from this happening : : : :

Following surgical repair of a torn CCL (ACL), some 20% of those dogs will blow the good knee within two years.
Here is a recent study that shows that supplementing with Fish Oil is protective of the good knee.

To make this easier to understand, "AA","MMP" and "uPA" are the bad guys and "TIMP" is the good guy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fish oil decreases matrix metalloproteinases in knee synovia of dogs with inflammatory joint disease.Hansen RA, Harris MA, Pluhar GE, Motta T, Brevard S, Ogilvie GK, Fettman MJ, Allen KG.
Department of Health Promotion and Human Performance, Weber State University, Ogden, UT 84408, USA.

This study was designed to determine whether dietary fish oil affects the expression and activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP), tissue inhibitors of MMP-2 (TIMP-2) and urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) in synovial fluid from dogs with spontaneously occurring stifle (knee) instability in a single hind limb resulting from acute cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) injury. Two groups of 12 dogs were fed diets from 1 week prior to surgery on the affected knee to 56 days post-surgery. The fish oil and control diets provided 90 and 4.5 mg, respectively, of combined eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)/kg body weight per day. Plasma and synovial fluid, from both surgical and nonsurgical knee joints, were obtained at start of the diet (-7), surgery day (0) and 7, 14, 28 and 56 days post-surgery. Plasma total EPA and DHA were significantly increased, and plasma total arachidonic acid (AA) was significantly decreased by the fish oil diet. In synovial fluid from the nonsurgical knee, fish oil treatment significantly decreased proMMP-2 expression at Days 7 and 14, and proMMP-9 expression at Day 56, and uPA activity at 28 days and significantly increased TIMP-2 expression at Days 7 and 28. There were no differences in MMP expression or activity, TIMP-2 expression and uPA activity in the surgical joint synovial fluid at any time throughout the study. These results suggest that dietary fish oil may exert beneficial effects on synovial fluid MMP and TIMP-2 equilibrium in the uninjured stifle of dogs with unilateral CCL injury.
PMID: 17531456 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]



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Dr Randall (Randy) Acker's DVM - Sun Valley Animal Center is the best in the country............
Dr Acker's is sent FT trailer & HT tester's dogs from all over the US & Canada, he's also very competitive on price.

http://svanimal.com/surgery.php

WSU would also be a good option & reasonable on $ compared to most high priced clinics.

FYI - Randy claims 65-70% blow the other knee within 2-yrs., problem is the dog's running imbalanced.

I suggest getting Vet insurance immediately (7-8wks of age), it pays for itself for the term of the dog on one healthy vet bill such as TPLO surgery.
Most vet insurance companies require 1-yr of coverage before being eligible for TPLO coverage.

TPLO surgery was pioneered out in Washington, by Dr. Slocum if my memory serves correctly. At the time I had my late Magnum's done at the University of Illinois, all training and certification was done through Dr. Slocum. I believe most of the hardware is still provided through the Slocum clinic. If you research it thoroughly, you will find the difference between the older, less expensive method and the current TPLO surgery is that TPLO actually addresses root cause and permanent corrective action. I got an additional six years of time in the field with my old buddy that I probably wouldn't have gotten. Two other friends had dogs that required surgery and they both went with the less expensive method with not so good results.

rames - Your close............
I thought Dr. Slocum's practice/clinic was founded in Eugene Oregon, I believe he's passed on, his legacy lives on at Slocum Enterprises.
Dr. Acker interned/studdied under Dr. Slocum before his death & then oppened his own practite in SV.
Slocum Enterprises now provides veterinary equipment, implants and diagnostic aids, as well as certify veterinarians to perform the TPLO technique.
Here's a link on Slocum Ent. site showing all the certified TPLO Vets in the universe.

http://www.slocumenterprises.com/tplo_surgeons.htm