When that ‘pop’ sound of a sudden CCL tear in a dog’s knee happens, it is pretty obvious to the owner that an injury has occurred. But what happens when a dog’s knee ligaments experience a slow decline into lameness? For most dogs who suffer from an ACL tear, it is actually more of a…
Category: Traditional Repair
Dog Knee Surgery Success Rates: TPLO, Tightrope, TTA, and Traditional Extracapsular Repair Surgery
Before investing in knee surgery for your dog, it would be wise to look at the statistical information surrounding the success rates of each specific type of surgery. Hind knee tears in dogs is the leading cause of lameness and pain for domesticated canines, and according to NIH, there is no absolute gold standard to…
Does A Dog’s Size Impact Surgery Success For Cruciate Ligament Repair?
The size of the dog who has injured their ACL is relevant in both the success of the surgery and overall recovery. When it comes to tearing cranial cruciate ligament, smaller dogs are at an absolute advantage over their larger counterparts in all areas. Studies suggest that not only is surgery more successful in smaller…
How Do I Know If My Dog Needs Surgery?
Tears and strains to the cruciate ligament in a dog (the human ACL), is the most common injury among canines, but how can you tell if your dog needs surgery for this, or if it is an injury that will heal on its own? As is true with so many things in life, this all…
How Successful Is Dog Knee Surgery
Dog knee surgery is both a financial investment as well as a time and energy commitment. With so much on the line for both dog and owner the hope is that surgery is successful. Statistically, the odds are in favor of those who commit to dog knee surgery with a reported success rate of 85%-95%…
Traditional Repair – Maggie
I am writing to share Maggie’s story because when I found out about her injury I scoured the internet for stories relating to cruciate injuries and this website was my saving grace! We adopted Maggie at 8 weeks old as a rescue pup from New Mexico. We are avid hikers so Maggie was always hiking…
Traditional Extracapsular Repair – Periwinkle
Hey there! It is with great pleasure that I share Periwinkle’s success with her “traditional” knee repair surgery. Winksy is a 6-ish year old pit bull terrier or mix. I am sharing this story 3 years after Winksy’s surgery because I wanted to give the repair time to succeed or fail, so to speak. My…
Traditional Tightrope – Shelbie
Shelbie is 9 years old in February and a 50lb mix of Anatolian Shepherd and Lab so she has always been active and loves chasing her ball and Frisbee! At least she used to 🙁 About 2 years back she had her left knee buckle and was extremely lame on it, of course immediately took…
Traditional Repair – Bridget
My beagle, Bridget, ruptured her cruciate ligament (with partial meniscus tear) in April, 2015, and we chose the Traditional Repair for a couple of reasons: Bridget is an older dog (rescued her over 10 years ago when she was already an adult), and she also has arthritis. Because of her age, I wanted the least…
Extracapsular Surgery for Dogs – Santos
Santos is a rescued/adopted 7 year old Greyhound and Dalmatian mix with diabetes diagnosed one year ago. Santos had a full tear with no meniscus damage. I attempted CM (Conservative Management) for 1.5 months with him getting worse. I decided to get the knee surgically repaired. Because of his diabetes, I brought him home the…