Caring for pet after ACL surgery

[vafoodie]

Anyone care for a pet after pet’s ACL surgery. I have a 9 lb yorkiepoo who is about to have this surgery, and I am really stressing about how we are going to keep her from jumping for 2 months, which is how long it will take her to heal. I know to crate her, but all I can figure to keep her still when she is on our lap or in bed with us is to keep her on a short leash. Dreading this.

 

[blueskyk]

We had this done on our two German Shepherds and I just recall taking them outside only on a leash or in their kennel (which was about 15 x 15) for about three weeks. The idea was to keep them from doing anything but a walk during that time.

They healed up well and loved running hard in the pasture after that…I don’t recall a two month recovery for them but they were relatively young, 5 or 6, when they had the surgery. That is definitely a challenge to limit mobility for that length of time.

 

[eytonxav]

There is a pet vet forum on Facebook (if you are on FB), and its a great place to get the professional advice.

 

[Errollyn]

I went through this with my 11lb pekingese. We kept him crated for a while immediately after the surgery, per doctor's orders. Pekingese aren't jumpers, so that wasn't a huge issue, but for the rest of his life we were very careful about not letting him go up and down steps.

One thing that happened to our pup was that he started to favor his other leg so much that he ended up ripping that knee too. It wasn't a complete tear so we didn't do surgery on that one, but it did continue to degrade his mobility. From what I understand, this is fairly common after ACL repairs.

We ended up with a wheelchair for him, which we'd use on occasion to help him get around. It worked pretty well, but he'd get caught on obstacles due to the wide wheels.

I know I'm not full of good news, but his quality of life was still good for the years he lived after the surgery. We just had to be really careful with him, and did a lot of holding him up when he peed, etc. It was worth it.

Not gonna lie, this is making me kinda sad.