15
CCL Injury in Both Back Legs
It is not unusual for dogs who have a cranial cruciate ligament rupture in one leg to develop one in the other leg. It is a little unusual to have two severe ruptures at the same time, but it does occur, especially in large breed dogs or overweight canines. Generally the signs of this type of injury will manifest itself in the dog with an impaired gait, shaking while walking, and/or dragging the back legs. It is not unusual for veterinarians and pet owners to think that partial paralysis is present or that the severe lameness is due to spinal disc disease because of the severity of the presentation.
Not surprisingly, surgery is almost always advocated by surgeons . It is likely that surgery does help reduce the amount of arthritis that occurs, but in a long term study of cruciate ligament surgery in dogs in Australia, about 50% still had detectable arthritis in surgically repaired joints and about 10% of dogs were persistently lame despite attempts to surgically stabilize the joint. Tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) has become the top choice for surgical CCL repair among many orthopedic veterinarians, and it can be done in both large and small dogs. Supporters of TPLO will say its good choice for the situation in which there is a bilateral cruciate rupture since it seems to be a strong repair procedure, but there are many instances where dogs have done equally as well with either TTA or a traditional repair.
One benefit of doing a traditional extracapsular repair, in addition to saving a few thousand dollars, is that you still have other options for repair if for some reason the traditional repair fails. If you are choosing surgery for a dog with a double CCL rupture, make sure to research each procedure carefully before blindly going along with a procedure you know nothing about. TPLO, TTA and traditional repairs are all very different procedures, and each carry their own set of risks vs. rewards. The best way to find out what is right for your pet is to do as much research as you can and find a veterinarian that is willing to discuss your many options for surgical intervention.
If surgery absolutely isn’t an option, there is a very good chance that in a few weeks, to a few months, you will find that your dog is doing OK without any type of surgical intervention -especially if you can manage the weight loss. There are a number of great resources both on this website and the web with instructions on how to succeed with CM.
September 11th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
my Malamute only 3 yrs. old,jumpted over a small fence,and may have twisted her back knee,upon a viewing with no x-ray,vet says she may have torn a ligament in her back knee….and wanted surgery for $1500….not knowing what to do,they gave her a sedative to sleep well,and pain medications…what should I do. to help her ? in time with her age,can it heal….or should I consider surgery to repair her leg…if thats the problem without an X-RAY…..?
March 13th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Hello,
Just found this post and was wondering what happened with your dog. Mine just did the same thing and had surgery today to fix it. They thought it was the acl until we took her to her vet and he could tell it was the ligament but did the exray just to be sure. They said without the surgery the bones would just keep rubbing together and this is extremly painful
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Our dog had surgery on her right knee last fall, yesterday she injured her left knee, the vet feels it is not worth doing the surgery on her. She is 7 years old part lab part sheppard, and it is breaking my heart thinkng that I will have to put her down…..Vet is coming tommorrow morning at 9am to put her down………..I am sad
April 4th, 2009 at 7:58 am
Today the vet came to our house and put Oreo out of pain, I feel so bad…..I miss her already….I hope we did the right thing…….it is so hard….when I would come home from work she would be waiting for me……When my wife and I would fall asleep in our bed she would jump up and sleep between us…I miss her and I wish she was still here!!!!!!!!!
April 9th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Steve…I am so sorry about Oreo. I can’t believe the vet would want to put her down, but I don’t know all the facts. My Marvin is 10 and he ruptured his right knee 2 years ago. The vet advised a wait and see approach. This was surprising because it’s a state of the art clinic. Marvin’s knee healed great with no signs of arthritis, but last week, his left knee ruptured. We are doing the wait and see again. He needs to lose 20 lbs. The vet is hoping to manage his weight and we should be fine.
May 8th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Jennifer — Are both ruptures a total tear? How big is Oreo? With the first one, how long was it that you had to keep him inactive and see an improvement? How long before somewhat normal activity was allowed? Any information would be appreciated.
June 26th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
My dog has just had a TPLO op and we were told he probably has a tear in his right rear leg now. He is only one week post op now and we know a long way to go yet but we don’t fancy repeating this plus the cost £3,300 so far.
Is there another way with avoiding surgery, he is an (nearly)8yr old Golden Retriever.
Roy
September 12th, 2009 at 7:14 am
We do American Pit Bull rescue. One of the dogs we rescued, who came to us with a broken front leg, which we had repaired (but she still limped on it) came up lame in her two back legs. A vet visit confirmed that she had ruptured both cruciates. We currently have 13 dogs; two of whom have gone through single cruciate rupture repairs. I can’t imagine how they could repair both legs at the same time. Reading this article opened my eyes to the option of not having to put her through surgery…I’m going to do more research on this. Thank you for the article.
September 12th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
My dog has 2 ruptured ACL’s. Requiring 2 TPLO surgeries. at the cost of $6,000.00. She is lame on her left side. The left blew last week causing her to be lame on the left. After xrays, vet said her rt. knee must have ruptured awhile back because there are signs of arthritis in that one. She is not even 2 yrs. old and I only take her on long walks. She was playing inthe backyard when this happend. I cannot affor this surgery. I am a single woaman on permanent disability and living on a fixed income. She is my baby and a sweetheart. I would do anything for her , but I just cant afford so much $ all at once. Does anyone know of where or who I might contact for financial help??? Also if anyone knows of who to contact for knee braces, and meds, like rimadyl, antibiotics, and pain meds for her. If anyone or anyplace can donate such things I might be able to get the surgery sooner rather than later. She is beginning to get very depressed. I dont like to keep her on all these meds, but she is in extreme pain, and her energy level is usuallly HIGH. I dont want her to damge herself more. Please contact me @ nikkit68@ymail.com ASAP. She needs surgery NOW.. Thank You Nikki & Gabby