Partial Cruciate Tear

[Zara]

Hi,

I am looking for all the advice I can get here, My 11 month vizsla,
Marlowe, has a partial cruciate tear on his rear right leg. This
happened on about 14 June after one of his mad dashes into a field and
compounded by a rough a tumble (didn't see it coming) with one of the
larger dogs in the village who appeared suddenly on our walk.

The vet saw him, advised lead walks, NSAIDS (which left him horribly
sick) and a revisit in 2 weeks to see if any improvement, and that an
operation would be next.

However walks left his knee very hot and I don't feel that 2 weeks is
enough for an injury to a ligament to even begin to heal so we dealt
with the inflammation with ice cool for horses, topically applied and
this worked brilliantly.

I have not let him past a sedate walk on the lead now for a couple of
weeks and we have just started hydrotherapy (second one on Tuesday)
with a positive prognosis due to age and fitness. I have him on
injury mix homeopathic soft pills and am also giving him glucosamine,
chondroitin and omega 3 (appropriately spaced apart from each other
and his food).

Currently he is crated with 3 10 minute strolls around the garden and
a few walks around the kitchen table to keep the joints moving. I did
let him have the ground floor to himself but found that as he shadows
me he ended up limping by the end of the day.

I am finding it hard not to analyse his every movement which is not
exactly promising as he seems to have a good day and then a not so
good day. I am just finding this very scary and would welcome some
input.

Thank you in advance

Zara

[Chrissie Diron]

Hi Zara

Well, you are doing everything right - well done! I am more than familiar with cruciate woes, as I used to run a hydrotherapy facility for dogs and it was, sadly, the most common injury we dealt with. We also handled many dogs that did not go to surgery, which is often the only recommendation, although there are actually many different approaches and options. In such a young dog and with a clear traumatic incident, I think you really might have a soft tissue injury in general and not necessarily a tear even (more of a strain/stretch and bruising in the general location). I would like to recommend you visit www.topdoghealth.com and trundle over to the rehab guides. You can download them and I would follow the suggestions there, even though you have not been through surgery. They were written by a very experienced vet and serve as good advice. I am happy that you are swimming Marlowe, but keep it very short and never to the point of aggravation, just enough to get the leg stretched and exercised and probably more importantly, to get all the other body parts exercised and mental stimulation. Half the battle with this sort of thing is keeping a young dog content, as the restrictions that you MUST adhere to, are boring and make the dog stir crazy. Also look at TopDog's supplements. They are formulated very well and really offer superb support to this sort of damage for quick recovery: GlycanAid HA and Flexerna. Finally, you might also like to join the conservative management group, which is full of people with dogs in Marlowe's position - people share their solutions and offer support - you'd be in good hands there :-) http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ConservativeManagement/ 

Another thing you might want to look into, if the healing drags on and you feel you want to have peace of mind that Marlowe is not further injuring when exercising or when you are not supervising, is to get a knee brace made up. I'm not sure if there is anyone in England making these things, but www.animalrehab.on.ca in Canada would ship to you and would just require that a therapist help you get the measurements to create a custom brace. These braces allow good usage and much stability, they are like surgery, but provide external scaffolding, instead of internal! They encourage usage far earlier on (because there is no pain and the knee cannot over-extend etc) which is very important for the other legs and the spine, which is taking an unusual imbalanced load all the time the injured leg is not weightbearing or the gait is off. Consider some chiropractic adjustments for Marlowe too, once you have the knee relatively stable. The back will be out and spasm can set in. The knee brace can also offer peace of mind when you are not able to watch over your dog, because that's when they tend to do daft things and have setbacks in their healing. It takes a while for scar tissue to form and inflammation to recede and then the dog has to build back muscle and learn to walk normally again. But take heart: I've seen many dogs return to full normal function afterwards! Many of them were older than M and had other issues to contend with, but they made it regardless, often despite the vet's assurance that they would need surgery. Interestingly when you return to the vet to show them how well the dog is doing, they rarely acknowledge your great work - few are prepared to help you with conservative management, they just want to sell you surgery and drugs, sad but true. But you are NOT ALONE and there is much support. 

From Chrissie and the Vitali Vizslas

Independent Norwex Consultant
Kick the chemical habit - go green and be clean, naturally! 

www.vitalk9.ca
www.canine-health-concern.org.uk
www.aunaturelk9s.com

[Sue]

Hi Zara

My 2 year old damaged his cruciate approx 4 years ago when he ran into
a tree chasing a rabbit!

My vet didn't want to operate unless absolutely necessary as he
believed that operating weakens it. So it was absolute rest no
stairs, no jumping on the furniture and on the lead to go out to the
garden when required. After 3months of this he had hydro therapy for
another 2 months. He stopped limping within a month but was told to
carry on the restriticted exercise although he appeared OK.

We also had 2 other dogs in the house so we had to try and keep
everything calm and quiet. Difficult!

Rufus was 3 months into his agility training when he had his accident
and didn't resume agility training for 6 mths and touch wood 3.5 years
on no sign of any lameness and he charges around like a looney and
competes regularly in agility competitons with up to 5 classes a day.

I can't remember if he had any medication but he is on Joint Aid now
for the rest of his life.

I am always watching out for limps and I think after a cruciate
experience that is going to happen, particularly after the contact
equipment in agility but I think the front legs come under more stress
than the hind legs.

I hope all goes well with Marlowe but it is a long haul.

All the best.

Sue

[Susie Zarpanely]

Hi Zara
 
Hydrotherapy is great, and so is all the ice, homeopathy,and all the rest you are doing is all great. Hats off if you can keep him quiet, I am really struggling with keeping my 6 yr old quiet (not for cruciate though) we are having some  Bowen therapy and also looking at the possibility of some physiotherapy now her stitches are out. We are 3 weeks down the line, prognosis is 6 weeks before she is sound
 Good luck
 
Susie 

> Date: Fri, 8 Jul 2011 06:55:47 -0700
> Subject: Partial Cruciate Tear
> From: zara....@gmail.com
> To: ukvi...@googlegroups.com

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[Ros Leighton]

Hi,  think I may have sent this link before, but it’s a start on low key activities for recovering dogs – might be helpful.

 

http://www.lauriebryce.com/tplo/games2.html

 

Cheers

Ros

[Zara]

Hi - thank you all so much for your words of wisdom, encouragement and
fantastic links.

Marlowe had his second hydrotherapy and is extending his leg fully
when swimming now which is fantastic to see.
We are still on very short strolls but I can see the leg getting
stronger and steadier. the crate rest is working well - in addition
to keeping him still he is beginning to grow and develop more. He was
a very spindly puppy so this is fantastic to see.

I know we have a long long road ahead of us but thanks to you all I am
feeling greatly encouraged (and very exercised as I also have a 4 year
old viz who is an athlete of a dog!)

with gratitude

Zara

On Jul 10, 12:15 am, "Ros Leighton" <rosleigh...@bigpond.com> wrote:
> Hi,  think I may have sent this link before, but it's a start on low key

> activities for recovering dogs - might be helpful.