Canine Cruciate Ligament options for older dog
I have a roughly 23kg/50lb furball who is approaching 12. She had a CCL rupture 4 years ago, but the vet missed it and thought it was just strained; it wasn't until a year later and she was having leg weakness that I brought her to a different vet who assessed the old CCL injury and that as a result, the knee had developed arthritis. Since then, we have been treating it with pain management, weight loss, and joint supplements. I had asked that vet about surgery but their advice was that it's much more effective immediately and less so once the arthritis is settled in. Her right CCL ruptured later in that year since she'd been overexerting that leg (apparently most dogs who injure one will later injure the other); she immediately had the suture surgery and it went fantastically, with her regaining essentially normal use of that leg.
A few years on and the right leg remains strong but the left leg is weakening, with her starting to show some pain reactions to its use, and I'd like to get some opinions on paths forward. Despite her age she is still in excellent physical shape apart from the leg and I want to be sure her hopefully many years are happy and comfortable. Note this is not in lieu of vet advice (I am writing this from the vet waiting room), but more looking for people's experiences who have tried some of these.
So things I have been considering:
- Surgery of some kind - suture, TPLO, even artificial knee? Pro, fix the knee weakness. Con, with the recovery and risk, I am not confident it would save her more pain and discomfort long term than the procedure would cause. I also have a feeling a full joint replacement might be exorbitantly expensive.
- Physical therapy
- Orthopedic brace
- Accepting that I have an elder pupper and just trying to manage the symptoms :(
I realize this may sound a bit lacking in empathy but I assure you it is not - the reality is it is very likely your pooch pal only has a few solid years of life left. If they even do things like joint replacements on dogs it's going to be prohibitively expensive and I would say (calculating dollars per year) I doubt you'd get the amount of joy in return for such a cost. It's rather morbid to think about it this way, but personally my advice is to maximize comfort while minimizing excess expenditure. The money spent on those sorts of expensive medical procedures would probably be better spent on increasing doggos quality of life in other ways. High quality food, like farmers dog or others, pampering treatments like fancy bathing and grooming sessions, spending time with you doing fun doggo things. Special treats, comfy beds, etc.
Swimming is an excellent thing for arthritis in both humans and dogs. Finding a nearby lake or stream deep enough for them to take a swim can do wonders for getting them exercise with less pain.
Anyways, I'm sorry your pooch is having a rough go. Hopefully the final chapter can bring you both many joyous times together.
It's totally understandable and is something I am considering, albeit more from the long term pain vs short term pain perspective. She has reached into the range of her breed's expected lifespan and I am considering every day to be bonus time with her!
I wish I could get her to swim. She's a dainty furry princess who distrusts water more than ankle deep, though. I was going to look in to water treadmill physical therapy if I could convince her to do it.