No idea how Meggie, age 8, partially ruptured her cruciate ligament! Nevertheless, she did and our wonderful vet said she needed a specialist vet to do the surgery on June 24, 2015. We had some insurance and this covered her operation at West Midlands Referrals in Lichfield. She went in at 9am and was collected the same day at 4pm. She was walking but very groggy and cried when lifted into the car. When she got home, I carried her into the garden for a week and then she came in and ate an enormous meal of fish and rice topped with scrambled egg. She slept on her blanket on the floor and I slept in the sofabed. Next day she went out and peed and pooed but it was painful! She had no painkillers because she needed to feel the pain! We tried to barricade the sofa but decided it was safer to let her get up and down. I took her up and down our long garden twice a day on her lead from day 1. After a week she went on a very short walk outside twice a day. The pain didn’t bother her unduly.
We returned for stitch removal in 2 weeks. The wound looked red but dry, but she does suffer from pruritus. The Elizabethan collar was never going to be tolerated. We bought a Buster collar and she liked that but with a lot of squirming could reach the wound so still had to be watched! Each day she walked a little further on the flat. We put a stairgate at the bottom of the stairs. Our wild 5-year-old Sprocker could not have been more gentle with her!! She just kept kissing her and skirted round Meggie well away from the bad leg. I emailed a photo to the vet because I thought her leg looked a funny shape but it was because the knee had been realigned. She had an x-ray at 6 weeks and all looked good, followed by a holiday in Cornwall. She enjoyed walks on the beach and swimming in the sea on a long lead. She has had 3 sessions of hydrotherapy covered by the insurance–a 6 minute swim is equal to a 5 mile walk which hopefully will strengthen the muscles.
It is now 9 weeks post surgery and she is walking well with no limp. She is still on a long leash for walks and is always lifted in and out the car. She mouches round the garden off lead now but I take her outside first thing on a lead. I cannot imagine letting her run for a ball again but I feel the surgery was a great success. The recovery for us was very hard work and stressful but I would do it all over again.