Dog Knee Brace from Orthopets
A reader of Dog Knee Injury has graciously offered to share her dog Fargo’s story and share their experiences with Conservative Management. When Fargo’s owner first contacted me in February, 2010 she wrote:
“Our 11-year old yellow lab, Fargo, tore his ACL on February 4, 2010. I called the vet and he asked, “Did he go outside as a four-legged dog and return as a three-legged dog?” Which explained it precisely. We considered surgery, but, after days of research, I read about the extreme failure rate of surgery and it scared me. I stumbled upon a website called tiggerpoz.com that made so much sense. It recommended Conservative Management so, with great hope, we tried that for two months. He seemed much better as time went by, but then he would end up back at square one for some reason. I must confess we considered euthanasia because Fargo’s quality of life was not good. I went back to tiggerpoz’s website and found information on a fantastic knee brace from Orthopets. The info and videos on their website are amazing. So, I am ordering a stifle (knee) brace for our dog tomorrow. My vet or I will make a cast so the brace fits perfectly. I’ve been in touch with the owners themselves by email and they are very quick to get back to me and seem very caring. I cannot wait until Fargo can go for walks and go swimming again.”
Fargo has since been fitted for his Orthopets brace, and received it on 4/23. His owner has reported that he seems to be doing well with the brace, and the pictures below are of Fargo wearing the brace. I was unsure how the brace managed to stay up without being strapped to the dog in any way, but Fargo’s owner said that the brace stays up because of the velcro straps above the hock and around the knee – there are also auxillary straps on the thigh.
Oh, I love those braces. Talked to the guy extensively, they really seem to know what they’re doing. I think these are the best braces out there.
I;am interested in knowing the cost of the knee brace for my dog. He is 70 lbs. and is a mix lab and shephard.
Thank you,
Phyllis
My husband and I would like to know what the cost of the brace is as well as what would be required to having the brace fitted for our Rhodesian Ridgeback/bulldog mix. Her name is Chula, weighs 56 lbs and will be 7 in October.
We are seeking an alternative to surgery and would like get as much information as possible in regards to how other dogs have responded to having the brace.
I would like to know the cost of the brace and where to get one. This surgery can only be preformed by two Animal Clinic’s in our area and the wait time is five weeks. Our Boy dog is going crazy being limited with his sister.
Thanks!
I hope that the people in the above posts have discovered Orthopets.com and followed through. They are fast to respond. The brace is somewhere between $600 and $700, depending on whether you’ve already had exam and x-rays done elsewhere. Costs include a tutoring session on using it. The February 2010 issue of Whole Dog Journal has an excellent article on cruciate ligament injuries, surgical options and conservative treatments. That’s where I learned of Orthopets. They also list excellent supplements to aid healing. Most scary, they mention a study in Journal of the AVMA (Jan 15, 2005, vol 226, no.2, p 232-236) which found fewer than 15% of dogs who have surgery regain normal function, and overall improvement in TPLO patients was only 40%. For the money, seems like results from conservative treatment have at least as good a chance, for a lot less cash in these hard times.